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Transdisciplinary Research (Transdisciplinarity)

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Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Synonyms

Mode 2 knowledge production; Post-normal science

Introduction

The term “transdisciplinarity (TD)” was coined to denote a search for the “unity” of knowledge or – more generally – the actual means with which such an integration of otherwise disciplinary fragmented knowledge can be achieved. Since its first appearance, “transdisciplinarity,” in fact, stands for nothing less than “the contemporary version of the historical quest for systematic integration of knowledge” (Klein 2010, p. 24; cf. Klein 1990, pp. 63–73).

Just like interdisciplinarity, the basic objective of TD has been from its beginning to make science and higher education more responsive to the complexity of life-world problems and more relevant for the public good and the legitimate needs of the society. Since then TD has been seen as a means to help research organizations to become active agents of societal innovations. The ambitious goal has been to make their knowledge more effective by overcoming the increasing...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies (IFF), Institute for Science Communication & Higher Education Research (WIHO), Alpen-Adria University of Klagenfurt, Schottenfeldgasse 29, Vienna, Austria

    Dr. Markus Arnold

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  1. Dr. Markus Arnold
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Correspondence to Markus Arnold .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Systems & Technology, Management, School of Business, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Elias G. Carayannis

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Arnold, M. (2013). Transdisciplinary Research (Transdisciplinarity). In: Carayannis, E.G. (eds) Encyclopedia of Creativity, Invention, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3858-8_337

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3858-8_337

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-3857-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-3858-8

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