Calling All Contraceptive Researchers and Developers – Join the Knowledge Exchange Revolution!

I am always intrigued to learn about the pathways people take to get to contraceptive research and development (R&D). I’ve heard many of these stories and not one is the same. They were influenced by a mentor or professor. They attended a conference session or read a publication. They applied to a fellowship or job opportunity on a whim. And these experts’ sectors are just as varied: bioengineers, gynecologists, endocrinologists, chemists, reproductive biologists, public health practitioners, social behavioral scientists: They are all critical players in contraceptive innovation. But while this diversity of background strengthens the field, it also challenges communication and coordination efforts. 

This is a problem worth solving because, for any field of scientific research, communication and coordination are essential. We call it “knowledge exchange,” and its purpose is to bridge the gap between research and practice by:

• Coordinating efforts within a field, promoting work that builds rather than duplicates
• Forming partnerships for more effective research
• Sparking interest in a field of study and cultivating in new talent and investment
• Communicating with and gaining the trust of the public
• Advocating with key decision-makers

The field of contraceptive R&D has not historically benefited from a strong or coordinated knowledge exchange effort. Organizations like the Male Contraceptive Initiative, the Initiative for Multipurpose Prevention Technologies and Impact Global Health have played pivotal roles in knowledge promotion and coordination. And funders—including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the NICHD (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)—have also contributed. But these efforts are often narrowly-focused and not always researcher-centered.

In 2015 the Contraceptive Technology Innovation (CTI) Exchange formed to fill this knowledge exchange gap, and despite success in meeting some of these needs, there is still room for improvement and growth. For this reason, in 2024, the CTI Exchange team embarked on a co-creation process to enrich knowledge exchange for the contraceptive R&D field as a whole and to inform its own redesign and relaunch efforts. These findings were recently detailed in a commentary written by the CTI Exchange team. This co-creation process, informed by design thinking principles, collected information and ideas from 55 participants across 35 organizations and 11 countries, identifying three significant needs::

1. Credible, current and creative field-specific content
2. Curated, aggregated and easy-to-use resources
3. Audience-driven knowledge exchange

Throughout this process, we also gained insights into the hurdles we must overcome to meet these needs. Lack of funding has stoked a competitive scarcity mindset in the field that can be difficult to get past. Also, many researchers understandably have guarded not only the results of their work but even the lessons they have learned along the way due to fears and assumptions about divulging proprietary information, weakening their reputation or jeopardizing the financial horizon of their projects. 

Meanwhile, there is a need to remove the barriers to entry to this field, especially for students and emerging professionals and for researchers in low- and middle-income countries—not the least because young people and people from LMICs are some of the current and potential users of contraceptives, and the products themselves will be improved by richer representation in the development process. 

We are dedicating 2025 to relaunching and disseminating the new CTI Exchange platform, and we are calling for a swell of knowledge exchange efforts in the field of contraceptive R&D to prompt and promote health and well-being worldwide. The products themselves and the research leading up to and around them all will be improved through deeper, more meaningful and accessible exchange of ideas, questions, resources and lessons. We encourage contraceptive innovators and knowledge exchange specialists to make use of and contribute to the CTI Exchange and apply our findings to shape their own work. If we are all guided by a similar vision and set of strategies, we will be that much more effective in our collective efforts. 

In short, we need a knowledge exchange revolution. Are you ready to join us?