Breaking Silos: How Interdisciplinary Work Accelerates Innovation

Innovation rarely happens in isolation. The most transformative ideas emerge not from one field—but at the intersection of many. From AI in public health to biotech in agriculture, today’s breakthroughs are the result of interdisciplinary collaboration. If your research never leaves your discipline, it may never reach its potential. It’s time to break the silos—and build bridges.

The Problem

Academic systems are structured by discipline: economics over here, health science over there, education in its own corner. These boundaries may help with specialization—but they slow innovation.

Complex problems don’t live in silos. So why should solutions?

Researchers are often trained to publish in field-specific journals, use field-specific methods, and attend field-specific conferences. The result? Missed opportunities for synergy, real-world integration, and scalable solutions.

Innovation today requires cross-talk: between coders and clinicians, social scientists and engineers, business minds and policy experts. Without it, research remains locked in the lab.

Approaches to Monetizing your Research

1 December 2025 at 10:00 – 4 December 2025 at 16:00Lekki

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The Possibility

When researchers collaborate across disciplines, they build breakthroughs.

Take Dr. Safiya U. Noble, whose work on algorithmic bias combined data science, media studies, and racial justice to influence tech policy and inspire platforms like FairFight AI.

Or the developers of Ada Health, a mobile medical diagnostic tool created through a collaboration between doctors, AI engineers, and behavioral scientists. What began as a medical research project is now an app used in over 150 countries, helping millions identify health risks early.

These teams were bold enough to step out of their academic lanes—and ended up building something the world could use.

Whiteboard showcasing collaborative research concepts.

The Solution

The Translational Research Forum is built on breaking silos.

Here’s what you’ll gain:

🔗 Collaborations across health, tech, education, climate, and policy

🎓 Panels like “Cross-Disciplinary Teams That Changed Lives”

🧪 Workshops on Co-Creation, Design Thinking, and System Mapping

We’ll explore how to build research teams that span disciplines, sectors, and countries. How to talk to non-academic stakeholders. And how to turn research into real tools, through partnerships with SMEs, incubators, and public institutions.

Because if you want to build for the world, you can’t work in a vacuum.

Call to Action

Break out of your academic silo. Build something the world can use.

👉 Register for the Translational Research Forum and discover how interdisciplinary collaboration can transform your work—from theory to action.