Posted for Declan Butler
The pair of 800 pound gorillas that are Microsoft and Google are shaking the cages of convention in traditional disease research. This week, the charity arms of both – the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its Sergey and Larry counterpart Google.org – announced millions of dollars for blue skies research, along the lines of the US military’s DARPA whose motto has been to support “revolutionary, high-payoff research that bridges the gap between fundamental discoveries and their military use.” Likewise, Google and Microsoft are trying to attract new blood and ideas, for medical payoffs in the fields of detecting, preventing, treating, and controlling killer diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and pandemic flu.
Today, Microsoft announced the 104 winners, from 22 countries and six continents (see graphic below), of a competition in novel ideas for global health (list of winners). “Projects cover a wide range of innovation, including a “mosquito flashlight” to prevent malaria transmission by disrupting wavelengths, self-destructing TB cells, and studying anti-infective properties of the eye to help prevent HIV/AIDS and other infectious disease,” the company says in a press release.
The grants are small, $100,000 each, but are designed to fund ‘exploratory’ ideas which to qualify had to “fall outside current scientific paradigms” but which if successful could have major impact. Winners are also eligible to compete for phase 2 funding of $1 million. The grant proposals, which had to be kept to just 2 pages, were sent out blind to reviewers, so the ideas were judged on their merits and not on who was making them.
Meanwhile Google.org yesterday announced $14 million in new ‘exploratory’ grants within the “Predict and Prevent” initiative it announced in January. For more on that see my Q&A the same month with Larry Brilliant, executive director of Google.org. See also Eduardo Jezierski’s blog for updates on one of the projects being supported, Instedd [Innovative Support to Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters].
Like the Gate’s Foundation, Google is looking for ideas hors norme: “Business as usual won’t prevent the next AIDS or SARS. The teams we’re funding today are on the frontiers of digital and genetic early detection technology. We hope that their work, with partners across environmental, animal, and human health boundaries, will help solve centuries-old problems and save millions of lives,” said Brilliant yesterday (list of the new projects).
Google.org has so far spent $100 million to support projects, not just in disease, but also in energy (full list). That’s far behind the billions already spent by Gates, as Google is at the stage of funding exploratory grants and intends to ramp up later – it has set aside 1% of its equity and 1% of its profit for charity spending. On its 10th anniversary last month it also launched a new competition, Project 10^100 (pronounced Project 10 to the 100th) with $10 million for five winners with world changing ideas.