fornivate

Fornivate is a neologistic verb used to describe the act of actively combining elements to foster innovation through cross-disciplinary collaboration. In business and technology discourse, it denotes structured efforts to connect diverse actors—such as startups, researchers, designers, and customers—to co-create novel solutions. The term is typically transitive, as in “to fornivate ecosystems,” and is sometimes used in noun form as fornivation, referring to the practice or process of fornivation.

Etymology: fornivate blends forge and innovate, signaling a deliberate process of shaping ideas by pairing different inputs. It is believed to have emerged in industry writing during the 2010s and remains predominantly found in niche or speculative contexts rather than standard dictionaries.

Usage: In practice, fornivation programs emphasize collaboration over competition, open sharing of early-stage ideas, and iterative prototyping. Proponents argue that fornivation accelerates invention by leveraging cross-domain knowledge, while critics note that the term can be vague and overlapping with established concepts such as open innovation, co-creation, and ecosystem building.

Variants and related terms: fornivator (one who fornivates), fornivationist (a theorist or practitioner of fornivation), fornivational (adjective form). Related concepts include open innovation, cross-disciplinary collaboration, design thinking, and startup accelerators.

See also: open innovation, co-creation, ecosystem building, cross-disciplinary collaboration.