Speculative Technologies

tl;dr: Applications are now open for 1-day workshops to help ambitious researchers learn more about coordinated research programs and develop ideas for them. We started the Brains program to help ambitious researchers start “coordinated research programs” – ARPA programs, Focused Research Organizations (FROs), and other research programs that aren’t good fits for either a startup or an academic lab. However, we learned that many people are not sure if they or their ideas are suitable for Brains. They have hunches for ideas that might be an incredible program but it’s not clear that it makes sense as a coordinated research program, have an idea that needs more work before it’s ready for three months of intense acceleration, or several ideas that they’d like to narrow down. We’re running Brainstem Workshops to help! These free 1-day workshops are designed to help folks understand what coordinated research programs are, what sorts of ideas are good fits for them, and to help refine those ideas to the point where they might be a good fit for our next round of the Brains research accelerator (applications open in September). We’ll be holding three Brainstem workshops in different locations:  1. The Internet (virtual) on September 12th (Continental US hours) 2. Boston on September 18th 3. SF on September 27th The workshops will include panels and Q&A with people who have done all sorts of coordinated research programs — from ARPA programs to FROs — and activities to help refine ideas. If you or someone you know wants to learn more about coordinated research and refine a program idea, here is the application form: https://lnkd.in/dfYFwKNA If you or your organization is interested in sponsoring a workshop, please reach out to [email protected]!

I'm spinning up the Impossible Fibers program at Speculative Technologies, where we are revolutionizing fiber spinning with a protein-first approach. I gave a version of this talk in April at the commencement of the Brains Program. I cut it down to a crisp 12 minute overview of this groundbreaking initiative. This is just the start, so feel free to share your thoughts, questions, or ideas in the comments! https://lnkd.in/d-3j96zj #synbio #innovation #protein #fibers #textiles #biomaterials #bioinspired #biomimicry #sustainability #manufacturing

Are you curious about research that’s ambitious and useful, but a poor fit for both academia and startups? Intrigued by the Brains Research Accelerator, but don’t know if your idea is a good fit? Do you have too many ideas? Only a vague idea? We’re holding “Brainstem” workshops to help! These 1-day workshops will help folks understand what sorts of ideas are good fits for  “coordinated research programs” – ARPA programs, Focused Research Organizations (FROs), and other research programs that aren’t good fits for either a startup or an academic lab – and help refine those ideas. You can see if you would be a good fit for our next round of Brains (applications open in September)! We’re going to hold a handful of these workshops in September and are gauging interest to figure out where we should hold them. So if you’re interested in having one near you, please fill out this poll: https://lnkd.in/d3WEu9vG

I’m excited to release something we’ve been working on for a long time: the Research Leaders Playbook: https://lnkd.in/dJafdPmR While there are many resources for people who want to start startups or run academic labs, tacit knowledge dominates how to start and run research efforts like ARPA programs, FROs, or what we do at Spectech: work that is beyond the scope of a single academic lab, but doesn’t make sense for a company or startup. By making it easier to lead ambitious research programs, we hope to encourage more people to start them, with all their wonderful downstream effects. The playbook is a synthesis of ideas and wisdom from many people and domains — current and former ARPA program managers and directors; startups; academia; history; and more.