DIFFER seminar: Public funding for science: avoiding risk bias

Abstract: Is the government funding system sufficiently supportive of the science needed for key breakthroughs?Does the system of funding encourage sufficient risk-taking to induce scientists to explore transformative research paths? 

We begin with a brief recall of the challenges faced by scientists who did pioneering-research related to mRNA-based drugs in getting support for their research. We describe measures developed to distinguish risky from non-risky research and their footprint. We review empirical work suggesting that funding is biased against risky research and provide a framework for thinking about why principal investigators, panelists and funding agencies may eschew risky research. We close with a discussion of interventions that government agencies and universities could follow if they wish to avoid a bias against risk.