Given that our main effort is to kindle beneficial innovation in undervalued technical domains of importance for the long-term future, such decisions are sometimes hard to trace but are mostly in the area of founding and funding such projects.
Through Foresight matchmaking, members have started companies (such as a carbon drawdown company co-founded by a Foresight Fellow who met their co-founder at a Foresight event and recently raised $30M in follow-on funding), new research projects (such as a major research project building LLM-enabled preference simulations of groups of people which was founded and funded at a Foresight workshop), and existing organizations receiving government funding (more than $30M for a water filtration company, and $15M for a molecular nanotechnology simulation project at a university through Foresight workshops).
Other decisions we shape involve early career path choices, with individuals joining organizations, including a neurotech FRO, several major longevity companies, and security companies, through Foresight events. In rare cases, aid career decisions more actively, for instance by providing J1 visas to promising researchers seeking to move to the US. This more tailored support is particularly prominent with younger applicants who have little default exposure to senior researchers, funders, and entrepreneurs in their domain.
What are some example decisions that the Foresight Institute’s work has helped influence?
Given that our main effort is to kindle beneficial innovation in undervalued technical domains of importance for the long-term future, such decisions are sometimes hard to trace but are mostly in the area of founding and funding such projects.
Through Foresight matchmaking, members have started companies (such as a carbon drawdown company co-founded by a Foresight Fellow who met their co-founder at a Foresight event and recently raised $30M in follow-on funding), new research projects (such as a major research project building LLM-enabled preference simulations of groups of people which was founded and funded at a Foresight workshop), and existing organizations receiving government funding (more than $30M for a water filtration company, and $15M for a molecular nanotechnology simulation project at a university through Foresight workshops).
Other decisions we shape involve early career path choices, with individuals joining organizations, including a neurotech FRO, several major longevity companies, and security companies, through Foresight events. In rare cases, aid career decisions more actively, for instance by providing J1 visas to promising researchers seeking to move to the US. This more tailored support is particularly prominent with younger applicants who have little default exposure to senior researchers, funders, and entrepreneurs in their domain.