  Innovative ideas are often situated where disciplines meet, and
socio-economic problems generally require contributions from several
disciplines. Ways to stimulate interdisciplinary research collaborations are
therefore an increasing point of attention for science policy. There is concern
that 'regular' funding programs, involving advice from disciplinary experts and
discipline-bound viewpoints, may not adequately stimulate, select or evaluate
this kind of research. This has led to specific policies aimed at
interdisciplinary research in many countries. There is however at this moment
no generally accepted method to adequately select and evaluate
interdisciplinary research. In the vast context of different forms of
interdisciplinarity, this paper aims to contribute to the debate on best
practices to stimulate and support interdisciplinary research collaborations.
It describes the selection procedures and results of a university program
supporting networks formed 'bottom up', integrating expertise from different
disciplines. The program's recent evaluation indicates that it is successful in
selecting and supporting the interdisciplinary synergies aimed for, responding
to a need experienced in the field. The analysis further confirms that
potential for interdisciplinary collaboration is present in all disciplines.
