cross-pollination of ideas
- noun
:
intercambio de ideas
- Successful inventions often arise from the cross-pollination of ideas across different sectors, combining insights from technology, art, and nature.
Examples
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Cross-pollination of ideas and expertise enhances the ability of both institutions to provide a continuum of lifelong learning opportunities.
Academic text (2014) -
Funny you should recommend focusing on a particular problem domain when truly breakthrough ideas usually come from the cross-pollination of ideas from dissimilar fields.
Blog text (15) -
Now you see no kind of cross pollination of ideas from one generation to two generations ago from like the grandparents to the grandchild.
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However, recognizing the cross-pollination of ideas, we are motivated to address the recent academic work on debt priorities, with the ambition of putting the scholarly investigation back on the right track.
Academic text (2017) -
It can be very practical in that lateral thinking and cross-pollination of ideas come from such things, but even just because if there's one thing you need after a hard month's work, it's the ability to unwind.
Blog text (9) -
The workshop encouraged cross-pollination of ideas between artists and scientists, resulting in innovative projects that neither group could have created alone.
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In her lecture, she emphasized the importance of cross-pollination of ideas among students from diverse backgrounds to foster creativity and problem-solving.
Synonyms
Sharing ideas between different groups to create new things
The sharing of ideas between different groups that creates useful new ideas
How Innovative
310
3.9
14
6.2
150
4.0
1
2.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
cross-pollination + of + idea
The phrase is compositionally built: 'cross-pollination' metaphorically denotes transfer/exchange between sources and the addition 'of ideas' specifies the domain, so the overall meaning (exchange and blending of ideas) can be directly inferred from the parts. This biological metaphor is widely used across languages and follows a transparent compositional pattern, making it readily comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Cross-pollination of ideas comes from plants and bees: pollination is when bees carry pollen from one flower to another and cross means between different kinds. So when people from different groups share ideas, they mix them and 'create new ideas'.