Transdisciplinarity: Science for the public good.

Transdisciplinarity was discussed publicly 50 years ago at an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) international seminar in France. Today, the term transdisciplinarity is still being debated and is often contested.However, private foundations andpublic agencies are funding transdisciplinary projects intended to respond to complex societal conditions.1 In 1970, transdisciplinary contributions were defined as those establishing a common system of axioms using systemic logics and the synthesis of higher-order disciplinary relationships that distinguish transdisciplinary from multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions. The proceedings of the OECD seminar confirmed there was no agreed terminology that distinguished transdisciplinarity from interdisciplinarity.2 Although the development of transdisciplinarity will not be presented here, key concepts and principles that were discussed 50 years ago are recalled as the foundation on which the future of transdisciplinary contributions would be created. Notably, questions discussed at theOECD seminar included: