Mosaic: A Victim of Its Own Success?

Mosaic, a multidisciplinary research platform bringing together researchers and academic collaborators, graduate students, industrial partners, and government decision-makers to accelerate innovation and creativity, recently received two proposals. One was from the University of Locarno, an academic partner, to organize a creative workshop; the other was from ExCom Canada, an industrial partner, to organize a co-design session for its employees. Both organizations wanted their workshops to be held the following week, and Mosaic's co-directors didn't know which proposal to accept. Moreover, ExCom's partnership agreement would expire that year, and it wished to discuss its renewal during the co-design session. It was a difficult choice: the co-directors worried that Mosaic would be less able to attract academic partners if it focused too heavily on industrial activities. On the other hand, industrial partners might lose interest if it focused too heavily on academic research. The key question was thus this: how could Mosaic maintain a balance between academic and industry-specific research while sustaining the interest of researchers?