Platform evolution in large inter‐organizational collaborative research programs

Abstract

AbstractWe examine the role of platform sponsors and program managers in evolving a platform to stimulate inter‐organizational collaboration in large research programs. Through a 5‐year longitudinal case study, we analyzed a large inter‐organizational collaborative research program in England, underpinned by the CLAHRC platform, sponsored by the NIHR. The research program attracted clinical academics in universities and clinical practitioners in a range of healthcare providers to collaborate in an ensemble of projects to drive evidence‐based care for patients with long‐term health conditions. Program managers struggled to facilitate collaboration through the platform, despite a highly decentralized governance approach. Our study identifies three mechanisms through which the platform sponsor and program managers revised the platform's governance strategies to enhance collaboration: (i) they instituted “interruptive events,” which routinely stopped projects, and analyzed if and why organizations struggle to collaborate; (ii) they expanded, rather than restricted, access rules for collaboration through “platform renting”; (iii) they re‐distributed, rather than re‐centralized, governance, to reduce unnecessary interdependences across collaborators attracted by the platform.