Program Summary
The Challenge: Increasing the Quantity and Quality of Breakthroughs
Scientific imagination is critical to our economy as well as our national security and defense. Research and development, as an expression of scientific imagination, is now a global and intensely competitive enterprise. This competition is heightened by digital and network disruptors that increase the speed and extend the borders of idea exchange affecting the nature and spread of threats and opportunities. Organizations fundamentally based on shaping the future need to leverage every possible advantage to succeed in this environment.
The Approach: Reshaping the Future of Science
Polyplexus is an online platform under development in the GS3 program. The goal of Polyplexus is to reshape today’s approaches to science by effectively and efficiently engaging cross-disciplinary researchers and research sponsors to dramatically accelerate the process of non-obvious hypothesis generation.
Polyplexus is a rigorous, collaborative platform driven by expert participants and evidence. Proven game and social practices spur participants–technical experts, researchers, research sponsors–to connect evidence across disciplines and generate new hypotheses. Individuals and teams use the linked information in Polyplexus to develop and explore good questions, formulate concepts, and create DARPA-worthy prospective research plans through a disciplined process of generative dialogue. Private interactions enable individuals and teams to establish direct relationships with sponsors intended to increase the quantity of high-quality funded research projects.
The Value Proposition: Generating Better Questions, Faster
Polyplexus is not about brainstorming, awards, providing immediate solutions, or turning science projects into businesses. Instead, Polyplexus accelerates connections across domain knowledge, allowing experts to assemble evidence and hypotheses from which research plans can quickly evolve and seek funding.
Polyplexus is different from other crowdsourcing, technical challenge, and literature-based compendiums in that it:
- Features a perpetual online imaginative conversation that is rigorous, evidence-based, collaborative, and easily accessed while actively encouraging and seeking significant novel thinking;
- Creates and develops a merit-based network of motivated contributors (from multiple points of view) across disciplines;
- Employs proven gaming and social network practices to drive engagement;
- Delivers an efficient way to match promising research directions to the people with the knowledge to do the research as well as the people and organizations who need it done.
Resources
DARPA issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for the Polyplexus Pilot 2 here: https://go.usa.gov/xPYEJ.
The Polyplexus Pilot 2 Proposers Day webinar is available here: https://youtu.be/hqGaGdqACmk
Sign up for the Polyplexus platform: polyplexus.com
Polyplexus--Shape The Questions That Shape The Future