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This serves as a comprehensive resource hub, while our main website undergoes enhancements.

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What would you do if you had £50-100M to advance our civilization’s technological and scientific capabilities, without having to think about how to capture the social returns for investors, or how to get the most academic citations?

Most scientists and technologists rarely stop to ask this question, because it is not action-relevant. But the answer would probably look different than a scaled up version of what you are doing today.

Developed in collaboration with and support from ARIA, the BiTS program is designed and run by former DARPA PMs Joshua Elliott and JP Chretien and distills the key strategies and tactics to design incentives and work with the best teams to unlock capabilities that will not happen under business as usual.

Having supported ARIA’s Programme Directors, we are now extending the opportunity to learn how to build coordinated research programs (CRPs) to scientists and technologists with the same level of ambition. In our pilot UK cohort powered by ARIA, we will work with 12 aspiring R&D leaders to help them develop a detailed vision for an ARPA and ARIA-style coordinated research program.

To get a sense of the kind of problems we're looking for applicants to tackle, take a look at the Gap Map maintained by Convergent Research, or ARIA's current and emerging opportunity spaces. Note that these lists are non-exhaustive and for inspiration only.

📆 Timeline

By November, you will have gone through 13 weeks of intense iteration on your program vision, with 1:1 guidance from experienced mentors, and you will get a chance to pitch your program to ARIA and other funders.

🔁 Weekly Structure

Expected weekly commitment is 8-10 hours a week, spread between:

• Mentoring (mandatory): You will have the opportunity to host 1:1 meetings with your mentor to work through problems with them, get advice, and figure out what work you should be doing for the next week. These meetings are scheduled at your and your mentor’s convenience.
• Small Group Sessions (mandatory): These will be hour-long meetings with groups of up to 4 fellows. Small group sessions may be a workshop-style activity, discussion of a lecture or case study, or time for more unstructured discussion with peers to work through challenges. Your assigned small group will have a fixed weekly meeting time on Thursdays or Fridays.
• Reading (optional but strongly recommended): A short chapter from the curriculum focused on concepts, history and the tactics behind different skills you need to successfully start and run coordinated research programs.
• “Storytime” (optional but strongly encouraged): Experts will host 1-hour virtual sessions that include lectures on specific topics, open-format Q&As, or panels.

📚 Materials

• Listen to an interview with the founder of BiTS, Joshua Elliott
• Take a look at the **BiTS curriculum** and the **ARPA playbook** by our colleague Eric Gilliam