Kickscience
Kickscience is a London Institute programme to fund specific research projects with private, focused donations.
Throughout the 20th century, curiousity-driven research was funded mainly by governments. But as government support for basic science decreases, the philanthropy of the new economy is shaping the future of discovery. Individuals and organizations are playing an important role in determining the most important lines of research.
You can decide which of our research projects gets advanced by supporting it specifically. Any funds that you give for a project will be spent entirely on that project. Donors are listed on the Institute website and kept abreast of the progress of the research. Donors of £5000 or more are acknowledged in our research publications.
General dynamics of technological change
In biology, the theory of evolution has had tremendous impact on our understanding of biodiversity, ecology, genetic disorders and artificial selection. In technology, the rapid pace of change across many distinct ecosystems suggests that innovation may have its own rules of behaviour. Yet our understanding of what drives innovation, and how to direct and accelerate it, remains poor.
Technologies are created over time out of component sub-technologies in a recursive way. But it is unclear which technologies become building blocks for other new technologies, or how they get combined. We will develop a mathematical theory of technological innovation in which a technology becomes a building block if doing so increases the likelihood of discovering further new technologies.
Technology reduces human toil and suffering and increases opportunities for self-actualization. Our insights into what drives technological change will help accelerate innovation and direct it towards those problems which are most pressing. Because economic growth is tied to technological development, this work could help unlock progress in developing nations, where it is most needed.
£220,000
Target
£169,935
Raised so far
3
Backers
Most recent donations
$117,000
Boston Consulting group
9 years ago
£5,000
Porter Foundation
5 years ago
£73,529
Boston Consulting Group
8 years ago