What’s better than DARPA, the government’s mysterious moonshot agency for researching and funding new military technologies?! How about HARPA, a twist on the idea focused on discovering new healthcare breakthroughs.
According to Fast Company:
“As part of his first-100-days effort, President Biden’s administration is working to form a new agency that could change the face of healthcare: an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. This new agency would pay academics and private companies to develop innovative health products and services, mimicking the process of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), whose work helped create the internet. The goal would be to create a government engine that could help advance innovation into real-world products for healthcare that could solve persistent problems: high drug costs, lack of treatments for rare diseases, poor systems of care, and of course, pandemic preparedness.
Biden has proposed spending a bold $300 billion on research and development over the next four years. It’s part of his plan to grow jobs in the U.S. Among the sectors he highlighted for investment were health, medicine, and biotechnology. It’s in this section of his vision that he proposes the development of an advanced research group for health.”
I think this is a great idea and goes hand in hand with his idea to bring back the Civilian Conservation Corps as a Civilian Climate Corps. Examples of innovative approaches to our most pressing problems. Hopefully, this new agency gets off the ground and makes some significant headway because right now we can use all the help we can get.
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