Jano Costard

Head of Challenges @SPRIND - Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation. Leading Challenges in AI, drug development, biotech, energy, computing & more.

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

Had a great time talking to @eric_is_weird about @SPRIND, what we look for in program managers & "Jano’s obsessions with SPRIN-D’s administrative processes, such as their speed with “Fourteen days time-to-money”
https://t.co/qkmpHl5fEy

[Foresight Institute @foresightinst]

Most moonshot ideas never become real programs, startups, or policy. The Pathways to Implementation track at Vision Weekend UK gathers the people working to change this.

Fireside chats and talks on funding, organizational design, and training for frontier work:

• @jncstrd (SPRIND) and @joemeyerowitz (Field Foundry) on programs that combine visionary outcomes with real-world impact

• @darjaisaksson (Vinnova) on building organizational structures that tolerate uncertainty and experimentation

• Peter Gehler (Tübingen AI Institute) and @Thane_ac (Deep Science Ventures) on rethinking training

• @pablos (Deep Future) on funding the unfundable

Emceed by @allisondman and Barbara Diehl. Sunday June 7, Bankside London.

Thank you to @SPRIND for powering this track, and for showing what's possible when an agency is built to back ideas that don't fit existing categories.

Pathways to Implementation is one of seven tracks at Vision Weekend UK, alongside Emerging AI Paradigms, Life Unlimited, Neurotechnology, Nanotechnology, Energy, & Space, Existential Hope Futures, and Funding X.

Join us next week in London. Tickets in comments.

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@giffmana @Dorialexander There still is. But it's European (incl 🇨🇭🇬🇧..), not Germany only. 125M in non-dilutive funding on the table. Apply till 1 June, teams selected 3 weeks later. https://t.co/zQCypqlwxv

[SPRIND, Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation @SPRIND]

NEW SPRIND #Podcast: Thomas Ramge talks to Ida Tin, mother of the term femtech and lead of the SPRIND Continuous Hormone Monitoring challgenge https://t.co/5Yuh0Ae3tu

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@foresightinst @RenPhilanthropy Very much looking forward to be part of this!

[Kumar Garg @KumarAGarg]

NEW: I’m excited to announce our latest BiTS Accelerator open call.

This is our second cohort with @SPRIND, Germany’s innovation agency, and it is great to see them double-down on the model.

In fact, 2 participants from the first round were recruited to run large-scale programs

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@Simon__Grimm Gas also relies on a grid, storage, supply sources. It's just that this was established decades ago and doesn't require to establish a new (competing) system. Similar for nuclear, where we need fuel and means to treat used fuel etc

[Renaissance Philanthropy @RenPhilanthropy]

The AI revolution in science is powered by open source software. Let's fund it.

Today we're launching the Open Source for Science Fund @os4science, a new multi-donor philanthropic fund by @RenPhilanthropy, seeded by @biohub and @wellcometrust, with support from @KavliFoundation and Research Software Alliance.

🧵https://t.co/8EHRlKRTaA

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[SPRIND, Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation @SPRIND]

Delighted to welcome Neil Lawrence to the Next Frontier AI Challenge jury. DeepMind Professor of ML at Cambridge, author of The Atomic Human.
#NextFrontierAI #FrontierAI #Deeptech #Europe

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@DominiqueCAPaul Awesome seeing your team grow. How ambitious do you wanna be? We just went live with https://t.co/zQCypqlwxv

[SPRIND, Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation @SPRIND]

Apply now: https://t.co/4BxxonfiAe
Learn more: https://t.co/0Fii1sxRkB

[SPRIND, Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation @SPRIND]

€125M equity-free for frontier AI built in Europe.

SPRIND Next Frontier AI Challenge: up to 10 teams, up to €26.5M each.

For alt architectures, world models, neuro-symbolic, scientific foundation models, and more.

Apply by 1 June 2026, 12pm CEST. Link below.

