I’ve written about crowdfunding before.  And, most of you know it for its use in consumer products and creating parks.  But, there’s a great interest in having the public help scientists and engineers bring technical products to market.   Especially since our government has been cutting back on the funding of R&D over the years.

The problem is that for those devices, drugs, instruments that may emanate from academia- crowdfunding is akin to plagiarism.  It’s a no-no, a ‘not-acceptable’ practice.   Despite the dearth of funding, it’s protocol to seek federal grants, and occasionally to accept corporate funding.   But, Crowdfunding- no way.

But, as I’ve written, R&D funding is vastly different than when I began my career.  Back then, more than 2/3 of the R&D done in the US was directly funded by our government.  Now, some 4 to 4.5 decades later, the government is barely covering 1/3 of $ 435 billion expenditures on R&D.   The rest is derived from corporate and philanthropic interests.

So, many academics are bucking the system.  They are seeking funds via Kickstarter, Experiment.com, Petridish.org, RocketHub.com, or other similar venues.  Not only are these avenues providing some needed funds, the more outlandish ideas no longer have to clear peer review to undergo some development work.

This new process does have drawbacks, of course.  Who ensures that data collection and analysis meets scientific criteria?  Who worries about safety rules or research taboos (DNA alteration, stem cells, etc.) being corrupted?   And, do we really want mining of the moon, Mars, or asteroids to be advanced by crowdfunding?

Here are some of the projects that have developed funding… Dr. B. Longmier (Michigan) is seeking to perfect low-cost rocket thrusters, Dr. G. Bishop (Iowa) is hoping to test nanoparticle activation of immune cells to eradicate cancer.

Then, there’s one of the superstars of this system.  Dr. David Eagleman (Baylor College of Medicine) is developing a V.E.S.T. (versatile extra-sensory transducer), a high-tech vest that expands our perception (or not) beyond the five senses.  This researcher has collected more than $ 50 for this project below.

Or, Airing, a medical startup, that is hoping to offer the world a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device for sleep apnea- one sans masks, tubing, or cords.  Stephen Marsh (the man behind Airing) raised about $ 100K on IndieGogo for this device. He is sure that getting rid of the hoses, the electrical connections, and the mask will solve the biggest problem with treating sleep apnea- patient compliance.   His campaign was fully subscribed in 2 hours flat.  Oh, and more than 7 million folks examined his concept.   Which means his need for publicity when the product is complete has probably been met.   (He also continued to raise funds- reaching some $ 1 KK for this effort.)

Marsh expects the final price for the disposable device will be $ 3 (after insurance, it will cost the patient slightly more than 4 bits; ok, 60 cents is more likely).  The device will still need FDA approval- and it will require a physician prescription.

So, given these success, we can expect a whole new pathway for medical and technical product funding to be in full swing soon.

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