Cross institutional collaboration is an important and often undervalued and overlooked means of extending the reach and capacities of any given institution, be it academic, research, commercial or any other.

Barriers to collaboration Edit

Barriers relating to such collaborations often center around competition and formalized 'silos' of working communities.

Research opportunities Edit

Theoretical research into the dynamics of cross institutional collaboration might help facilitate such ventures, providing resources and case studies on best (and worst) practices.

Examples Edit

• Collaboration at the Regional Level - A regional perspective on the discussion of collaborative research between universities and communities, focusing on the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities in Chicago.
• Meta Collab:Wikiversity - An effort to foster collaboration between the Wikiversity free online learning center and a set of online communities of interest and practice called Wikia (one of which is Meta Collab) applying the principle of contextual collaboration.
• Open Collaborative Work Environment for Networking across Communities of Practice - An effort to provide a conducive work environment for Intergovernmental communities seeking to improve common understanding toward joint action.
• Collaborative Expedition Workshops - Open Intergovernmental forums held monthly to advance common understanding toward joint action.