This idea was created by the Scrutinise team as a policy development prompt. It represents a live policy debate with substantial public evidence. Any registered user can contribute to it, and ownership can be transferred to any organisation or individual who wishes to champion it.
Making ARIA Work: Amending the ARIA Act to Deliver Genuine High-Risk Research Tolerance
The Advanced Research and Invention Agency was established in 2022 to fund high-risk, high-reward research outside normal government appraisal frameworks. In practice, Treasury and DSIT oversight requirements have replicated the risk-aversion ARIA was designed to escape. This proposal amends the ARIA Act to create genuine operational independence.
Summary
The Advanced Research and Invention Agency was established in 2022 to fund high-risk, high-reward research outside normal government appraisal frameworks. In practice, Treasury and DSIT oversight requirements have replicated the risk-aversion ARIA was designed to escape. This proposal amends the ARIA Act to create genuine operational independence.
Challenge (summary)
ARIA's programme managers are applying for standard HM Treasury spending approval processes for research grants. This defeats the purpose of ARIA, which was designed to fund research that standard appraisal processes would reject.
Approach (summary)
Amend the ARIA Act 2022 to explicitly prohibit the application of Green Book analysis to ARIA funding decisions, create a statutory risk tolerance framework based on DARPA's model, and give ARIA programme managers explicit authority to fund projects where the expected value of failure exceeds the cost.
First step (summary)
Insert new sections into the ARIA Act 2022 prohibiting Treasury from requiring Green Book compliance for individual ARIA funding decisions, and requiring ARIA's board to publish an annual Risk Tolerance Report.