Convergence and the Changing Nature of Innovation

Convergence has the potential to shape cultures of innovation in health and medicine by providing a framework integrating perspectives from multiple disciplines and sectors to tackle challenges such as understanding and addressing mental health disorders and improving well-being. This chapter discusses examples of efforts to establish cultures that support convergence and lessons learned from multiple sectors. The chapter highlights changing perspectives from institutions engaged in convergent research, including universities, industry, philanthropic foundations, and government agencies. Facilitating progress toward solutions that could not otherwise be obtained serves as a critical motivation for pursuing convergence, even when approaches that rely on convergence challenge conventional institutional incentives and structures. Indeed, barriers to establishing and supporting convergence arise where existing organizational practices and structures misalign with the changing nature of innovation. Nevertheless, examples from across the innovation ecosystem, from American research universities to the biotechnology industry, reveal some of the strategies such organizations are using to actively create and foster cultures that support convergence. Federal agencies are also beginning to investigate funding incentives to support convergent work through their grant-making programs. The chapter concludes with an array of actions others have used to help foster convergence institutionally. These lessons learned may have relevance for those interested in establishing convergence in the realm of mental health.