# Remote Collaboration Fuses Fewer Breakthrough Ideas

**Authors:** Yiling Lin, Carl Benedikt Frey, Lingfei Wu  
**arXiv:** [2206.01878](https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.01878)  
**Date:** 2022-06-04  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2206.01878v3/

## Key points

- The world is witnessing an unprecedented level of interconnectedness among scientists and inventors.
- Despite the growing number of researchers and the increasing ease of remote collaboration across cities, research suggests that new ideas are getting harder to find.
- Researchers analyzed 20 million research articles and 4 million patent applications from around the globe over the past half-century to shed light on this apparent puzzle.
- Remote collaboration has been on the rise across cities, underlining the growing interconnectedness of scientists and inventors globally.
- Researchers in these remote teams are consistently less likely to make breakthrough discoveries relative to their onsite counterparts.
- Collaboration centers on late-stage technical tasks like collecting and analyzing data but is less likely to occur during conceptual tasks such as conceiving new ideas or designing research.
- Remote teams are less likely to integrate knowledge from their members to produce new disruptive ideas despite striking improvements in digital technology in recent years.
- Physical proximity is important in fostering creativity through face-to-face interactions during conceptual tasks.
- These findings have significant implications for policymakers seeking to promote innovation by encouraging collaboration between researchers across different locations while recognizing the limitations of remote teamwork when it comes to generating breakthrough ideas.

## Summary

The world today is witnessing an unprecedented level of interconnectedness among scientists and inventors, with more people making discoveries and ideas being reconfigured in novel ways. However, despite the growing number of researchers and the increasing ease of remote collaboration across cities, research suggests that new ideas are getting harder to find. In a recent study, researchers analyzed 20 million research articles and 4 million patent applications from around the globe over the past half-century to shed light on this apparent puzzle. The study found that remote collaboration has been on the rise across cities, underlining the growing interconnectedness of scientists and inventors globally. However, researchers in these remote teams are consistently less likely to make breakthrough discoveries relative to their onsite counterparts. The team used novel datasets to explore the division of labor within teams and across space and found that among distributed team members, collaboration centers on late-stage technical tasks like collecting and analyzing data but is less likely to occur during conceptual tasks such as conceiving new ideas or designing research. Despite striking improvements in digital technology in recent years, remote teams are less likely to integrate knowledge from their members to produce new disruptive ideas. The study also quantified timezone differences underlying research and innovation teamwork by mapping each team member's timezone based on latitude and longitude values using PYTZ. Additionally, it identified fields of study for research articles and patent applications using scientific taxonomy published by Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG) for papers and Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) for patents. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into how remote collaboration affects innovative performance among scientists and inventors worldwide. It highlights the importance of physical proximity in fostering creativity through face-to-face interactions during conceptual tasks. These findings have significant implications for policymakers seeking to promote innovation by encouraging collaboration between researchers across different locations while recognizing the limitations of remote teamwork when it comes to generating breakthrough ideas.