OpenLab Initiatives
Failure Award
There are two types of failure. One type is avoidable: perhaps the root is self-sabotage, laziness, or an unforgivable miscalculation. The other type is “productive” failure, such as taking on an important moonshot but not quite succeeding due to circumstances outside of anyone’s control. Failures such as these—failures because someone dared to take on a risk—ought to be celebrated, as they are often the stepping stone for other advancements. To recognize the pioneers who took a chance, executed it perfectly, and still came up short, OpenLab offers an annual “Failure Prize” to one researcher who exemplifies failing for the right reasons.
Retroactive Funding Prize
Often, research that is too interdisciplinary or too focused on public goods is difficult to finance—and by the time the contribution has been made apparent, there’s little incentive to retroactively fund the initial risk the researcher took on. This is particularly a problem in open-source software or work that advances the social good without a profit incentive. We hope to alleviate this burden by offering one prize a year, given retroactively to creative and impactful, but initially risky, research.
Ad Hoc Research
Occasionally, albeit rarely, OpenLab learns of an idea that is too good or too interesting not to house in our lab. In these instances, we spin up an ad hoc research program to offer infrastructure support to projects that have the potential for enormous impact but may be difficult to fund or may not otherwise have a home.
Our current wishlist (although these are just the ones that happened to be top of mind and we are in no way limited to these) can be found here. This repo is currently private, but please feel free to contact us for access.
OpenLab Writing Residency
The OpenLab Residency offers writers an opportunity to hone their craft in a truly unique environment. Not only do Residents receive protected time and space to make headway on a story, they are able to do so at one of the most interdisciplinary, intellectually diverse universities in the world. For writers who create by throwing themselves into their work, our residency represents a rare chance to explore an obsession alongside world-class experts. Whether the goal is historical accuracy, illuminating a subculture, or finding new ideas at the bleeding edge of science fiction, Stanford puts the universe at one’s fingertips.
By having a writer among our ranks, other OpenLab researchers are exposed to new tools, thoughts, and art forms, and will benefit from a two-way exchange of ideas with a more narrative mind.
OpenLab Conference
OpenLab runs the world’s premier multidisciplinary conference. In stark contrast to “themed” conferences that center around a particular discipline or industry, the annual OpenLab conference assembles an agenda around interesting ideas from any field. The speakers get amazingly varied feedback, ideas, and perspectives from a myriad of disciplines—an advantage not available anywhere else. Meanwhile, attendees gain exposure to the cutting edge of humanity, broadly construed.
