National Academies Workshop on Disruptive Innovation

By: CJ Neely
Thursday, May 28, 2026
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) workshop Understanding and Scoping Future Research on Disruptive Innovation explored how funding structures, incentive systems, evaluation metrics, and research culture shape scientific innovation and long-term impact.

Several discussions focused on whether current peer review and academic incentive structures unintentionally favor incremental science and protect the status quo, making it more difficult for disruptive or higher-risk ideas to gain traction. Speakers highlighted concerns that existing research systems often reward productivity, predictability, and short-term outputs over transformative or unconventional approaches.

Participants discussed growing interest in DARPA-style funding models that focus on solving major scientific bottlenecks while creating more flexible structures to support innovation. Conversations also emphasized the importance of metascience and “science of science” research to better understand how innovation develops across research ecosystems and institutional environments.

Another recurring theme was the need to rethink how scientific impact is measured. Participants noted that many current evaluation systems rely heavily on long-term outcomes and may fail to capture more real-time indicators of innovation. Discussions highlighted a broad range of enabling factors that shape disruptive innovation trajectories, including talent development, interdisciplinary networks, philanthropic and government funding, technology advances, intellectual property policy, business model innovation, and early adopter communities.

The workshop also reinforced the need for more systems-level thinking across biomedical research, workforce development, training ecosystems, and institutional incentive structures. Several discussions emphasized that transformative scientific advances often depend not only on discoveries themselves, but also on complementary advances in policy, infrastructure, implementation, and collaboration across sectors.

According to workshop organizers, a final NASEM consensus report is expected in early Fall 2026. Workshop materials and additional information are available through the National Academies workshop page.