Funding Curiosity: Kickstarter, OpenExplorer and the Future of Grant Funding

Kickstarter doesn't have an official "Science" category, but don't let that mislead you. The Kickstarter community has changed the rules for science, exploration and conservation by creating a whole suite of new tools and... [ view full abstract ]

Kickstarter doesn't have an official "Science" category, but don't let that mislead you. The Kickstarter community has changed the rules for science, exploration and conservation by creating a whole suite of new tools and technologies that allow us to ask entirely new questions and go places many of us never imagined. I could point to the ArduSat project (now launching dozens of satelites into space for monitoring purposes) or the Rainforest Connection project (planning their next 3 expeditions to use old cellphones to thwart poachers) or the OpenPCR project (which has been the catalyst for a new DIYBio toolset). The list goes on and on. More than make a list, I can attest to the effects first-hand; our story with OpenROV, an open source underwater robot, is as improbable and wonderful as I could have ever imagined.

More importantly, Kickstarter showed us the playbook: creative projects of all shapes and sizes can come to life with the support of a committed group of people and just enough money to pull it off. The same is possible for pursuits of curiosity. But the model is a little different. OpenExplorer is our community's attempt to achieve this, but there are others, and hopefully more coming.

The important part of is not which model is correct. It's that these new models don't come from the traditional rubric. Building a new funding model for science and exploration is not going to come from the NSF. It will very likely start with citizen scientists.