Blueprint for an Innovation Economy in Florida Research as Economic Foundation | Page 33

EXHIBIT F: Collaborations
Today’s technologies are complicated and it is difficult to excel in all aspects of creating the ever- more
complex recipes necessary to solve real-world problems.
Over 75 percent of all publications are collaborative. 41 Of those, the great majority of the collaborations
occur at distances greater than 60 miles.
Quality of Science Helps Draw All Collaborators
Quality of Science Helps Draw All Collaborators
Florida Underperforms Large Peer States
Florida Underperforms Large Peer States
81.0 %
79.0 %
MD
NH
ID
RI
OR
77.0 %
WY
MT
NV
75.0 %
WV
73.0 %
AZ
VT
SC
AR
OK
LA
GA
AL
FL
KS
NC
UT
IN
OH
KY
DE
CA
CO
NY
NJ*
y = 0.4376x + 0.6935
R² = 0.2354
CT
TN
PA
MN
VA
IA
71.0 %
TX
MA
WA
IL
MI
MO
69.0 %
ND
67.0 %
7.0 %
9.0 %
11.0 %
13.0 %
15.0 %
17.0 %
19.0 %
21.0 %
23.0 %
Percentage of Top 10% Publications
Circle Area Represents the Raw Number of Top 10% Publications.  Excludes DC, NE and AK as Outliers.
Good science attracts good science. As shown in the graph above, once again, California and
Massachusetts scientists are collectively sought out as collaborators based on the quality of their work.
Florida underperforms relative to our large peer states.
Collaboration is important because:
• 
It improves and expands commercialization options. Many times, filling the gaps between a
recipe and a product is outside of one’s home campus. Additionally, the network developed through
collaboration provides additional paths to market by exposing technologies more broadly.
• 
Complex problems require top teams. Top-tier collaboration of those experienced in different
disciplines is a proven path to providing the required problem-solving skills. Proximity, though extremely
useful, is not essential.
Again, we are confronted with the reality that just as quality and quantity of scientists generate
opportunities to collaborate, weakness in the quantity and quality of our people limits these opportunities.
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