Researchers are in a sense like inventors who collaborate while competing to make the same invention. On the one hand, they know that their ideas will improve with collaboration, to the benefit of everybody; on the other hand, too much openness might allow others to steal their ideas. How to balance this? 

Senior staff members at the centers explain that the balance between competition and collaboration changes toward collaboration when a center starts up because of the common goal. The larger the center is, however, and the more unclear it is who is and isn’t part of the center, the more uncertainty arises about the extent to which one can share research ideas in good faith. 

Center leaders highlight trust and motivation as cornerstones in stimulating a collaborative and creative environment. In the words of one center staff member, “Trust is the overlooked superpower.” Centers promote an atmosphere of inclusiveness and tolerance, e.g., in terms of tolerating “stupid questions” – and, more generally, creating a positive and relaxed atmosphere. Hence, the centers’ investment of time in informal meetings and even get-togethers such as canoeing together or establishing cake clubs is not just about well-being; it is of direct significance to the quality of the research carried out. 

Center leaders are well aware of the importance of challenging their own and the center staff’s perspectives and assumptions as a way of helping new ideas to emerge. Centers of Excellence use and explore a wide variety of ways to push each other to think out of the box. 

Center leaders are well aware of the importance of challenging their own and the center staff’s perspectives and assumptions as a way of helping new ideas to emerge. Centers of Excellence use and explore a wide variety of ways to push each other to think out of the box.