Palo Alto Institute Mission

The Palo Alto Institute is a private foundation, think tank, and creativity laboratory dedicated to the pursuit and promotion of unconventional truths through research, education, and entertainment. Founded in 2005 by Dr. Joon Yun and like-minded colleagues and now headed by Conrad Yun, the Palo Alto Institute collaborates with innovative thinkers who take pleasure in creative and intellectual exploration and action, and benefits from being located in the heart of Silicon Valley and the intellectual hub at Stanford University. We have accumulated a wealth of experience in over the last 10+ years in formulating out-of-the-box hypotheses, discussing them with thought leaders, and conducting original research projects as well as outreach to educate the community about new ways to think about some of the most important topics we face as a society in the fields of science, art, and health.

To learn more, please visit: www.PaloAltoInstitute.org

Selected Current/Past Sponsored Projects

Aging and longevity

The Palo Alto Institute is sponsoring the Palo Alto Longevity Prize and supporting innovations in the field of aging and longevity research though Hero Science Foundation.  Solving the diseases of aging by offering a prize, the Palo Alto Longevity Prize, which is a $1M life sciences competition that challenges teams from all over the world to “hack the code” that regulates our health and life span.  More information can be found at www.PaloAltoPrize.com.
The Palo Alto Institute is sponsoring a variety of other initiatives in the field of aging and longevity, including hosting events and supporting the National Academy of Medicine in its leadership in the field.

Prizes

The Palo Alto Institute believes prizes are a great mechanism to pull forward innovative thinking in a field while at the same time engendering public participation and enthusiasm.  The Palo Alto Institute is sponsoring the Copernicus Prize, an essay/video contest intended to spark original, revolutionary thinking among students to challenge prevailing models in every discipline of sciences and the humanities. More information can be found on the Copernicus Prize page.

The Palo Alto Institute is sponsoring a variety of other prizes to promote creative and intellectual exploration as well as catalyze positive social change.

Childhood diseases and allergies

The Palo Alto Institute is sponsoring research in the area of food allergies led by the world-class team headed by Dr. Kari Nadeau at Stanford School of Medicine. The research is designed to advance our understanding of the role of autonomic dysfunction in life-threatening allergic reactions to certain kinds of food.  More information about the ground-breaking research in the field of food allergies can be found at med.stanford.edu/allergyandasthma.html.

Social sciences

The Palo Alto Institute is sponsoring research and discussion in the area of demographics, specifically the dual challenges of declining fertility and aging of the population in much of the world.  More information can be found at www.depopulation.net.