NewLabs
A forward-looking
framework for research,
innovation, and wealth creation which moves beyond the existing
logjam with a
series of "living labs" at its core.
Principles
1.
A series
of laboratories taking advantage of talent, teamwork, and money
to invent and
prototype new product concepts
2.
Autonomous,
Meritocratic, Timely
3.
Rooted
in experience of Xerox PARC, Bell Labs, DEC labs,
Olivetti/AT&T Labs
Cambridge, lowRISC CIC
4.
Complementary
to start-ups and universities
Concept
1.
A series
of laboratories which carry out research and build fully
engineered prototypes
and platforms, beyond what can be done in universities, or is
likely to be done
in industry
2.
People-driven
and able to attract top-talent from anywhere
3.
Unbelievable
truth approach to selection of projects aimed at global
challenges, problems,
opportunities
4.
A
procurer of congruent projects in industry and universities in
an ARPA-lite
style
General
1.
Mould-breaking
for UK, not incremental, continually taking (considered) risks
2.
Vision-based
sequence of projects for each lab with tangible deliverables
3.
Project
choice and execution by world-class individuals who are not
subject to peer
review
4.
Illusion
of unrestricted resources to empower individuals and teams
5.
Use of
money, industrial assets, and teamwork to shift time and
prototype tomorrow’s
concepts today
6.
Freedom
for individuals to flex and explore new topics for part of the
time
7.
Example
themes: security, trust in digital systems, neural interfaces,
AI, synthetic
biology, etc, etc
Governance
/ Funding
1.
Not-for-profit
entities with their own Boards of Directors to give independence
and resilience
- for example based on a
Community Interest Company
structure
2.
Cannot be bought
or sold because
there are no shareholders
3.
Partly
government funded - too risky for industry alone
4.
Additional
contributions from large technology companies in cash and
through (mandatory or
incentivized) access to their computing platforms, software, and
data
5.
Sector-specific
contributions from charitable foundations
6.
Initial
goal of (say) 4 labs, final scale of up to (say) 10 labs
7.
Fixed
lifetime for each lab - eg 20 years
Personnel
1.
Uniquely
attractive to top-talent in particular those with a
penchant/experience of
working in between industry and academia
2.
Flexible
hierarchies to ensure (early career) employees feel unencumbered
3.
Additional
personnel (engineering, technology, support) employed and
brought in/out as
required
4.
Publication
not the leading indicator of success but used where appropriate
5.
Freshness
and rotation by spinning out projects and companies together
with associated
teams
6.
Realistic
pay scales
Operations
1.
Each lab
no bigger than about 50 people
2.
Potentially
several labs on one site with a permeable boundary between them
3.
Outposts
outside traditional clusters wherever talent wishes to be, heavy
use of
conferencing
Outcomes
1.
Scaleable
and robust demonstrators and platforms
2.
New
business models incorporating disruption of markets, capital
pathways,
quantifiable global benefits, fiscal incentives
3.
Minimal
price and simple rules for release of intellectual property but
use-it-or-it-recycles contract for recipients
4.
Encouragement
to spin-out companies and teams
5.
Establishment
of a managed "Digital Commons" which intrinsically can be made
easily
available to anyone
Success
1.
A good
hit rate of successful buck-the-trend solutions relevant to
global challenges,
opportunities, and markets
2.
A new
framework for creating/productizing/disseminating/reusing ideas
and IP based on
minimal barriers (eg permissive licences, open source, standard
contracts)
which is beyond the lock-down and hoarding models of today
3.
Maximum
bang for the buck by establishment of high-tech industrial
clusters and supply
chains in UK
4.
Communities with
know-how around
each theme
5.
A
showcase environment which creates narratives, stories, and
leadership
opportunities for UK
Andy
Hopper
24 Feb 2024