View source for Blue skies research

{{short description|Curiosity-driven scientific research, without a clear practical goal}}
'''Blue skies research''' (also called '''blue sky science''') is scientific research in domains where "real-world" applications are not immediately apparent. It has been defined as "research without a clear goal"<ref name="bell 33">
{{cite book
  | last = Bell
  | first = David
  | title = Science, Technology and Culture
  | publisher = McGraw-Hill International
  | year = 2005
  | pages = 33
  | isbn = 978-0-335-21326-9 }}
</ref> and "curiosity-driven science". It is sometimes used interchangeably with the term "[[basic research]]".<ref name="linden 2008">
{{cite journal
  | last = Linden
  | first = Belinda
  | title = Basic Blue Skies Research in the UK: Are we losing out?
  | journal = Journal of Biomedical Discovery and Collaboration
  | date = February 29, 2008
  | doi = 10.1186/1747-5333-3-3
  | pmid = 18312612
  | volume = 3
  | pages = 3
  | pmc = 2292148
  | issue=1
 | doi-access = free
 }}
</ref> Proponents of this mode of [[science]] argue that unanticipated scientific breakthroughs are sometimes more valuable than the outcomes of agenda-driven research, heralding advances in [[genetics]] and [[stem cell]] biology as examples of unforeseen benefits of research that was originally seen as purely theoretical in scope. Because of the inherently uncertain [[return on investment]], blue-sky projects are sometimes politically and commercially unpopular and tend to lose funding to research perceived as being more reliably profitable or practical.<ref name="times 2005">{{cite journal|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article568223.ece|title=Politics clouds blue-sky science|journal=The Times|date=September 19, 2005  | accessdate=April 26, 2010 | first=Mark | last=Henderson}}</ref>

==Terminology==

The term blue sky research comes from Comroe's retrospectoscope in 1976 on the research done in 1869 on why the sky is blue. This research was initially thought to be of no value but led to many other discoveries of much more direct use.<ref>[https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/arrd.1976.113.2.219?journalCode=arrd Comroe J. Retrospectroscope – What makes the Sky Blue? American Review Respiratory Disease. 1976;113:219–22.]</ref>

==History==

Support for blue skies research has varied over time, ultimately becoming subject to the political process, in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foundation.org.uk/|title=To what extent should UK funding for science and innovation be focussed?|work=Foundation for Science and Technology  |accessdate=February 21, 2009}}</ref> and India. [[Vannevar Bush]]'s 1945 report, ''[https://www.nsf.gov/about/history/vbush1945.htm Science: The Endless Frontier]'', made the argument for the value of basic research in the postwar era, and was the basis for many appeals to the federal funding of basic research.<ref name="smith 1997">
{{Cite book
  | first = C.H. Llewellyn
  | last = Smith
  | author-link = Christopher Llewellyn Smith
  | title = The use of basic science
  | year = 1997
  | publisher = CERN
  | url = http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/About/BasicScience1-en.html }}
</ref> The 1957 launch of [[Sputnik]] prompted the United States [[Air Force Office of Scientific Research]] to sponsor blue skies research into the 1960s.<ref name="jeffrey">
{{cite book
  | last = Jeffrey
  | first = Richard C.
  | title = The Logic of Decision
  | publisher = University of Chicago Press
  | year = 1990
  | pages = xiv
  | isbn = 978-0-226-39582-1 }}
</ref> By the 1970s, financial strains brought pressure on public expenditure on the sciences, first in the UK and the [[Netherlands]], and by the 1990s in [[Germany]] and the United States.<ref name="smith 1997"/>

In 1980, [[BP]] established a blue skies research initiative called the Venture Research Unit, headed by particle physicist [[Donald Braben]]. Braben controversially challenged [[peer review]] as the mechanism for establishing funding, emphasizing the selection of researchers whose proposals "could radically change the way we think about something important."<ref name=" review 2004">
{{cite journal
  | last = Fedoroff
  | first = Nina
  | title = Peering out of the box (Review of 'Pioneering Research: A Risk Worth Taking')
  | journal = Nature
  | volume = 433
  | issue = 7024
  | pages = 361
  | date = January 27, 2005
  | doi = 10.1038/433361a| doi-access = free
  }}
</ref>

In 2005, [[Mark Walport]], director of the [[Wellcome Trust]] and former Professor of Medicine at [[Imperial College, London]] warned that excessive emphasis on agenda-driven research could jeopardise serendipitous advances in science:

