Conversation at the heart of science

Probably every scientist has a story about an idea that grew from a chance meeting.
Science has a lonely image - the solitary individual hunched over a microscope or computer - when, in fact, discovery often depends on that most human of exchanges, conversation. The day Freud met Jung, they talked non-stop for over 13 hours. When the Indian philosopher Rabindranath Tagore visited Albert Einstein, they discussed mathematics, but also the nature of reality, religion and much more. Extraordinary people, extraordinary conversations.

Today, we have the technological means to reach out to anyone on the planet. Data, the universal language of science, can be shared at the touch of a computer key. But something important is missing from the equation: personal contact and the building of trust that leads to the sharng of information and the swapping of expertise. We want to help scientists put personal relationships back at the heart of scientific discovery.

The InnovationWell Story

InnovationWell InterAction meetings were initiated in 2006 at the Thomas Great Hall at Bryn Mawr College. The meetings brought participants together in a cross-organisational community of practice to discuss areas of collaboration and innovation, particularly in the areas of scientific advances related to healthcare, safety and interdisciplinary translational science applied to medicine.

InnovationWell meetings are coordinated by Edelweiss Connect (formerly Douglas Connect) who has years of experience in coordinating scientific communities such as OpenTox and eCheminfo. Our workshops are for everyone interested in making such goals actionable, from research scientists, engineers, clinicians, regulatory scientists to entrepreneurs. By collaborating our expertise and experience, we hope to stimulate new ideas, collaboration, and action.