4 ms·

Mmm.. the german governments funding of the Max Planck institutes seem to work well. As I understand it the Max Planck Society gets funding and then distributes

• gumby 11y ago
  That speaks to w1ntermute's point. Max Planck Institutes are dedicated to basic research (Grundlagenforschung). Thus they don't have an "objective" as such. Plus, by the very nature of fundamental research, it's hard to determine "success" (except in the aggregate, and after a long period of time -- which the MPG has had time to demonstrate. The "google-killer" or "SK AI project" or the "5th generation project" for that matter are quite different. First, they start with an ill-defined yet concrete goal, which makes success well nigh impossible. Second, they start from the position of a large sum of money being necessary -- which naturally attracts inappropriate as well as appropriate bids; the deciders are often more political than with the MPG (which itself, consisting of a group of people, must have its own politics, but presumably less intensely). Also this money is often a one-time or short term allocation rather than a long term investment as with the MPG. The one example I can think of in which this actually worked was Airbus, but that took decades, massive sums, and a stubbornness to change the structure a lot along the way. Not sure I can think of another example.