Introduction to special symposium on measuring effectiveness of collaborative networks

Conferences provide a forum for people from diverse interest areas to come together, share information and engage in some networking activities. The conventional panel format, which relies on speakers delivering set papers, is coupled with a structured question and discussion time. While beneficial in presenting new and exciting information and research directions, this approach restricts the level of engagement with the topic and limits the synergistic outcomes that can be drawn from more detailed, interactive and iterative discussions/debate. The interactive panel upon which this symposium is based was created as a way to overcome these limitations.