[laarc]

I'd like to see YC Research create Academia 2.0. The current university research model is trending towards broken. Scientists are forced to chase funding. That's not inherently bad, but it's reached a degree that subverts the scientific method.

Creating a new model seems more valuable than specific areas of research.

As far as specific projects go: big discoveries are almost never centrally planned. It might be important to set up the environment to let small ideas grow from acorns into oak trees.

A research team needs to be able to pivot like a startup, and current systems don't really allow for that.

[adamboulanger]

Downstream from academia, how about education? It's not too hard to imagine what a great education would be, and yet, you know, schools, here we are. Parents with any number of opportunities from home-school to public to private still find themselves unhappily optimizing among several unpalatable choices. Looking at something like Musk is doing, or even more ambitious, Khan academy as an experimental platform, you'd think there's a lot of room here. I just wonder how it would best met by a small crack research team with a 25 year mandate. Unsure.