NSF's big bet on outsider science

Earlier this month NSF announced its new X-Labs program, a $1.5 billion, decade-long initiative to fund independent, milestone-driven research teams working outside of traditional university and corporate structures. The program aims to address a long-held concern that existing grant mechanisms and institutional models aren’t well suited for team-oriented, engineering heavy, long-term research efforts. This is a relatively small bet, all things considered (it’s ~1% of NSF’s annual budget); but it’s an exciting one that will test a new model for doing science, and support a new ecosystem of research labs taking big swings.