Looking back and thinking ahead: The Kavli Foundation celebrates 20 years
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Looking back and thinking ahead: The Kavli Foundation celebrates 20 years “The future will be more spectacular than any of us can imagine.”—Fred Kavli
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he Kavli Foundation, established in December 2000, will be celebrating its 20th anniversary next month. Fred Kavli, a Norwegian-born physicist, entrepreneur, business leader, innovator, and philanthropist, started the foundation as a means to advance science for the benefit of humanity. Its mission is implemented through an international program of research institutes, initiatives and symposia, as well as The Kavli Prize, and a program in public engagement with science. Fred’s love of science began as a child growing up on a farm, where he developed a curiosity about nature. This sense of wonder and a desire to do something for the long-range benefit of society is the core of the foundation. He wanted to support basic science by promoting public understanding of scientific research and to support scientists and their work.
He once said, “My goal is to support research at the frontiers of science, to pursue the most far-reaching opportunities, and to seek answers to the most fundamental questions.” The Materials Research Society (MRS) has been a partner with The Kavli Foundation for more than a decade, and, “It’s been extremely productive,” said Bob Conn, president and CEO of The Kavli Foundation. “Approaching the 20th anniversary of The Kavli Foundation, I’ve had the opportunity to look back as well as to think ahead.”
Foundation’s development
Bob identified two key phases in the foundation’s development: During the first decade, the foundation laid out its basic strategic elements: establishing endowed science institutes and establishing The Kavli Prize. The foundation toward the end of its first decade experienced the impact of the 2007–2009 recession. “I joined the foundation in April 2009, and there were several core strategic pieces already in place, and the foundational bricks had been laid,” said Bob. The foundation had learned that funding basic research through the Kavli Institutes at universities was the most effective and unique way to provide support to science and scientists, and within the
Kavli Foundation leadership and partners visit the White House during the announcement of the US BRAIN Initiative in April 2013. Credit: The White House.
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first decade, 10 Institutes were established. (Currently, there are 20.) “The second thing we did in the latter half of the first decade was to give recognition to scientists, especially in the fields of nanoscience, neuroscience, and astrophysics. With the definition of the focus areas and how we were going to put our support in Institutes and endow them, we then established The Kavli Prize as a means to help the public appreciate science and its work,” said Bob. The Kavli Prize was established in 2005, with the first laureates announced in 2008. The laureates are announced every other year in each of the three fields. “The resources weren’t there in the beginning to do more than that, but there were
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