The UK’s $1-billion bet to create technologies that change the world

Advanced Research and Invention Agency ( ARIA ) was modelled on the famed US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA .

DARPA helped to pioneer some of the world’s most consequential technologies, including the Internet and personal computers.

ARIA has unusual freedom to select the projects that receive money from a 4-year , 800-million ( US$1-billion ) budget.

ARIA 's overall annual budget is only 1.2% of the UK government’s 2022 spending on research and development.

ARIA is part of a wave of experimentation in metascience — the science of how research is conducted and funded.

This month , ARIA announced their programme, called Forecasting Tipping Points , which seeks to create an early-warning system for Earth 's climate.

The agency is not subject to freedom-of-information requests about its work.

It will take a decade to evaluate ARIA ’s success, say researchers and science-policy specialists.

ARIA says it is committed to building in the open and publishes information on all its programmes and funded projects.