> so $30k of demonstrated public interest would be matched with $3MM of NIH funding.
This sets up a perverse incentive: the researchers who can best pander to a layperson crowd will have the highest chance, regardless of the technical merits of their proposal (which the general public almost certainly isn't qualified to judge).
Yeah, the first thing I thought of with this proposal was: this sounds like a great way to direct $$$ of NIH funding towards researching "why vaccination causes autism". For every $100k that Jenny McCarthy puts towards antivax research, the NIH would be compelled to match $10m...
This sets up a perverse incentive: the researchers who can best pander to a layperson crowd will have the highest chance, regardless of the technical merits of their proposal (which the general public almost certainly isn't qualified to judge).