<blockquote>The Government is right to recognise the importance of science and technology, but I think it is a mistake to try to [[wikt:ringfence|ring-fence]] funds. There is a serious danger that we will spend money on projects that are less good. It is absolutely key that funding is used to support the best scientists with the best ideas.<ref name="times 2005"/></blockquote>

When UK [[research council]]s introduced a requirement that grant application include a 2-page statement on the economic impact of the proposed work, 20 scientists, including 1996 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel laureate]] [[Harold Kroto]], wrote a public letter to ''[[Times Higher Education]]'' condemning the requirement and calling for peer reviewers to ignore the additional documentation.<ref name="sciencemag blog">
{{cite web
  | last = Travis
  | first = John
  | title = Is the (Blue) Sky Falling in the U.K?
  | work = ScienceInsider
  | publisher = [[Science (magazine)|Science]]
  | date = February 12, 2009
  | url = http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/02/is-the-blue-sky.html
  | accessdate = February 23, 2009
  | url-status = dead
  | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090218062619/http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2009/02/is-the-blue-sky.html
  | archivedate = February 18, 2009
  }}
</ref>

==Grants and conferences==

Until 2020 [[The Royal Society]] granted up to 1 million [[pounds sterling]] annually in ''Theo Murphy Blue Skies awards''. The award was to fund "research which is considered to be original and exciting but lacks a sufficient evidence base in the literature to be supported by traditional grant schemes."<ref name="royal">
{{cite web
  | title = Theo Murphy Blue Skies awards
  | publisher = The Royal Society
  | url = https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/theo-murphy-blue-skies-award/
  | accessdate = November 21, 2023 }}
</ref>

The UK-based [[Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council]] (EPSRC) operates a program called the IDEAS Factory, intended to promote "blue sky, curiosity-led research."<ref name="nottingham">
{{cite press release
  | title = IDEAS Factory
  | publisher = UKRI
  | date = August 17, 2021
  | url = https://www.ukri.org/councils/epsrc/guidance-for-applicants/types-of-funding-we-offer/transformative-research/ideas-factory/
  | accessdate = February 6, 2024 }}
</ref>

The international [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD) holds a "Blue Sky Forum" every decade.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.statcan.gc.ca/conferences/science2005/index-eng.htm|title=Blue Sky II 2006|journal=Statistics Canada|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116125256/http://www.statcan.gc.ca/conferences/science2005/index-eng.htm|archivedate=2009-01-16}}</ref>

== Subjects ==

Owing to its radical nature, blue sky science may challenge accepted [[Paradigm#Scientific paradigm|scientific paradigms]] and introduce entirely new fields of study.<ref name="linden 2008"/> It has been the inspiration for numerous works of [[science fiction]]. It has sometimes been concerned with topics such as unexplained phenomena and the impact of future technologies upon society, asking questions such as "How would a spacecraft traverse a [[black hole]] and where would it arrive upon leaving it?" and "Will the universe end, or will it just expand ever outwards for eternity?"{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}}

==See also==
* [[Applied science]]
* [[Instrumentalism]]
* [[Pure mathematics]]
* [[Applied mathematics]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal
  | last = Balaram
  | first = P.
  | title = Editorial: Blue sky research
  | journal = Current Science
  | volume = 76
  | issue = 1
  | pages = 1
  | date = January 10, 1999
  | url = http://www.ias.ac.in/jarch/currsci/76/1/5.pdf
  | accessdate = February 23, 2009 }}

==Bibliography==

* {{cite book
| last= Braben
| first = Donald W.
| title = ''Promoting the Planck Club: How defiant youth, irreverent researchers and liberated universities can foster prosperity indefinitely''
| publisher = John Wiley and Sons Inc
| year = 2014
| isbn = 978-1-118-54642-0 }}  
* {{cite book
  | last = Braben
  | first = Donald W.
  | title = Pioneering Research: A Risk Worth Taking
  | publisher = John Wiley and Sons Inc
  | year = 2004
  | isbn = 978-0-471-48852-1 }}
* {{cite book
  | last = Braben
  | first = Donald W.
  | title = Scientific Freedom: The Elixir of Civilization
  | publisher = John Wiley and Sons Inc
  | year = 2008
  | isbn = 978-0-470-22654-4 }}

[[Category:Philosophy of science]]
[[Category:Research]]