Innovation Policy

We hope to safely accelerate scientific and technological progress to make life better for billions of people.

Historically, economic growth and scientific innovation have created enormous social benefits, lifting billions of people out of poverty and improving health outcomes around the world. At the same time, innovation carries risk; some technologies have the potential to do far more harm than good.  

Our goal is to accelerate growth and innovation, without unduly increasing risks from emerging technology such as artificial intelligence or genetic engineering. Even small changes to the annual growth rate can compound to great effect over time, which gives us the opportunity to make high-leverage grants. 

We’re interested in pursuing a wide range of strategies. Our current interests include:

• Advocating for policy reform to help more migrants, especially highly-skilled migrants, move to countries operating on the scientific and technological frontier.
• Improving the quality of published scientific research, especially in the social sciences, e.g. by encouraging efforts to replicate influential papers.
• Supporting efforts to accelerate clinical trials for new drugs, without sacrificing standards for quality and safety.
• Providing financial support for the synthesis and communication of published academic research, in order to increase its impact.

We launched the Innovation Policy program in November 2022. Our grantmaking so far doesn’t cover the full scope of our priorities; we expect to fund many other kinds of projects in the future.