You pick YC Research's first three groups

[adamboulanger]

Algorithmically constructed link-bait HN post-title notwithstanding, I'm losing it waiting to know more about what YCR is doing. Aren't you? Let's just pick. If you had your hand on the tiller what areas would see YCR building in the short-term?

Rather than the one initial group, let's say three announced research areas over the next three years. Parsing Sam's original post we know there's $10mil. $24mil is a good number for a roughly MIT Media Lab sized yearly budget. We can assume efforts to bring on other investors and many external partners although most will likely be providing resources and pro bono services rather than direct investment. Similarly, certain types of research will be better able to leverage YC's infrastructure without incurring the cost of building, say, a synthetic biology lab.

Also consider that this is YC in terms of overall strategy. Does this mean there is more or less likelihood to be proximal to current long-term research themes in SV? It's fascinating that multiple firms converge on things like flying networks infrastructure, VR, automotive, mapping tectonic, long-term futures on parallel lines. Will YCR be in there? Noticeably absent from the initial post (http://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-research) is a critique of research as it's conducted in industry. Even if the goal is to make the IP openly available, there are myriad other business models including spin-offs. Nonetheless, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I'm getting a family vibe from roll-out strategy: a 10 person start, doing diligence with Alan Kay and the like thinking of the old and highly insular (in a good way) think tanks, reference to 'projects' with 25 year horizons. So, maybe no spin-offs.

You’re pick.

[laarc]

I'd like to see YC Research create Academia 2.0. The current university research model is trending towards broken. Scientists are forced to chase funding. That's not inherently bad, but it's reached a degree that subverts the scientific method.

Creating a new model seems more valuable than specific areas of research.

As far as specific projects go: big discoveries are almost never centrally planned. It might be important to set up the environment to let small ideas grow from acorns into oak trees.

A research team needs to be able to pivot like a startup, and current systems don't really allow for that.

[adamboulanger]

Downstream from academia, how about education? It's not too hard to imagine what a great education would be, and yet, you know, schools, here we are. Parents with any number of opportunities from home-school to public to private still find themselves unhappily optimizing among several unpalatable choices. Looking at something like Musk is doing, or even more ambitious, Khan academy as an experimental platform, you'd think there's a lot of room here. I just wonder how it would best met by a small crack research team with a 25 year mandate. Unsure.