Innovation mismanagement by over competitive research funding system

Summary form only given as follows. The distribution of research funds by the key funding agencies in Canada and USA is based on the idea of selectivity, i.e., the policy of NOT funding all the applicants. Despite that this policy is superficially justified by the peer review quality control, in practice it invariably tends to favor research along well established lines and discourages real innovation and risk taking. The paper questions the common excuse that the major problem is in the “underfunding,” and argues that on the contrary, much of the trivial research is actually over-funded. An alternative funding model is proposed