Tilling the Federal SOIL for Transformative R&D: The Solution Oriented Innovation Liaison
Summary
The federal government is increasingly embracingAdvanced Research Projects Agencies (ARPAs)以及其他变革性的研究和参与企业（树木），以连接创新者并创造解决复杂问题所需的突破。我们的创新生态系统需要更多这些树木，尤其是对于从历史上没有从以解决方案为导向的研究和开发中受益的社会挑战。而且，由于我们面临的挑战是如此交织，因此我们希望它们以面向解决方案的模式一起工作并共同成长。
The National Science Foundation (NSF)’s new Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships should establish a new Office of the Solution-Oriented Innovation Liaison (SOIL) to help TREEs share knowledge about complementary initiatives, establish a community of practice among breakthrough innovators, and seed a culture for exploring new models of research and development within the federal government. The SOIL would have two primary goals: (1) provide data, information, and knowledge-sharing services across existing TREEs; and (2) explore opportunities to pilot R&D models of the future and embed breakthrough innovation models in underleveraged agencies.
Challenge and Opportunity
气候变化。食品安全。社会正义。我们面前不乏复杂的挑战 - 所有人都相交，所有要求的民事诉讼以及所有等待我们共享知识的人。这些挑战仍然棘手，因为它们比任何一个人或组织所拥有的特定心理模型都广泛。要开发解决方案，我们需要science that is more connectedto social needs and to other ways of knowing. Our problem is not a deficit of scientific capital. It is a deficit of connection.
Connectivity is what defines a growing number of approaches to the public administration of science and technology, alternatively labeled as变革性创新，mission-oriented innovation, or解决方案研发。Connectivity is what makesDARPA,IARPA,andARPA-Ework, and it is why new ARPAs are being created for健康and proposed for基础设施,labor, andeducation。连通性也是一个共同的元素爆炸of emerging R&D models, includingFocused Research Organizations (FROs)and Distributed Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). And connectivity is the purpose of NSF’s new Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), which includes“促进创新生态系统”在其任务中。新的变革性研究和参与企业（树木）在边缘的研究领域中可能特别有价值“创新的好处并不简单地滴落。
The history of ARPAs and other TREEs shows that solutions R&D is successfully conducted by entities thatcombine both research and engagement。如果仔细生长，这种生物会带来果实。那么，当我们可以种植整个森林时，为什么还要在这里或那里种植呢？隐喻很恰当。为了发展创新生态系统，我们必须故意地播种树木的种子，培养它们的生长并培养共生关系，同时给每个人蓬勃发展。
Plan of Action
NSF的小费局应建立一个新的面向解决方案的创新办公室（土壤），以培养繁荣的树木社区。土壤将有两个主要目标：（1）在更多的任务空间中培养更多的树木；（2）促进数量和多样性越来越多的树木之间更多的共生。
Goal 1: More TREEs of more varieties in more mission spaces
SOIL would shepherd the creation of TREEs wherever they are needed, whether in a federal department, a state or local agency, or in the private, nonprofit, or academic sectors. Key to this is codifying the lessons of successful TREEs and translating them to new contexts. Not all such knowledge is codifiable; much is tacit. As such, SOIL would draw upon a cadre of research-management specialists who have a deep familiarity with different organizational forms (e.g., ARPAs, FROs, DAOs) and could work with the leaders of departments, businesses, universities, consortia, etc. to determine which form best suits the need of the entity in question and provide technical assistance in establishment.
这项工作的重要组成部分是帮助机构创建适合任务的治理模式和文化。管理树既不容易也不典型。的确，它们的管理与正常的研发计划的管理不同，这一事实使它们与众不同。前DARPA导演Arati Prabhakar有强调the importance of such tailored structures to the success of TREEs. To this end, SOIL would also create a Community of Cultivators comprising former TREE leaders, principal investigators (PIs), and staff. Members of this community would provide those seeking to establish new TREEs with guidance during the scoping, launch, and management phases.
