Research Sections:
• Business
The Seasteading Institute is producing generalizable research for the benefit of present and future seasteading entrepreneurs and investors, to accelerate the growth of a for-profit seasteading sector and, eventually, of entire cities on the ocean. We view this foundation of research into various engineering, legal, economic and other challenges as a “public good”, freeing the pioneers of the ocean to work on the unique aspects of their business ventures, without having to worry about determining the most stable and cost-effective seastead designs, the criteria for choosing a location, or numerous other important issues that will affect virtually all seasteaders. We also conduct research into specific business plans that we believe to be most viable in the short term, such as medical tourism and aquaculture.
Much of our research has come from past and present staff members of the Institute, including our director of engineering, George Petrie (a retired professor of Naval Architecture at Webb Institute), research associate Brad Taylor (a Ph.D. student in economics), as well as our former directors of business strategy and legal strategy, Max Marty and Dario Mutabdzija (the founders of the Blueseed project). Our experts oversee the research of interns and volunteers, for which we have a list of suggested projects and topics dealing with obstacles facing the first round of seasteading business ventures. We are willing to work with motivated individuals or groups who would like to investigate one or more of our suggested topics, or a relevant topic of their choosing. Finally, we also provide a limited number of grants to exceptionally qualified candidates who are interested in researching seasteading-related subjects.
We revise our research agenda as new information comes up that affects the optimal strategy for bringing our vision of seasteading about as quickly as possible. Contact us at info@seasteading.org if you think you have something to contribute, either as a volunteer or grantee, or if you have any suggestion for future directions of research.
©2012 The Seasteading Institute