Lyn Gardner and colleagues outline the philosophy, principles and development behind projects to improve the links between nursing practice and academia

As the gap between practice and academia grows, strategies are needed to ensure effective communication between the sectors. Failure to do this means nurses on the ward are at risk of becoming little more than technicians. Projects such as City Nurses and those linked to the Wales Centre for Practice Innovation are aimed at reducing the physical, social, psychological and professional gap between practice and academia. A practice innovation network connects and helps publicise a growing number of practice innovation units where clinicians and academics collaborate. Often the basic initiatives that result can have a greater impact on the lives of service users than larger and more ambitious projects.