"Let’s kickstart science in America"

“It’s not all bad news for the thousands of science and conservation ideas that fall outside the traditional funding rubric. Fortunately, new citizen science models are emerging — along with a new class of philanthropic backers to fill the funding voids left by the NSF and the NIH. Our experience developing OpenROV (an open-source underwater robot) into one of the largest (by volume) underwater robot manufacturers in the world is illustrative of this shift…This experience made us think: How can we make more microsponsorship opportunities available in science, exploration and conservation? OpenExplorer was our response. Instead of providing seed funding, we’ve created a model that gives everyone a chance to sponsor new ideas, research and expeditions in science and engineering."

http://thegovlab.org/lets-kickstart-science-in-america/

We definitely need new models, and I like the model of private foundations picking up some of the slack. However, there are concerns about who should be deciding scientific priorities. *link to below**

Related to: the Postdocalypse