Convergent Research
Convergent Research is an incubator for philanthropic ventures founded in 2021 and funded by Eric Schmidt, Wendy Schmidt and Ken Griffin[1][2] as part of the Schmidt Futures Network.[3] Convergent Research is designed to identify high-impact scientific or technological R&D fields, then launch companies to address these fields with a structure they call Focused Research Organizations (FROs).[4] As of 2023, there are 7 FROs.[5]
Focused Research Organizations (FROs)
[edit]A Focused Research Organization, or FRO, is a type of non-profit organization designed to address technical problems or perform scientific research. They differ from academic research labs in that they have medium-to-large size teams with corporate structures, embrace projects which are unlikely to yield publishable results, and frequently involve scientists and engineers collaborating across disciplines.[6] FRO projects are not profitable enough in their initial stages for them to constitute a startup company, and unlike think tanks or research institutes, tend to pursue specific technical goals rather than general research.[7] Once their technical goals are achieved, FROs may evolve into more traditional non-profits, or become backed by venture capital and transform into startups.[8]
List of FROs
[edit]- Development for Lean (proof assistant) is supported by a FRO.
- E11 bio has a goal of creating a single-cell neural circuit mapping tool.[9]
- Cultivarium
- ParallelSq Technology Institute
- EvE Bio
- Forest Neuro
- [c]Worthy
References
[edit]- ^ Stiffman, Eden (July 18, 2023). "How a 5-minute phone call between a millennial billionaire and an economist created a $50 million grant program backed by Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg and more tech luminaries". Fortune. Archived from the original on 19 Jul 2023.
- ^ Cole, Samantha (March 15, 2023). "Schmidt Futures and Ken Griffin Commit $50 Million to Support the Next Big Breakthroughs in Science". Schmidt Futures.
- ^ Knapp, Alex (Mar 17, 2023). "Why Billionaires Ken Griffin And Eric Schmidt Are Spending $50 Million On A New Kind Of Scientific Research". Forbes. Archived from the original on 18 Mar 2023.
- ^ "Schmidt Futures announces launch of Schmidt Futures Network". Philanthropy News Digest. October 16, 2021. Archived from the original on 18 Jun 2025.
- ^ "FRO Portfolio". Convergent Research.
- ^ "Focused Research Organizations: A New Model for Scientific Research". Federation of American Scientists. 2023-06-15. Archived from the original on 2023-10-17.
- ^ "Unblock research bottlenecks with non-profit start-ups". Nature. 11 January 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "A New Model for Science". Tony Blair Institute. 2022-08-04. Archived from the original on 2023-10-17.
- ^ "E11 Bio | Moonshot Neuroscience". E11 Bio. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