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@jonchu @SPRIND @jonchu get in touch via dm to learn about our €125M funding for frontier AI at Germany's Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation. More to come in robotics etc.

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@jonchu We at German gov agency @SPRIND launch €125M in non-dillutive funding for frontier AI next week! https://t.co/w7il98aocD

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

Super happy to talk about how to support visionary builders!

[Foresight Institute @foresightinst]

Molecular self-assembly. Private AI. Brain-computer interfaces. AGI safety. Hacking aging biology. Dyson spheres. Funding models for long-horizon science.

We can’t wait for the talks at our upcoming Vision Weekend. June 5-7 in London.

Full speaker lineup:

• Greg Wayne (Google DeepMind) on universal AI assistants
• William Shih (Harvard University) on self-assembly and the coming age of molecular machines
• @moxie (Confer) on private AI
• @leecronin (University of Glasgow)
• @irinarish (Mila) on beyond scaling: toward continual and adaptive intelligence
• @eboyden3 (MIT) on incentives in science
• @anderssandberg (Institute for Future Studies) on Dyson 2070: how fast can we build a Dyson sphere and how stable are they?
• João Pedro de Magalhães @jpsenescence (University of Birmingham) on hacking aging biology
• @dorothychou (Google DeepMind) on capital for the long game: financing durable innovation in an age of hype
• @SergeyStavisky (UC Davis) on high-bandwidth BCIs for motor and communication recovery in people with paralysis
• Žiga Avsec @Avsecz (Google DeepMind) on advancing regulatory variant effect prediction with AlphaGenome
• Christopher Rozell @crozSciTech (Georgia Tech) on closed-loop neuroengineering
• @JerzySzablowski (Rice University) on precision neuromodulation through molecular engineering and focused ultrasound
• Christine Peterson @lifeext (Foresight Institute) on Foresight, 40 years later
• @MariusHobbhahn (Apollo Research) on the case for AGI safety products
• @WeinbaumJonah (Institute for Progress) on the 'launch sequence': towards a concrete agenda for defensive acceleration
• Peter Gehle (Tübingen AI Institute)
• @joemeyerowitz (Field Foundry)
• @jncstrd (SPRIND) on challenges as a tool for breakthrough innovation
• @RonitKanwar (Renaissance Philanthropy) on fuelling scientific renaissances
• Lynne Cox @OxAgeN_oxford (University of Oxford)
• Adam Shai @adamimos on the neural basis of intelligent behavior
• Zoë Brammer (Google DeepMind) on AI for science 2030
• Darja Isaksson (Vinnova)
• Thane Campbell @Thane_ac (Deep Science Ventures)
• Ankur Vora (Google DeepMind) on AI for science 2030
• Leah Morris @leahelizmorris on AI for science
• @KirillEves (e184)
• Kathleen Fisher (ARIA)
• Mehmet Fisek (Meridial)
• @JacquesCarolan (ARIA) moderator
• Barbara Diehl @barbaradiehl13 (SPRIND) moderator
• Eric Gilliam @eric_is_weird (Renaissance Philanthropy) moderator
• @allisondman (Foresight Institute) moderator

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@SPRIND
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[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@StephanSturges @SebJohnsonUK @SPRIND Why?

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@Dominanski @SebJohnsonUK @SPRIND Maybe. Let’s talk in 24 month then.

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@danbri @SebJohnsonUK @halvarflake @SPRIND It’s EU+, including for example UK, Switzerland etc

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@iamjankoch @SebJohnsonUK @SPRIND It’s 25M per team, as a start. Plus, we actively work on enabling funding at the B€ scale.

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@NextPersona @SebJohnsonUK @SPRIND But how do we generate value from that data? Creating that capability through world class labs from Europe will be quite valuable.

[Jano Costard @jncstrd]

@_Eddited_ @SebJohnsonUK @SPRIND We hear you! We work on having more funding, but we rather start now than wait.