Researchers Without Borders grew out of the work of a National Science Foundation supported project on Scaling and Sustaining Innovation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. The absence of work on this topic in education required that we look to other fields and sectors. As our work evolved, it became clear that the divisions between fields were leading to unnecessary isolation and inefficient problem solving. While problems play out uniquely in different areas, we came to understand that we have much to gain from our collective efforts.
Additionally, as we systematically reviewed the literature on scaling up and sustaining innovations it became clear that leaders of reform efforts do not themselves operationalize the practices believed to increase the likelihood that an innovation will spread and last. Collaborative change processes that engage all interested stakeholders are key in that they seem to result in shared beliefs, common language, and processes for learning that are critical for spread and endurance. Thus, we quickly saw that the work of our own project would need to be such a collaborative effort and made the decision to make our work on sustaining innovations public and participatory. The very literature we were studying made it clear that the way to make progress, accumulate knowledge, establish foundations for learning, and bring about lasting change, was to invite participation leading to common language, understanding, and shared participation.