Science without borders: How Wisconsin and Stellenbosch are redefining collaboration

By Prof. Brian Fox and Prof. Tulio de Oliveira

The most urgent scientific questions of our time-from global health to climate resilience-cross every border. They demand collaborations that unite different strengths, perspectives and environments.

That conviction brought our two universities together: the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Stellenbosch University in South Africa. What began as an exchange between individual researchers has become a partnership that reflects how science can advance discovery, education and innovation on a global scale.

An Academic Spark

The connection started when a graduate student from UW-Madison's Biotechnology Training Grant Program, funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, took an internship at a vaccine company in Cape Town just as it became the World Health Organization's mRNA hub for Africa. Her work to help establish a critical analytical laboratory made it clear that individuals can flourish in environments of research excellence anywhere.

That experience set off conversations among faculty and innovation leaders at both institutions. As we compared notes, we recognized deep commonalities: scientific rigor, entrepreneurial energy and a belief that knowledge should be used for public good. From those conversations grew a partnership that now extends well beyond any single lab or discipline.

Shared Foundations

UW-Madison's Department of Biochemistry has long been at the heart of the Wisconsin Idea-the notion that the university's work should benefit people far beyond the campus. WARF, founded a century ago to translate biochemistry discoveries into public good, remains an essential partner in that mission.

Stellenbosch University shares a similar philosophy. It has built a vibrant innovation ecosystem where research and entrepreneurship intersect. Both institutions understand that translating discovery into benefit requires more than invention; it demands mentorship, networks, courage to test ideas in new environments and commitment to push forward on paths not yet formed.

From Exchange to Collaboration

Our institutions are now working together to create a model of partnership that connects research, training and commercialization. Faculty collaborations are underway in biochemistry, bioinformatics, vaccine design and sustainable materials. We are also developing structures that allow students and researchers to move easily between our universities, through joint mentorship of undergraduate and doctoral students, short-term exchanges of faculty, staff and students, and shared research programs that pair complementary strengths.

At the same time, our innovation ecosystems are linking up. WARF's experience in moving ideas from the lab to market complements Stellenbosch's track record in nurturing African startups via LaunchLab. The Africa STARS program introduces emerging entrepreneurs to real-world technologies-including select WARF patents-and challenges them to adapt and develop those ideas for African markets.

The goal is not to export technology but to co-create solutions that address both regional and global needs. When innovation flows in both directions, all participants gain capacity, context and new ways of seeing opportunity.

Scientific Focus and Shared Strengths

This partnership spans several interconnected fields:

• Health and Genomics: Combining expertise in epidemic surveillance, correlation of molecular structure and function using advanced techniques such as computational modeling and cryo-electron microscopy, and vaccine design and delivery to anticipate and prevent emerging diseases.
• Sustainability: Transforming agricultural by-products such as lignin into renewable materials, advancing a circular bioeconomy.
• Climate and Data: Integrating genomic and environmental data to understand how climate events influence disease spread and impact security of the global food system.
• Metabolic Health: Investigating genetic diversity, especially across African populations, to improve prediction and treatment of metabolic disorders.

These projects demonstrate what collaboration makes possible, linking molecular discovery, data science and public health to generate insight that benefits both continents.

Training the Next Generation

At the heart of this partnership are the emerging scientists who will shape the next century of discovery. They are not only learning new techniques but new ways of thinking about science itself.

For our partners from Wisconsin, spending time in South Africa offers a lesson in innovation born of necessity-how to do world-class research with limited resources, how to adapt to local realities and how science is often driven by immediate public needs. That experience fosters creativity and humility, reminding us that great ideas can come from anywhere.

For our partners from Stellenbosch, working in Madison provides exposure to large-scale facilities, long-standing research networks and established systems for translating ideas into technologies and companies. It shows how innovation can move through structured pathways without losing sight of impact.

Both groups return home with more than new data; they bring new collaborators, new questions and a deeper sense of what global science can achieve when it's driven by trust and shared purpose.

Building a Two-Way Bridge

Our collaboration challenges the old model of technology transfer that moved only one way. Instead, it envisions a two-way bridge where ideas, talent and enterprise circulate freely. A diagnostic refined in Stellenbosch might find global scale through Wisconsin networks; a biochemistry breakthrough in Madison might find its first market application in Africa.

This approach also recognizes that innovation has many measures of success. For some, it may mean founding a company; for others, developing a tool that improves public health or strengthens food security. The common thread is relevance, ensuring that discovery responds to real human needs.

A New Chapter in a Long Tradition

As WARF celebrates its centennial, the spirit that animated its founding-translating university research into benefit-is finding new expression through this international partnership. For us, this work represents the next chapter of that legacy: expanding the Wisconsin Idea across continents and anchoring it in collaboration with equal partners who share its values.

By linking Madison and Stellenbosch, we are demonstrating that excellence and equity can advance together. And that science, when pursued collectively, becomes a bridge between communities as well as a force for discovery.

If the last century of university innovation proved what research can do for individual states, the next will show what it can do for the world.

Brian Fox is the Chair of the Department of Biochemistry in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Tulio de Oliveira is the Director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) at Stellenbosch University.