Serious birdwatchers know one finds the most variety in species where habitats collide, on the edges of domains. This also holds true for innovation, discovery, and scientific disciplines. Recent research shows that institutions that support interdisciplinary teams with strategic investments, institutional alignment, and collaborative ecosystems are more likely to create innovations that lead to patents, products, and companies.
The research, Interdisciplinary Science Rankings (ISR) 2026, recently released by Times Higher Education (THE) and Schmidt Science Fellows, points to a global shift toward interdisciplinarity as a strategic priority for universities. THE’s report evaluated research activity at 911 institutions across 94 countries. Their findings are discussed in an accompanying white paper.
While the rankings cannot fully capture informal collaboration dynamics, they do highlight institutional choices that consistently correlate with innovation outcomes. They look at universities through “three pillars” that track the full lifecycle of interdisciplinary research: inputs, processes, and outputs. Inputs are the resources that enable interdisciplinarity, including the proportion of research and industry funding. Processes are the internal institutional structures and incentives, such as success measures, dedicated facilities, administrative support, and tenure systems recognizing interdisciplinary work. Outputs include research results and impact, proportion of interdisciplinary publications, citation quality, and reputation. Data sources include university submissions, bibliometric data from Elsevier (2020–2024), and global researcher surveys.
How does interdisciplinarity drive innovation? THE asserts that innovation emerges where boundaries are blurred, bringing together varied perspectives to tackle multifaceted problems. Universities that embed interdisciplinarity into their core strategies are better positioned to lead in global knowledge creation. They stress that success depends not only on financial resources but also on the deliberate design of institutional structures and practices that reward interdisciplinary work, and governance reforms that foster a culture of collaboration.
Using case studies of multiple universities, the white paper describes several key enablers of interdisciplinary innovation:
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Purpose-built facilities like Stanford’s computing and data science (CoDa) building, which foster collaboration by co-locating computer scientists, data analysts, and engineers.
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Integrated educational programs such as Nanyang Technological University’s Interdisciplinary Collaborative Core, which prepares future researchers for problem-driven, collaborative work.
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Targeted funding initiatives like Duke’s Bass Connections that provide seed funding and hubs that catalyze new ideas and external grant success.
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Cross-sector collaborations with industry and government, such as Technical University of Munich’s industry-on-campus strategy for translational research.
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Cultural and structural support within the university that embeds interdisciplinarity into hiring, tenure systems, and governance to sustain collaboration.
Based on these findings, THE argues that policymakers and institutions should integrate interdisciplinarity into strategies, build capacity through funding and infrastructure, and foster global partnerships to scale innovation.