Organizing for Innovation : Knowledge Integration in the Idea Innovation Network

In recent years, research organizations have placed greater emphasis on fostering better integration between basic and applied research. This paper suggests that organizational efforts to foster greater integration face two important challenges: cognitive distance among researchers and structural differentiation in the idea innovation network. We discuss these two challenges and suggest the necessity of developing a diverse, but integrated knowledge community. Through a discussion of recent literature and a historical case study of the Institut Pasteur, we highlight a number of key mechanisms that can help foster the development of a knowledge community