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Lanesskog advises other schools to tap existing collaborative relation- ships between departments and individual faculty. Then, it's just a matter of taking the time to build those relationships. Respond to Calls to Action In 2005, U.K. prime minister Gor- don Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, commissioned a report that highlighted the value of design to business. Led by Sir George Cox, the "Cox Review of Creativity in Business" called for more collaboration among schools of business, engineering, and design throughout the United Kingdom. The Cox report spurred the Imperial College Business School in London to make cross-disciplinary collaboration a significant part of its educational mission. It formed Design London in partnership with the Royal College of Art (RCA). Before Design London, the Impe- rial College Business School and RCA had worked together for many years to offer "Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Design," a required MBA course. The new program extends that partner- ship to encompass teaching and research functions, a business incu- bator, and a 3D simulator where students and faculty test designs for innovative products and services. Through Design London, students and faculty also have developed a range of prototypes, from a water- less sanitation device for villages that lack running water to a special air-pressurized vest to help people on the autism spectrum better concen- trate on tasks and cope with anxiety. Most recently, the program revealed its design for a new kind of ambu- The new program encompasses teaching and research functions, a business incubator, and a 3D simulator where students and faculty test designs. lance to help city paramedics deliver better treatment to patients. Design London also includes labs dedicated to designing solutions in subject-specific areas, including cli- mate change, energy, and the digital economy. In 2012, the schools will extend the program to include engi- neering students at Imperial College London. "We have students flow- ing between the business and art schools—cross-disciplinary collabo- ration has become a part of our rou- tine," says David Gann, co-founder of Design London. Design London was first con- ceived as a four-year project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council and the National Endow- ment for Science, Technology, and the Arts, both of the U.K. Now at the end of that four-year term, the initiative has been so success- ful that the schools are making it permanent. It will be supported by tuition, consulting fees, and general school funds. Strategic Lesson: Collaboration for its own sake is likely to fail, so it's important to set and maintain a vision for the outcomes you want from the partnership, says Gann. "Our goal was to produce gradu- ates with a richer understanding of the role design plays in business, so they'll have more opportunities in the job market." Bring Excitement to Campus While it may not inspire new jokes, working across disciplines is cer- tainly fun for students and faculty, says Gann. "Design London creates a vibrant culture that's exciting and interesting," he says. "We've got large companies such as Microsoft and IBM, as well as smaller design and engineering firms, continuously giving us projects for students to work on." McFarlin of the University of Dayton admits that managing col- laborative relationships can add 25 percent to 50 percent to a profes- sor's workload. But schools can restructure their faculty incentives to recognize the importance of cross-disciplinary work. More important than incentives, he says, is this strategic lesson of cross-disciplinary collaboration: Find faculty who are passionate about working across disciplines. "Ulti- mately, you need to find faculty who believe it contributes to a greater good," says McFarlin. "For us, this work has improved our business and engineering programs, as well as our business school's reputation." The stronger a business school's cross-campus connections become, the more benefits they introduce into the curriculum, he adds. That means larger professional net- works, more diverse perspectives, and richer educational experiences for students and faculty—not to mention graduates who are fully prepared to blaze trails with multi- disciplinary teams. BizEd March/April 2012 27