Certainly! I went back and forth about which EG post to point towards, but decided “When do ideas get easier to find?” was most relevant here.
Also, I suspect "How to be a great science philanthropist?" might yield different answers than "How to be a great scientific field builder?"
WW happens to be right in the middle of the Venn diagram—good lessons for all.
Both seem like worthwhile questions. The field builder question is more exciting to me because I've seen people start—and be effective—with very little initial money, which suggests it might be more scalable.
The Climate Party - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-climate-party/ - in India is driving a cross-disciplinary approach to building crucial climate solutions by making unlikely people (already working on different problems) to collaborate.
The rise of field builders feels like the missing link between breakthroughs and impact. Science has always needed more matchmaker, people who see the invisible lines between an idea, funding, and momentum.
How can funding ecosystems strike a balance between these two mindsets without compromising quality?
Agree completely with this, but we are also frequently looking at private sector funders. And we idealize those in the White House or in academia, where many of us have been innovating at the critical margins for years in the public sector. The same issue of small grants comes in government as well. When I was at DOE, it was completely impractical to do small grants to the national labs, where we either had large contracts or had them work alongside private sector partners, rather than let them be researchers. I created a Seedlings program that started up a small, minimal reporting, seed grant program that has had phenomenal results. Similarly, small prizes through innovative practitioners have had enormous results. Would be happy to talk to you about this model, as we’ve never done a formal write up but it was one of the most impactful things I created in my 15 years in govt.
feels like a warren weaver thing...https://www.freaktakes.com/p/a-report-on-scientific-branch-creation
Certainly! I went back and forth about which EG post to point towards, but decided “When do ideas get easier to find?” was most relevant here.
Also, I suspect "How to be a great science philanthropist?" might yield different answers than "How to be a great scientific field builder?"
WW happens to be right in the middle of the Venn diagram—good lessons for all.
Both seem like worthwhile questions. The field builder question is more exciting to me because I've seen people start—and be effective—with very little initial money, which suggests it might be more scalable.
The Climate Party - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-climate-party/ - in India is driving a cross-disciplinary approach to building crucial climate solutions by making unlikely people (already working on different problems) to collaborate.
The rise of field builders feels like the missing link between breakthroughs and impact. Science has always needed more matchmaker, people who see the invisible lines between an idea, funding, and momentum.
How can funding ecosystems strike a balance between these two mindsets without compromising quality?
Agree completely with this, but we are also frequently looking at private sector funders. And we idealize those in the White House or in academia, where many of us have been innovating at the critical margins for years in the public sector. The same issue of small grants comes in government as well. When I was at DOE, it was completely impractical to do small grants to the national labs, where we either had large contracts or had them work alongside private sector partners, rather than let them be researchers. I created a Seedlings program that started up a small, minimal reporting, seed grant program that has had phenomenal results. Similarly, small prizes through innovative practitioners have had enormous results. Would be happy to talk to you about this model, as we’ve never done a formal write up but it was one of the most impactful things I created in my 15 years in govt.
Thanks for the comment, Jenn. I would love to hear the Seedlings story! I’ll reach out.