SOIL would also provide opportunities for staff at different TREEs to connect with each other and with collective resources. It could, for example, host dedicated liaison officers at agencies (as DARPA has with its service lines) to coordinate access to SOIL resources and other TREEs and support the documentation of lessons learned for broader use. SOIL could also organize periodic TREE conventions for affiliates to discuss strategic directions and possibly set cross-cutting goals. Similar to the SBIR office at the Small Business Administration, SOIL would also report annually to Congress on the state of the TREE system, as well as make policy recommendations.
Goal 2: More symbiosis among TREEs of increasing number and variety
Success for SOIL would be a community of TREEs that is more than the sum of its parts. It is already clear how the defense and intelligence missions ofDARPA and IARPAintersect. There are alsoenergy programs at DARPAthat might benefit from deeper engagement with programs at ARPA-E. In the future,transportation-infrastructure programs at ARPA-E可以与ARPA的类似计划一起工作，以进行基础架构。通过重叠的任务建立实体之间的更牢固的联系将使冗余努力最小化并产生共享平台技术，从而实现特定于部门的进步。
Indeed, symbiotic relationships could spawn untold possibilities. What if researchers across different TREEs could build knowledge together? Exchange findings, data, algorithms, and ideas? Co-create shared models of complex phenomena and put competing models to the test against evidence? Collaborate across projects, and with stakeholders, to develop and apply digital technologies as well as practices to govern their use? A common digital infrastructure and virtual research commons would enable faster, more reliable production (and reproduction) of research across domains. This is the logic underlying theCenter for Open Scienceand the国家安全数据服务。
To this end, SOIL should build a digital Mycelial Network（mynet），一个常见的虚拟空间harness the cognitive diversity跨树，以提供更强大的知识和工具。MyNet将提供一套数字服务和资源，这些数字服务和资源可以由树木经理，员工和PI访问。它最基本的功能可能是描述挑战和解决方案的生态系统，寻找合作伙伴和反应计划。一旦建立了伙伴关系，更高级别的功能将包括安全的数据共享，解决方案共同创建和语义互连。MyNet可以取代目前的众多临时，特定于部门的系统，用于共享研究资源，使更多的研究人员获得更多有关复杂系统的知识，更少obstacles from paywalls。And the larger the network, the bigger the network effects. If the MyNet infrastructure proves successful for TREEs, it could ultimately be expanded more broadly to all research institutions—just as ARPAnet expanded into the public internet.
对于用户，MyNet将有三层：
- 用于存档和访问的数据层
- 用于分析和合成的信息层
- A knowledge layer for creating meaning in terms of problems and solutions
这些功能将共同需要：
- 物理结构：设施,equipment, and workforce for data storage, routing, and cloud computing
- 虚拟结构：共享数据，算法，文本和其他媒体的应用和数字环境，以及在虚拟实验室和跨专业网络的远程协作
- Institutional structures：促进强大的研究企业，禁止危险行为并执行社区数据和信息标准的实践和约定。
如何应用mynet？考虑三个假设计划，所有这些计划都集中在微塑料上：一个医学计划，绘制了微塑料如何代谢和影响健康；一项食品安全计划，绘制微塑料如何流过粮食网和供应链；以及一个社会正义计划，该计划绘制社区生产和消费微塑料的计划。在数据层中，这三个程序的研究人员可以结合有关健康记录，供应物流，食物检查，市政记录和人口统计数据的数据。在信息层中，他们可能会协作编码和评估定量模型。最后，在知识层中，他们可以共同努力，以验证有关谁受到影响，多少和手段的主张。
初始步骤
首先，国会应在四年内以5亿美元的价格授权并适合NSF小费局，以实现以解决方案为导向的创新联络人。国会应该将土壤视为在新兴的，变革性的联邦研发工作中创造共同服务的机会，这些研发将赋予我们最需要的科学和技术进步。该任务完全适合NSF小费局的任务授权。动员国家的集体力量通过作为“一个横切平台，与NSF的现有局和建立伙伴关系（以及政府，工业，非营利组织，公民社会和实践社区）合作，以利用，充满活力并迅速为社会带来了启发性的研究和创新。”
Once appropriated and authorized to begin intentionally growing a network of TREEs, NSF’s TIP Directorate should focus on a four-year plan for SOIL. TIP should begin by choosing an appropriate leader for SOIL, such as a former director or directorate manager of an ARPA (or other TREE). SOIL would be tasked with first engaging the management of existing ARPAs in the federal government, such as those at the Departments of Defense and Energy, to form an advisory board. The advisory board would in turn guide the creation of experience-informed operating procedures for SOIL to use to establish and aid new TREEs. These might include discussions geared toward arriving at best practices and mechanisms to operate rapid solutions-focused R&D programs for the following functions:
