Opportunity Seed Funding Call: Nature Computes Better

Description

Breakthroughs require finding people who think differently about what's possible - and empowering them to follow their vision. To support scientific and technological breakthroughs, outside of programmes, ARIA Programme Directors can award opportunity seeds to support ambitious research aligned to the opportunity spaces they've identified. To understand how opportunity seeds work within our model, see how we're working here (https://www.aria.org.uk/how-were-working/). Lot 1: This funding call specifically relates to our Programme Director Suraj Bramhavar's opportunity space (https://www.aria.org.uk/what-were-working-on/#suraj). In Nature Computes Better (https://www.aria.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ARIA-Nature-computes-better-v1.0-1.pdf), we're looking to fund high potential proposals with between £10k and £500k each. We initially expect to fund up to 10 opportunity seeds in this space. We're looking for bold ideas that could challenge assumptions, open up new research paths, or provide steps towards new capabilities. If you have an important idea you're obsessed with, but you don't currently have the resources or support to take it forward, we'd like to hear from you. Ideas could come from anywhere, so we welcome applications from individuals and teams who are early in their career or who have atypical backgrounds. We care more about your idea and your intrinsic motivation than we do about your CV. To help you decide if this is the right funding call for you, here's some guidance on the scope: In scope: + Ideas that sit within the Nature Computes Better opportunity space. By this, we mean your proposal should show how your idea either aligns with or challenges the assumptions of the Summary, Beliefs, or Observations in the opportunity space document (https://www.aria.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ARIA-Nature-computes-better-v1.0-1.pdf). + Ideas that could change the conversation about what is possible or valuable. + Ideas that range from early stage curiosity-driven research through to pre-commercial science and technology. Out of scope: + Ideas that are within scope of Suraj Bramhavar's programme Scaling Compute - AI at 1/1000th the Cost, as these should be submitted to his programme funding call (https://www.aria.org.uk/scaling-compute/). If you are unsure whether your idea is in scope of the programme, ask us by sending an email to clarifications@aria.org.uk. + Ideas that are undifferentiated or that are likely to happen without ARIA support. + Commercial or close-to-commercial stage products. Beyond this scope and our evaluation criteria outlined in the full opportunity seed call document on ARIA's website (https://www.aria.org.uk/seeds-nature-computes-better), we don't have preconceptions about what ideas you might send our way. You don't need to contort your project to fit our goals: we want to hear what you really want to do. Additional information: The estimated total value is the maximum budget available. We expect to fund multiple applicants.