This Nature article ‘These labs are remarkably diverse — here’s why they’re winning at science‘ makes the point that diversity is fostering creativity and academic outcomes, based on a study of scientific papers.
Of course, this study that shows that diversity is beneficial is based on citation count of scientific papers vs the names of contributors, which may not be fully representative of the importance of the research. Still, it is interesting to see a full fledged research based on data demonstrate the benefits of diversity.
The diversity of experience, cultures and viewpoints is quite essential for creativity and the article gives quite a few examples, in particular with the input from Maori culture into research, and other multi-cultural research teams such as an Okinawa setup that requires diversity and multi-culture to be part of the team. The article also mentions challenges of working in diverse teams such as language and cultural behavior.
Another stone in the field of demonstrating how diversity is beneficial for creativity and value creation.