- Hiring services for temporary employees and program managers, pipelines to technical expertise, and consensus on out-of-government pay scales
- Rapid contracting toolkits to acquire key technology inputs from foreign and domestic suppliers
- Research funding structures than enable program managers to make use of multiple kinds of research dollars in the same project, in a coordinated fashion, managed by one entity, and without needing to engage different parts of different agencies
- Early procurement for demonstration, such that mature technologies and systems can transition smoothly into operational use in the home agency or other application space
- 右车辆（例如FFRDC）用于土壤分包，以追求这些功能的支持结构
- 定义多年计划，投资组合和治理结构的能力，并按照自己的速度执行它们，从本机构的预算违规
除了这些结构方面，董事会还必须将树木的重要文化方面纳入最佳实践。在我自己的研究中managerial heuristics that guide TREEs，我发现必须鼓励经理“推动变革”（批评现状，梦想大，采取行动），“更好”（拥抱差异，吸引卓越，在人群中脱颖而出），“牧羊人”（重点科学家和工程师的创造才能），“收集支持”（与研究指挥和潜在对手的关系），“尝试和犯错”（采取多种方法，期望失败，从失败中学习）和“使它重要”（直接实现社会成果的直接活动，而不是科学）。
The board would also recommend a governance structure and implementation strategy for MyNet. In its first year, SOIL could also start to grow the Community of Cultivators, potentially starting with members of the advisory board. The board chair, in partnership with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, would also convene an initial series of interagency working groups (IWGs) focused on establishing a community of practice around TREEs, including but not limited to representatives from the following R&D agencies, offices, and programs:
- DARPA
- ARPA-E
- IARPA
- NASA
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute for Standards and Technology
In years two and three, SOIL would focus on growing three to five new TREEs at organizations that have not had solutions-oriented innovation programs before but need them.
- If a potential TREE opportunity is found at another agency, SOIL should collaborate with the agency’s R&D teams to identify how the TREEs might be pursued and consult the advisory board on the new mission space and its potential similarities and differences to existing TREEs. If there is a clear analogue to an existing TREE, the SOIL should use programmatic dollars to detail one or two technical experts for a one-year appointment to the new agency’s R&D teams to explore how to build the new TREE.
- If a potential TREE opportunity is found at a government-adjacent or external organization such as a new Focused Research Organization created around a priority NSF domain, SOIL should leverage programmatic dollars to provide needed seed funding for the organization to pursue near-term milestones. SOIL should then recommend to the TIP Directorate leadership the outcomes of these near-term pilot supports and whether the newly created organization should receive funds to scale. SOIL may also consider convening a round of aligned philanthropic and private funders interested in funding new TREEs.
- If the opportunity concerns an existing TREE, there should be a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and or request for funding process by which the TREE may apply for off-cycle funding with approval from the host agency.
SOIL would also start to build a pilot version of MyNet as a resource for these new TREEs, with a goal of including existing ARPAs and other TREEs as quickly as possible. In establishing MyNet, SOIL should focus on implementing最合适的系统data governanceby first understanding the nature of the collaborative activities intended. Digital research collaborations can apply and mix a range of different governance patterns, with different amounts of availability and freedoms with respect to digital resources. MyNet should be flexible enough to meet a range of needs for openness and security. To this end, SOIL should coordinate with the recently created国家安全数据服务and apply lessons forward in creating an accessible, secure, and ethical information-sharing environment.
