YC should fund research into the foundations of the open Internet and web.  The Internet was created decades ago as a public research project.  Decades later, tremendous amounts of that value was captured by Internet startups.<p>The thing that distinguishes the Internet and web from other technology is that it is open and interoperable.  Its style is just profoundly different.<p>Individual companies have no incentive to create such technology.  They create things in the style of Apple, Facebook, or much of Google&#x27;s later technology.<p>The Internet was funded by the military.  Unix was created by a telephone monopoly.  The web was created by a benevolent researcher.  I think it would make sense for YC to fund the next system along these lines.<p>This kind of innovation takes place on a time scale not accessible to most organizations.