“I wonder what a cell would look like if it were designed by Apple versus IBM,” mused one academic researcher to another at a recent symposium on synthetic biology. The 5-day event, hosted by the National Science Foundation(NSF) and its British counterpart the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC), attracted researchers from radically diverse fields. As the conversation suggests, this was not your everyday science fair.

Quite the contrary. The UK and US science foundations, two major funders of academic scientific research, had created this forum to practice an entirely new approach to awarding research grants. It’s called a “Sandpit.” And it may over science (and everyone else) a whole new way to innovate.

In science, there is a well-understood process for advancing thinking... But sometimes, science gets stuck. There is simply no obvious route forward. Advancingrequires a significant sidestep.

Ten years ago, Susan Morrell, Head of ResearchInfrastructure at EPSRC became concerned that research they funded wasn’t producing any real breakthroughs. She reasoned that if EPSRCfunding approaches didn’t innovate, the research itself probably wouldn’t either. She called on AndyBurnett and his team at the Innovation Lab to help develop and facilitate a repeatable process that would help EPSRC fund research that might lead to true scientific breakthrough.

“In science, there is a well-understood process for advancing thinking along mono-disciplinary lines. We know how to extend the existing research and get to the next level. The progress is incremental, and there is a road map to follow,” says Burnett, now a partner at Knowinnovation. “But sometimes, science gets stuck. There is simply no obvious route forward. To continue advancing requires a significant sidestep.” That’s where the sandpit comes in.

A Sandpit is a 5-day interactive workshop that draws together dozens of specialists from a wide variety of fields to focus on a particular scientific challenge. The secret is to bring unlike minds together. So in the same Sandpit, you might find mathematicians, computer scientists, opera buffs and architects all collaborating on the same challenge.

The secret is to bring unlike minds together. FourSight helped the researchers appreciate that, not only are they from diverse disciplines, but they have diverse styles of how they approach the creative process.

“Ideally what happens is you get an overlap of perspectives, but not too much of an overlap,” says Burnett. “People looking at similar problems, drawing very different areas of expertise bring their own analogies and help people draw a broader picture. It seems to produce science which both participants and reviewers consider novel and exciting.”

The week of the Sandpit generally begins with speeches by experts. Then facilitators open the floor to problem exploration by the diverse collection of 20-30 researchers in the room. Facilitated through a creative problem-solving process, the group first expands the possibilities for research and then narrows the field to a few promising questions and high-potential research areas. Individual researchers gravitate to the topics and teams they like. These self-selected teams draft initial proposals and present them directly to funders who are part of this process. Teams get feedback. Research proposals are refined. Teams get rebalanced. And by the end of the week, the funders award money—often millions of dollars—to the team or teams they think will carry out innovative research projects that might lead to true scientific breakthroughs.

Some time mid-week, team members get theirFourSight profiles. Maggie Dugan, another Sandpitfacilitator from Knowinnovation explains, “It helps people appreciate that, not only are they from© 2021 FourSight, LLC. All rights reserved. The secret is to bring unlike minds together. FourSight helped the researchers appreciate that, not only are they from diverse disciplines, but they have diverse styles of how they approach the creative process. diverse departments and disciplines, but they also have diverse styles of how they approach this creative process.” Team members gain insights into their unique problem-solving approaches, and sandpit facilitators get a sense of how each team is likely to play out over time, given its composite FourSight style.

Since 2003 when the EPSRC first started hosting these sessions, hundreds of scientists and non-scientists have assembled around the world to address topics ranging from internet security to synthetic biology.

That’s not to say that Sandpits will replace traditional research or traditional research funding. This sort of research represents the tail of the bell curve. “These ideas have a relatively low chance of success…but if they do work, they will be game-changing,” says Burnett.

That’s not to say that Sandpits will replace traditional research or traditional research funding. This sort of research represents the tail of the bell curve. “These ideas have a relatively low chance of success…but if they do work, they will be game-changing,” says Burnett.

Still, there are times when Burnett will be leafing through a science journal and think, “Yep. I was in the room when they thought of that.”

Andy Burnett and his team at Knowinnovation continue to facilitate Sandpits around the world.