Remote collaboration fuses fewer breakthrough ideas
Theories of innovation emphasize the role of social networks and teams as facilitators of breakthrough discoveries1–4. Around the world, scientists and inventors are more plentiful and interconnected today than ever before4. However, although there are more people making discoveries, and more ideas that can be reconfigured in new ways, research suggests that new ideas are getting harder to find5,6—contradicting recombinant growth theory7,8. Here we shed light on this apparent puzzle. Analysing 20 million research articles and 4 million patent applications from across the globe over...