Science: Disrupt
Podcast discussions with the innovators, iconoclasts, and entrepreneurs intent on creating change in science.
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Research groups going to war again over small business funding
Academic and entrepreneurial communities battle over bills to boost the research set-aside for SBIR
Twelve principles for open innovation 2.0
Evolve governance structures, practices and metrics to accelerate innovation in an era of digital connectivity, writes Martin Curley.
Q&A: Helga Nowotny
Austrian social scientist Helga Nowotny was president of the European Research Council between 2010 and 2013. Now a professor emerita of ETH Zurich and author of The Cunning of Uncertainty (Polity, 2015), Nowotny discusses the growing pressure to capitalize on academic research, and how countries can get it right in the absence of a universal recipe.
In science, follow the money - if you can
In science as in politics, most people agree that transparency is essential. Top journals now require authors to disclose their funding sources so that readers can judge the possibility of bias, and the British Medical Journal recently required authors to disclose their data as well so that experts can run independent analyses of the results. But as transparency becomes the standard, many academics are resisting the trend without pushback from their universities.
Why scientists should learn to embrace failure
Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley live by the motto of “Fail fast, fail often." Scientists would do well to likewise embrace failure.
Nature Outlook on Innovation
In the fiercely competitive world of drug discovery and development, secrecy is no longer as important as it once was.
A guide to new data and measurement in innovation policy
A look at novel methods to improve measurement of innovation and growth in the modern economy.
Crazy diamonds
Billionaires are funding lots of grandiose plans. Welcome their ambition
Royal Society statement on changes to the research, higher education and innovation landscapes
Royal Society statement on changes to the research, higher education and innovation landscapes
Royal Society's President, Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, on the key principles to guide the future of UK's research.
Are the disruptions of uberisation a bane or boon for science?
For every characteristic of uberisation, there is a parallel in the world of research. This raises the question of whether research was "uberised" before Uber even existed?
Supporting Europe's innovators through open innovation
Supporting Europe's innovators through open innovation - 2014-2019
EU excludes open source from new tech standards
Op-ed: Big US companies could use patent licensing to throttle EU startups.
When the payoff for academics drops, commercialization suffers
A 2002 law in Norway that ended the country's long-running practice of giving academics 100% ownership of their intellectual property and adopted a U.S.-style system caused the per capita number of patents from academics to drop by 53% in the next 5 years.
Innovative Companies Get Their Best Ideas from Academic Research
Government-funded research is behind any significant new product
Harsh grades for ‘Europe’s MIT’
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) gets poor grades from the European Union’s financial watchdog.
In death, there is life
Big-name scientists may end up stifling progress in their fields
Exploring the effectiveness of research and innovation policies among European Union countries
Exploring the effectiveness of research and innovation policies among European Union countries
In this paper we explore the effectiveness of selected research and innovation policies among EU countries.
Lessons from the startup world
Professor Matthew Wallenstein wants to bring what he has learned as an entrepreneur to his colleagues in academia.
Apple launches CareKit to let people develop their own health apps
Apple announced today the launch of CareKit, a new open source software platform that allows people to develop their own health care apps.
Google’s artificial intelligence program, AlphaGo, just won its second Go match against a human
Google’s artificial intelligence program, AlphaGo, just won its second Go match against a human
The contest is another milestone in AI as Lee Sedol, Go's best player, is defeated again
Error and Discovery: Why Repeating Can Be New
The fascinating story of the discovery of nuclear fission began with an error that earned Enrico Fermi (see picture) a Nobel Prize for the apparent but incorrect discovery of the transuranic elements. Careful repetition and extension of the experiments finally led to the correct interpretation by Hahn, Meitner, Strassmann, Frisch, and Bohr as an effect from nuclear fission of the “small impurity” of (0.7 %) contained in natural uranium.
Put innovation science at the heart of discovery
The success rate of discoveries would be improved if we could find out how to innovate.
Study show that elite scientists really do hold back science
Scientists can be stubborn. They can use their gravitas to steamroll new ideas. Which means those new ideas often only prevail when older scientists die.
Tradition and innovation in scientists' research strategies
An analysis of the essential tension identifies institutional forces that sustain tradition and suggestions of policy interventions to foster innovation.
Investment firms nurture university start-ups
Unique companies invest early and often to develop technology from the ivory tower.
Britain’s R&D funding needs no innovation
Turning research grants into loans risks stymieing successful industry
Does innovation always come from science?
Essay triggers lively arguments over how basic science should be funded.
The case for abolishing patents (yes, all of them)
Would we be possibly be better off without any patents at all?
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