Leaders of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency set out how projects are selected, risk tolerance, and who owns IP arising from the £800M it has to invest
Ilan Gur, CEO of the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency. Photo: mitenergyconference.org
It’s almost two years since the UK established the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria), a funding body designed to take big swings on high-risk research, from developing synthetic plants with novel functions, to geoengineering techniques that will artificially cool the planet.
Aria is one of several newish national innovation agencies modelled, at least in part, on the US’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), aiming to give powerful programme directors serious budgets and freedom to stimulate breakthrough R&D. The US has recently aped the Darpa model in health and infrastructure, and Germany established its own innovation agency, Sprind, five years ago.
Last week, Aria’s chief executive…
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