Year four and beyond would be characterized by scaling up. Building on the lessons learned in the prior two years of pilot programs, SOIL would coordinate with new and legacy TREEs to refresh operating procedures and governance structures. It would then work with an even broader set of organizations to increase the number of TREEs beyond the three to five pilots and continue to build out MyNet as well as the Community of Cultivators. Periodic evaluations of SOIL’s programmatic success would shape its evolution after this point. These should be framed in terms of its capacity to create and support programs that yield meaningful technological and socioeconomic outcomes, not just produce traditional research metrics. As such, in its creation of new TREEs, SOIL should apply a major lesson of theNational Academies’ evaluation of ARPA-E：在项目，投资组合和代理机构级别的策略和评估系统中，明确将（必然）在项目级别上的强大绩效管理系统对齐。土壤和树木的长期生存能力将取决于它们向公众证明价值的能力。
变革性研究模型通常是这样起作用的：
- Engage with stakeholders to understand their needs and set audacious goals for addressing them.
- 建立由各种专家团队运行的精益项目，组装了足够长的时间，可以成功或以一种方法失败。
- Continuously evaluate projects, build on what works, kill what doesn’t, and repeat as necessary.
简而言之,企业变革的研究exist solely to solve a particular problem, rather than to grow a program or amass a stock of scientific capital.
To get more specific,Bonvillian and Van Atta (2011)确定有助于ARPA的创新性质的独特因素。在人员方面，ARPA计划经理是有才华的经理，经验丰富，并被任命为有限的条款。他们是“翻译”，而不是主题专家，他们与盟友，竞争对手和其他人积极互动。他们有能力选择项目，雇用，开火和合同。在结构方面，项目是由特定的挑战或愿景（由利益相关者开发）围绕合理的实施途径设计的。项目在外部执行，并作为投资组合管理，并具有清晰的指标，以使风险和回报具有衡量标准。ARPA的成功意味着开发可实现广泛吸收和成本效能的产品和服务，因此寻找第一个采用者并创建市场是工作的一部分。
Some examples come from other Day One proposals. SOIL could work with the Department of Labor to establish aLabor ARPA。它可以与教育部合作Education ARPA。We could imagine a Justice Department ARPA with a program for criminal justice reform, one at Housing and Urban Development aimed at solving homelessness, or one at the State Department for innovations in diplomacy. And there are myriad opportunities beyond the federal government.
树木在独立性和灵活性上壮成长，因此必须设计土壤的功能以施加最小的干扰。除了确保其支持的树木被有效地管理为具有变革性的，以任务为导向的组织，土壤将是非常动手的。土壤将有助于建立树木并建立树木，因此它们不会作为典型的研发单元运行。土壤将为树木项目和工作人员提供与共同感兴趣领域（例如，通过Mynet，中耕者社区和定期召集）的其他项目和员工进行跨组织的手段。而且，像小型企业管理局的SBIR办公室一样，土壤将每年向国会报告其运营并朝着目标迈进。
An excellent model for SOIL is the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) system. SBIR is资助通过将一小部分预算的代理机构重定向，这些预算在壁外研发上花费了1亿美元或更多。鉴于土壤旨在与所有联邦任务空间相关，因此我们建议土壤由所有预算的一小部分（在0.1％至1.0％之间）资助，总计或更多10亿美元或更多的全部支出支出。这将产生约150亿美元的资金，以支持土壤在一组较大的任务空间中种植和连接新树木。
The risk is the opportunity cost of this budget reallocation to each funding agency. It is worth noting, though, that changes of 0.1–1.0% are less than the amount that the average agency sees as annual perturbations in its budget. Moreover, redirecting these funds may well be worth the opportunity cost, especially as an investment in solving the compounding problems that federal agencies face. By redirecting this small fraction of funds, we can keep agency operations 99–99.9% as effective while simultaneously creating a robust, interconnected, solutions-oriented R&D system.
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