How to Develop the Interdisciplinary Innovation Teams Sustainably?—A Simulation Model from a Perspective of Knowledge Fission and Fusion

Abstract

Knowledge interaction is vital in order that interdisciplinary innovation teams (IITs) develop sustainably. This paper aims to reveal the laws of knowledge interaction in IITs from a perspective of knowledge fission and fusion. Herein, the conceptions of knowledge fission to depict the team member’s divergent thinking and knowledge fusion to depict the team member’s convergent thinking based on the concept of social physics are proposed. Furthermore, the Markov process describing knowledge interaction is built. The paper uses a case study and a simulation analysis to explain the process of knowledge interaction. The results show that knowledge fission and knowledge fusion have different influences on the various stages of knowledge interaction. To conclude, the model built describes the complex phenomenon of the knowledge interaction process. It reveals the transformation rules from knowledge fission to knowledge fusion in the process of knowledge interaction in IITs. This study also provides new insight for IITs to maintain team sustainability.