While I was busy explaining why the industrial research labs won’t return, an exciting thread unraveled on Twitter arguing about how to revive them anyway.
To kick things off, Activate CEO Ilan Gur argues that tech startups are the new Bell Labs, citing Moderna as proof. Then Sarah Constantin jumps in to explain that Moderna was just commercializing research from a university lab, and startups can’t do fundamental research because VCs won’t fund it.
Finally, Adam Marblestone chimes in to plug Focused Research Organizations as the missing gap between fundamental research in universities and applied science in startups.
This is all great, and highlights what I love about Twitter: smart people with diverse perspectives coming together in an ad-hoc way to discuss an important question, while making it accessible to lay audiences. [1]
I’m just not convinced it’s actually right.