Brussels

An ambitious attempt to create a utopian environment for advanced, interdisciplinary research has come to grief. Starlab, a privately funded centre in Brussels that encouraged its researchers to generate innovative ideas, free from the pressure to publish or to develop products, went bust last month. Its 100 staff are now looking for new jobs.

Walter de Brouwer, a former mathematician, established Starlab in 1996 with US$5 million that he made in computer publishing. Loosely modelled on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, Starlab started with a core of computer scientists and experts in multimedia technology. As technology stocks soared, de Brouwer raised money from like-minded investors, and expanded Starlab to hire physicists interested in quantum computing and nanotechnology. Biology labs were added in 1999.

Many research centres are trying to forge links between these disciplines. But Starlab differed in its rejection of traditional corporate or academic structures and quality assessment, and its anarchic approach to cross-disciplinary collaboration. De Brouwer's philosophy was that Starlab was created to generate ideas, not products, as reflected in one of the centre's slogans: “We do not make things that work.” He describes peer review as “the calibration of mediocrity performed by bearded men”.

Starlab provided a haven for scientists with unconventional ideas. Hugo de Garis, for example, was exploring a new approach to artificial intelligence, dubbed 'brain building', in which he tried to simulate animal cognitive abilities by wiring together reconfigurable computer chips. Central to Starlab's ethos was its weekly brainstorming session, known as the 'great ideas club', in which scientists from diverse backgrounds would discuss one another's work and dream up potential projects.

When Nature visited Starlab in May, the enthusiasm of many of its scientists was obvious. “People are much less sceptical at Starlab,” said stem-cell biologist Isabelle Bouhon, who was collaborating with mathematician Keith Still to study the 'emergent properties' of developing cells and tissues.

Paradise lost: Starlab's elegant Belgian base will no longer echo to brainstorming sessions. Credit: STARLAB

But by then, the writing was on the wall. Too few of Starlab's 'great ideas' were attracting commercial interest, and investors had declined to buy bonds in the centre. By the end of May, Starlab was unable to pay its staff. And on 11 June, when a group of existing investors withdrew their support, de Brouwer was forced to call in receivers.

Starlab's remaining assets, including its elegant, former embassy building, may have to be sold to cover debts of some US$3.5 million. Some former staff have been in talks with the Brussels regional government in the hope of resurrecting the centre in a more conventional commercial guise. But for now, things look bleak. “All the scientists have had to be fired,” says de Brouwer. “I am trying to ensure that they get five months' salary.”

The leaders of a second Starlab, at the Fabra Observatory on the outskirts of Barcelona, hope to survive the demise of its parent by raising further investment on their own. The Spanish lab currently employs 10 researchers and had plans to expand.

As former employees in Brussels ponder their futures, some have concluded that Starlab's experiment in research organization was a step too far. De Garis complains that he was unable to build a research group. “What I really need now is security,” he says.

→ http://www.starlab.org