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This chapter focuses on the process through which people from different organizations with differing perspectives work jointly to solve problems or achieve a common goal. Sponsors, conveners, neutral observers, and participants play a key role in the working of such collaborative efforts. Conveners of these efforts help in identifying and involving stakeholders in the initiative and finding resources to support it. A number of steps are involved in convening such collaborative efforts: initial assessment, wherein conveners identify the issues, determine the goals of the collaborative effort, and identify possible stakeholders. Planning and efforts involved in the consensus-building process play a key role in the convening of collaborative efforts. A stakeholder selection process that involves appropriate representation from different perspectives also plays a key role in the convening of such initiatives.

This chapter focuses on factors that play a key role in transforming a collaborative idea into practice. It states that participants and evaluators engaged in such collaborative efforts need to use certain queries to identify a suitable approach to collaboration, which will help in transforming it from an idea into practice. Collaborative efforts are undertaken within a wide range of societal, economic, and environmental driving factors, with a significant impact on trends and practical implementation. The chapter suggests that a number of outcome indicators need to be considered to achieve the desired results from such a collaborative effort. These indicators need to establish the fundamental conditions and collect data required to evaluate the progress. The chapter concludes that failure to achieve the desired results should also be regarded positively and used as an opportunity to reassess new approaches or renewed efforts to achieve results.

This chapter shows how the experiences and lessons learned from the NEESgrid project have influenced the development of future cyberinfrastructure. The NEESgrid project engages experts from different disciplines to develop and deploy cyberinfrastructure for the National Science Foundation’s George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES). The chapter reveals how the NEES has derived significant benefits from various activities of the NEESgrid project. It also emphasizes the importance of, and the strategies needed for, establishing collaborative efforts between cyberinfrastructure users and developers.