Big if True Science Accelerator — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation

Meet the Big if True Science Accelerator Americas Cohort — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation

Renaissance Philanthropy’s Big if True Science (BiTS) Accelerator has launched our Americas cohort, with support from Coefficient Giving . After a highly competitive international selection process, we're delighted to introduce the 14 exceptional scientists and innovators in this cohort. Selecte

Introducing the Inaugural EU Cohort of the Big if True Science Accelerator — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation (V2)

In June, we announced our partnership with SPRIND, Germany's Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation, to identify and develop the next generation of leaders to design new R&D challenges and other kinds of coordinated research programs to tackle humanity's most pressing challenges. La

Coordinated Research Programs — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation (V2)

In many cases, ambitious R&D problems are not well-suited to individual academic labs, startups, or other existing institutions.

Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation

Renaissance Philanthropy is a nonprofit that designs, incubates, and manages time-bound, thesis-driven philanthropic funds for science, technology, and innovation. Led by Tom Kalil and Kumar Garg, the organization has catalyzed $533M in philanthropic capital since 2024.

Charting AI’s Role in Scientific Discovery — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation

Renaissance Philanthropy, with support from Google.org , is conducting a landscape study of AI integration in scientific research — and we want your perspective.

Accelerator Program Details — TinySeed

TinySeed is not just another venture fund: Our year-long remote accelerator program is designed to help founders with a revenue-generating SaaS optimize product-market fit and grow faster.

PL R&D

Driving Breakthroughs in Computing to Push Humanity Forward.

Open Source for Science Fund Launches to Power AI-Driven Discovery

A new multi-donor fund by Renaissance Philanthropy seeded by Biohub and Wellcome opens its first call for proposals.

Kevin Weil 🇺🇸 on Twitter / X

💥 Today we’re introducing Prism—a free, AI-native workspace for scientists to write and collaborate on research, powered by GPT-5.2.Accelerating science requires progress on two fronts:1. Frontier AI models that use scientific tools and can tackle the hardest problems2.… pic.twitter.com/cnLysHixuQ— Kevin Weil 🇺🇸 (@kevinweil) January 27, 2026

UK Horizons: FRC — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation

Successful coordinated research programmes, like those at ARPAs, have often resulted from exceptional contractors. Many of the best contractors leveraged organisational models uncommon in academia or VC-funded startups. They combined technical ambition, a willingness to build real technology for actual users, and flexible management structures all under one roof to tackle ambitious R&D problems which made the programs a success. These organisations were driven by the pursuit of an ambitious North Star technical vision, not revenue-maximisation. And they pursued this vision with a mix of contracts and grants. We call organisations that do this Frontier Research Contractors (FRCs). Two of ARPA’s most impactful  programmes, the original internet and autonomous vehicle projects, were both led by FRCs. FRCs are also often referred to as 'BBNs' by researchers, inspired by the early internet (ARPAnet) contractor, Bolt, Beranek & Newman.

BiTS FAQ — Renaissance Philanthropy – A brighter future for all through science, technology, and innovation (V2)

The weekly activities in the BiTS program evolve over its duration. The beginning of the program focuses on field strategy, which involves extensive data collection through conversations with experts to refine the initial idea. This is followed by a period of idea refinement, where fellows work on structuring their program, often using a framework of questions to clarify their concept. As the program progresses, the focus shifts towards producing and iterating on deliverables, such as a concise three-page program description and a 15-minute pitch deck for the program’s Demo Day. Throughout the program, fellows participate in weekly one-on-one mentoring sessions and small group meetings with other fellows.

Seth Bannon on Twitter / X

There are some exceptionally good ideas here for reforming and accelerating science.Some of my favorite proposals:Apply the scientific method to science funding (track applications, reviewers, funding decisions, and outcomes, then experimentally test which grantmaking methods… https://t.co/Q0JmqTBPYm— Seth Bannon (@sethbannon) July 22, 2026