Originally Posted by
safetypee
The skills in this are unconstrained thought, ability to consider what could be, and the wider range of viewpoints, without constraint of time.
Thus the contract is more about funding these lines of thought for the future opposed to anything real.
I imagine that to be part of any future project the country must have something to offer and that means something advanced enough that it is not going to be >= TRL-4 at this point.