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Unblock research bottlenecks with non-profit start-ups

‘Focused research organizations’ can take on mid-scale projects that don’t get tackled by academia, venture capitalists or government labs.
  1. Adam Marblestone

    1. Adam Marblestone is chief executive of Convergent Research and a consultant for the Astera Institute, Berkeley, California, USA.

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  2. Anastasia Gamick

    1. Anastasia Gamick is chief operations officer at Convergent Research and an adviser for the Astera Institute, Berkeley, California, USA.

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  3. Tom Kalil

    1. Tom Kalil is chief innovation officer at Schmidt Futures, New York City, New York, USA.

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  4. Cheryl Martin

    1. Cheryl Martin is founder and principal of Harwich Partners, Harwich, Massachusetts, USA.

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  5. Milan Cvitkovic

    1. Milan Cvitkovic is a researcher at Convergent Research in Arlington, Massachusetts, USA.

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  6. Samuel G. Rodriques

    1. Samuel G. Rodriques is leader of the Applied Biotechnology Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute, London.

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Confocal micrograph of neurons in a macaque brain labelled with different colours

Mouse neurons imaged using a method similar to one being developed as a high-throughput tool by a focused research organization. Credit: P. W. Tillberg et al./Nature Biotechnol.

It takes more than a great idea to accomplish a great project. Our research and experience have convinced us that many worthy projects wither or are never launched because neither academic laboratories, start-up firms nor government facilities can support them.

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Nature 601, 188-190 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00018-5

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Competing Interests

Financial competing interests: A.M. is an employee of Convergent Research and a paid consultant for the Astera Institute. A.G. is an employee of Convergent Research and a paid adviser for the Astera Institute. M.C. is an employee of Convergent Research. T.K. is an employee of Schmidt Futures. S.G.R. is an employee of the Francis Crick Institute. Non-financial competing interests: A.M. is an unpaid board member of the non-profits PARPA, New Science, Institute for Simulation Intelligence and Norn Group. C.M. is an unpaid adviser for the non-profit Actuate Innovation.

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