Positive Black Swans: How to fund research so that it generates great ideas

Interesting to see the Howard Hughes Medical Institute mention. I'm a Fellow at the Janelia Farm Research Campus of HHMI. I get a big budget, two people in my group, the ability to use massive internal resources (electrical and mechanical engineers, software developers, histology, etc.), no teaching requirements, no administrative requirements, and a 5 year contract.

I'm swinging for the fences, no point in doing otherwise; this is my shot.

If anybody is curious: http://www.hhmi.org/research/fellows/bock.html

Browse big data: http://openconnectomeproject.org/catmaid/?pid=4&zp=0&...

Papers: http://reid.med.harvard.edu/pdf/Bock-Lee-etal-Reid-2011-Natu..., http://reid.med.harvard.edu/pdf/Bock-Lee-etal-Reid-2011-Natu...

And (last but not least) I am hiring: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2504657

That's how ARPA used to work: find the best people, give them the money they needed to do the research they wanted to do. Worked pretty well.

The analysis of the results of risky blue sky vs. safe incremental approaches seems relevant to startup incubators.