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US: Vision Research Ideas
Full title: NEI Challenge to Identify Audacious Goals in Vision Research and Blindness Rehabilitation | |
Open to US permanent residents and citizens 18 years or
older.
Prize: $3000 + up to $2000 transportation to a Washington DC
meeting in February 24-26, 2013.
Submission Deadline: November 12, 2012
Wanted: 4000 character description of an "audacious goal" in
vision research or blindness rehabilitation.
Intro
from the competition website:
"The National Eye Institute is embarking on a new venture to
expand and enhance its strategic planning effort. Success will
require engaging a large number of creative and innovative
individuals who can contribute novel and far-reaching ideas.
"NEI is looking for bold ideas from vision researchers, the
greater science community, and the public that support the
NEI mission—"to conduct and support research, training,
health information dissemination, and other programs with
respect to blinding eye diseases, visual disorders, mechanisms
of visual function, preservation of sight, and the special
health problems and requirements of the blind."
"The Challenge solicits original and inventive approaches from
academia, industry, the nonprofit sector, and the general
public. We encourage you to participate by submitting an
"audacious" goal."
How to enter
http://www.nei.nih....enge/howtoenter.asp
[jutta, Oct 24 2012]
Accessibility Hackathon 1
http://www.wikimedi...ssibility_hackathon
[JesusHChrist, Oct 25 2012]
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Annotation:
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Seriously, what the hell is this? They're so short of
ideas and have so much extra in the budget that
they're running a contest to solicit (pie in the sky)
ideas from the
unwashed masses? Isn't it their job to come up with
these ideas on their own? Your tax dollars at work,
I guess. |
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Here's an audacious idea for them: “Disband the
National Eye Institute”. |
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A good cause, but unfortunately one among thousands. It
begs the question: how do they expect to draw viable
solutions from those not already working in the field?
Things like the X- or N-Prize I can understand, but curing
blindness is not rocket science. For one thing, it's a hell of
a lot more field-specific and academic, and I wouldn't be
surprised if it turned out to be more expensive. |
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I'll probably catch hell for that rocket science thing... |
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//Open to US permanent residents and citizens 18 years or older// Because everyone knows that foreigners can't invent anything! |
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//it's a hell of a lot more field-specific and
academic// To me, it looks like they are
interested in technological aids for the blind,
rather than just the prevention or treatment of
blindness. Seeing eye bees, braille radio, that
kind of thing. [EDIT - ah, I just read the full thing.
I take it back. It does seem to be asking for
biomedical research proposals, and is a bit weird.] |
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// Because everyone knows that foreigners can't
invent anything!// I think it's more that the US
organisation wants to fund US research, which
seems fair to me. Most countries put most of
their research funding inside their own borders. |
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Incidentally, is it open only to people who are
citizens AND residents? (I'm a half-citizen, but non-
resident.) |
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You're either a U.S. citizen or you're not. If you are, you're
good. Even if you're not, you can still submit an idea, and if
your idea is selected they'll invite you to present it and
reimburse you up to $2,000 in travel expenses. You just
can't win the prize. |
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"Up to 20 winners will each be awarded a $3,000 prize and up to $2,000 in travel reimbursement" |
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So a maximum of $100,000 K USD. |
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"Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: |
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I am pleased to present the President’s budget request for the National Eye Institute (NEI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 NEI budget of $693,015,000 includes a decrease of $8,861,000 from the comparable FY 2012 level of $701,876,000. As the director of the NEI, it is my privilege to report on the many research opportunities that exist to reduce the burden of eye disease." |
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So not that big a percentage of the budget - probably took it out of the officer's pizza fund. |
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Maybe require some sort of caps for those sharp
sticks that one waves about? |
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This looks like the innocentive challenges, but lower
prize $. |
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//So not that big a percentage of the budget// |
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You don't think $100,000 (plus the overhead for
running the contest, hosting the presentation, and so
on) is a lot of money? |
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It may not be the most egregious example of
government waste, but it's still galling. |
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I just saw a talk at a conference describing how researchers "cured" color blindness in some monkeys by injecting a virus carrying some kind of genetic material into the monkey's eyes. He said he didn't know what the monkeys thought about this, but they did start to see three instead of only two colors. |
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