Deputy head of US DARPA to lead UK replica agency

The deputy director of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is to lead the UK’s answer to the agency.

Peter Highnam, who was born in the UK and whose career encompasses several US research agencies, will start as the inaugural chief executive of the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) in May.

Like DARPA, ARIA promises to focus on high risk projects with the aim of bringing about “transformative technological change” – and with the acknowledgement that most projects will fail.

The plan is for ARIA to set its own agenda and maintain autonomy from ministers. ARIA also promises “financial flexibility and operational freedom”, allowing it to run prizes and dole out small grants without lengthy open competitions.

“Peter Highnam’s appointment as ARIA’s first CEO will enable our ground breaking new agency to push the boundaries of high-risk science in the 21st century,” said UK science minister George Freeman. “His impressive wealth of experience puts him in a unique position to lead the direction of funding for the most ground-breaking projects in the UK.”

The UK has put £800 million behind ARIA, reportedly for its first five years of operation. DARPA’s budget in 2021 was $3.5 billion.

UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s former adviser, Dominic Cummings, is said to be the architect of ARIA. Speaking to parliament’s science and technology committee in March 2021, Cummings said the agency needs a visionary at the helm, and should seek out radical science and technology ideas from young people who are shut out of the current funding reward system.