The basic structure for this part iii of the "what would X look like if invented today" series is in the mind map at http://www.mindmeister.com/3016825... , with background via http://friendfeed.com/search... . Main points: More flexibility in the models of funding, more attention to technological shifts in the way people (including scientists) communicate. Such has also been argued at http://ff.im/9GGRn and http://2020science.org/2009... . - Daniel Mietchen

Just noticed that we used different notions of "public funding environments" in the mind map so far. What I had in mind was to have "funding environments" in public, much like what fundscience.org plan to do. Some of the added comments seem to have used the term in the sense of environments for "public funding". Both notions are certainly valid, and we should think of ways to keep them apart. - Daniel Mietchen

good point re making this difference clear(er) in the map - Claudia Koltzenburg

I would like to see a lot more funding of contests - Jean-Claude Bradley

Yes, Jean-Claude, contests and prizes with a competitive element are definitely on the list. If you have good examples from the recent past, please post them here. - Daniel Mietchen

"More money for science is always good. Or is it? Six experts tell Nature what concerns them most about the US stimulus spending and suggest ways to ensure that it benefits research and society in the long term." - http://www.nature.com/nature... - Daniel Mietchen

Daniel -for a recent example of a contest for research: http://onschallenge.wikispaces.com/ - Jean-Claude Bradley

Thanks, Jean-Claude. It is noted along with http://www.claymath.org/millenn... and http://www.xprize.org/ as an effort to make the chain from achievement to award both shorter and more transparent than currently usual. - Daniel Mietchen

Daniel - the thing I like about contests is that barrier to participation is orders of magnitude lower than traditional funding - there is no need to convince anyone that what you are attempting will actually work before doing anything. Of course this limits the type of projects that can be run but it still applies to a large number. - Jean-Claude Bradley

Has there been any recent follow-up study to "Activities, costs and funding flows in the scholarly communications system" at http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-wor... ? - Daniel Mietchen

The Wellcome Trust weighs in on reforming science funding: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story... - see also http://ff.im/bljS1 . - Daniel Mietchen

thanks for the pointer, Daniel - Claudia Koltzenburg

Let's not forget that http://www.submeta.org/ provided funding for http://onschallenge.wikispaces.com/ - certainly a "basic research" funding model that looks promising - Daniel Mietchen

One more: http://ff.im/cHoa5 on HHMI's focus on "people, not projects" - http://pazoulay.scripts.mit.edu/docs... . - Daniel Mietchen

Daniel, not that I have anything against HHMI, but that mantra is not exclusive to them. For example Max-Planck Society has exactly the same approach (and I would say that at 10% of HHMI's budget and having twice as much Nobel prize winners, MPG looks a bit more effective ;) ). - Pawel Szczesny

Didn't mean this to be exclusive, and I am well aware of MPG approaches (been there for a while). - Daniel Mietchen

"I wish there was a universal format for submitting grant proposals; authors could post proposals (once!) & then the funders bid on them." (rephrased from http://ff.im/5VwEI ). I would add that the process should be public. fundscience.org plan to go this way. - Daniel Mietchen

How do funders and scientists rank "more attention to technological shifts" against the "scientific expertise they have"? One says "change" the other "keep doing what you know"! Are those two things not disagreeing each other? In other words, who would you fund first, the "crazy new idea" or the "conservative stuff"? - joergkurtwegner

I would think funders should have (as they do now) the liberty of choosing their priorities, and in many cases this will be a mixture of many incremental projects and some revolutionary ones. The main shift in the system would thus be to have just ONE avenue for proposals, and to make it public. - Daniel Mietchen

On the role of rules in creativity and innovation: http://ff.im/cRs7K . - Daniel Mietchen

Interesting collection of thoughts on peer review, much of it relevant to funding: http://post.queensu.ca/~forsdy... . - Daniel Mietchen

Another interesting one: http://scienceblogs.com/cortex... . See also http://ff.im/cEiof . - Daniel Mietchen

Interesting: There is a chance that funders may actually listen: http://ff.im/fEqJG . - Daniel Mietchen

I'll let you guys know what their feedback was - I know Moshe Pritsker from JoVE will be at the NSF panel - other panelists TBA - Jean-Claude Bradley

Thanks, Jean-Claude. Further relevant post: http://ff.im/fGr3B . - Daniel Mietchen

thanks Daniel - excellent post - Jean-Claude Bradley

One more: http://ff.im/fI1oI . And yet another one: http://scienceblogs.com/drugmon... . - Daniel Mietchen

An image: http://ff.im/giuen and another preparatory post: http://ff.im/gpry3 . Plan to write this part III up over the next two weeks or so. - Daniel Mietchen

I am homing in on this one and think it would have greatest chances to have an impact if it could be provided in a format of a poster or a few slides that funders could be encouraged to reuse. Any suggestions as to formats suitable for this? The text will of course also be blogged (or co-blogged if anyone is interested) but I really want to make an effort to reach the target audience because that is where the most important changes have to happen. - Daniel Mietchen

One way to do this would be to take a depiction of the research cycle and add comments on every way in which funders could interact with it - perhaps colour-coding the long-term suitability of each strategy. - Daniel Mietchen

Anyone know a collaborative platform to edit posters, other than Google Docs? - Daniel Mietchen

"add comments on every way in which funders could interact with it" great suggestion, Daniel - Claudia Koltzenburg

I have started a Google Doc presentation on this at http://docs.google.com/present... . Everyone welcome to join in! - Daniel Mietchen

Document is all set up now (cf. http://ff.im/hc4YL ) and shall serve as one of several bases for discussion at http://ff.im/gaWDe . - Daniel Mietchen

An experimental description of the current state of research grant peer review is at http://ff.im/hsSJO . - Daniel Mietchen

Further finger training at http://ff.im/hsSJO and http://ff.im/hylRU and http://ff.im/hzyWW - these posts shall be linked from http://docs.google.com/present... to provide background information on individual aspects of research funding. See also http://ff.im/kipeU and http://ff.im/m39l9 . Further suggestions much welcome. - Daniel Mietchen

4 July @Torino: http://www.esof2010.org/schedul... - Claudia Koltzenburg

Planning to submit a proposal for an ESOF 2012 session on "Research funding 2.0" (or so; cf. http://ff.im/EhgP5 ), largely based on the materials collected here. Collaborators welcome! Some more food for thought: http://www.slate.com/id... . - Daniel Mietchen