About Alliances for Discovery (AFD)

Alliances for Discovery was organized in 1999 as a 501c3 non- profit organization with the specific mission to accelerate breakthrough discoveries, inventions, and innovations of benefit to humanity. The core premise is that world’s “wicked” problems—disease, poverty, illiteracy, destruction of habitat, climate turbulence, violence, and so forth—will not be resolved by our present order of thinking. Most of these desperate problems if not all remain unresolved and many are becoming yearly worse. A transformation in how we think and feel and transact with one another–more specifically, a new collaborative model that invokes the deep potentialities of the human brain and heart together– is desperately needed to meeting the deep challenges of the early 21^st century. During the past twenty years Alliances for Discovery has developed the essential framework, methods, and tools to meet these challenges and is currently deploying them in three major spheres of action. See background article: “Inventing for Humanity—A Collaborative Strategy for Global Survival.” 

Big Heart Intelligence

BHI is a new frontier of scientific inquiry that seeks systematically to explore and to understand how the brain, mind, and heart, and other systems of living organisms work in harmony; how they comprehend and are conscious. The present work, Laughing Heart—A Field Guide to Exuberant Vitality for All Ages—10 Essential Moves is the most recent embodiment and expression of principles under development since AFD’s conception. The present challenge is to make the Guide intelligent, interactive, and personalized to become a trusted friend and companion for individuals and organizations of all kinds, enriching every activity where a combination of heart and mind matters. Version 1.0 of the Intelligent Guide can be delivered within 4-6 months with modest funding.

• • Big Heart Intelligence and Corporate Destiny— Our spotlight here is on corporations and non-profit organizations: how by systematically cultivating Big Heart Intelligence (the integration of heart, brain, and mind) they can powerfully influence their otherwise immutable fortunes.
  • Beyond Shared Value—Character as Corporate Destiny  This 2015 article established a foundation for BHI as the next frontier of corporate social responsibility and shared value.
  • AFD’s Intelligent COIN Platform—AFD has a blueprint of an Intelligent IT Platform to support continuously all members of the COIN. The IT Platform includes advanced search, a discovery/invention engine, a visual matching engine to connect all COIN members by degrees of opted interest, big data analytics and machine learning and Big Mechanism tools, including IBM’s Watson to explain complex data sets. The blueprint is available to corporate and non-profit organizations interested in implementing BHI principles for the public good.
  • AFD Directors—Julian Gresser, Chairman;  William Moulton;  Patricia Bader-Johnston.