📣Special Alert: We have published the third interview in our series of discussions with former program managers, officers, and directors. Scroll down for the link.

Last week we introduced the broader topic of research moving from Spark, to Container, to Extension, and finally to Realization. Today, we begin with the first phase: Spark. As with the rest of this series, I will consider Spark through the lens of research funding, while also protecting what makes it distinct.

Even though this newsletter and series address funding, funding itself does not drive the Spark. In fact, protecting Spark is what ultimately improves funding outcomes.

So, what is Spark?

It is the origin of inquiry. It precedes fundability. It is not preliminary data or a proposal. It has not yet been aligned to sponsor priorities. Spark is the moment something lights up as worth pursuing. It is the internally generated question that will not leave you alone.

If funding considerations enter too early, they can weaken the Spark. When you begin by asking what sponsors want, you risk editing the idea before it has had a chance to grow. You may drift toward unnecessarily incremental work. You may unconsciously suppress originality. You may produce something that is safe and defensible but ultimately forgettable.

In an interview I conducted with former DARPA and ARO program manager Dr. Dev Palmer, he emphasized that funders are looking for compelling, revolutionary ideas. Those ideas must originate with the PI. Funders cannot generate originality for you. They will be responding to what you bring forward.

Dev also noted that when foundational investments were made in early laser research, no one could have predicted that lasers would one day be embedded in the checkout scanners of grocery stores around the world. Revolutionary ideas rarely begin with a clear commercial or practical endpoint. They begin with curiosity and a willingness to explore something that does not yet have an obvious application.

This is not a criticism of strategy. Strategy is essential. Alignment with sponsor priorities, understanding mechanisms, and positioning work appropriately are critical to funding success. However, strategy belongs in the Container and Extension phases -- not at the moment a new idea is born.

Spark requires mental spaciousness.

You need rest. You need time away from constant output. Many researchers know from experience that ideas often emerge while walking, showering, traveling, or stepping away from routine demands. Cognitive downtime is not laziness. It is generative. It is part of doing your job well.

If you are exhausted, overextended and constantly reacting, Spark has little room to appear. Protecting Spark often means protecting your time, your attention and your energy.

When Spark does appear, it must be respected.

If you ignore ideas, you train yourself not to notice them. If you capture them, you train your mind to continue generating. Keep an idea log. Write down thoughts that feel incomplete or ambitious. Do not dismiss an idea simply because it is not yet polished or fundable. At this stage, refinement is not the goal. Attention is.

Spark also requires trust.

Preliminary data may be required for funding. They are not required for imagination. An idea is not invalid simply because it is early or unproven. Spark asks for curiosity, conviction, and a willingness to explore before evidence is assembled.

Not every Spark will become a funded project. However, without Spark, nothing truly original would ever reach the funding stage. Revolutionary ideas do not begin as polished proposals. They begin as questions that feel slightly ahead of what is currently established.

It is also important to distinguish Spark from reactivity. Responding to a request for proposals, following trends, or attempting to replicate a colleague’s success can produce energy. However, that energy is different. Spark is internally generated inquiry. It is not merely responding to external signals.

Big ideas can feel unrealistic. They can feel premature. They can feel ambitious to the point of discomfort. Spark is not the place for pragmatism. Pragmatism comes later, in Container, Extension, and Realization. At this stage the work is to imagine what could be.

Protect Spark from the demands of funding logic. Give it space. Rest when you need to. Capture ideas when they arise. Trust yourself enough to explore them.

Next week, we will move to Container, where the Spark begins to take shape and where strategic thinking appropriately enters the picture. That is where ideas become workable and eventually fundable.

At DARPA, Dr. Dev Palmer says the clearest signal an idea is fundable is a revolutionary core insight—something that flips a well-worn assumption on its head (or makes the existing “roadmap” obsolete). In my interview with Dev, a former DARPA and Army Research Office program manager, he breaks down what program managers actually optimize for, how to put your “bottom line up front” on page one, and the common (avoidable) technicalities that can knock out a strong proposal before it’s even reviewed.

Need to get your research funded, this year? Check out our 12-week program to get you there.

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