Here’s A Colossally Bad Idea From Congress About How To Fund Science
▻http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2015/07/27/heres-a-colossally-bad-idea-from-congress-about-how-to-fund-science
This month, two U.S. Congressmen have come up with the idea to offer prizes rather than grants for scientific research. They were inspired, according to a story in Science magazine, by DARPA’s prize competitions for robotic vehicle design, as well as the private XPRIZE competition.
Now Congress wants the National Institutes of Health to give out prizes for biomedical research. They’ve tucked this idea into the 21st Century Cures Act, a bill funding the NIH and FDA that was passed by the House of Representatives on July 10. Congressman Todd Young of Indiana and Andy Harris of Maryland amended the bill to require NIH to create a new prize competition.