Motivating innovation: The impact of prestigious talent funding on junior scientists

Despite the critical role of creativity in advancing science and technology, our understanding of the funding schemes that drive creativity remains remarkably limited. Concerns have arisen that grants supporting predetermined projects may unintentionally encourage incremental research, prompting governments to explore different funding approaches. For instance, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) initiated the Excellent Young Scientists Fund (EYS), a prestigious talent funding program designed to support junior scientists. Given that radical innovation is a key concern for contemporary China, we empirically estimate the impact of the EYS program on scientific productivity, citation impact, and the generation of radical research. Utilizing a unique dataset, we find that the EYS program enhances both the productivity and citation impact of early-career Chinese scientists. Strikingly, we observe that EYS investigators tend to consolidate current science, resulting in a reduction of disruption compared to their counterparts. We propose several theories to explain this reduced level of disruption, with a particular focus on research strategies. Our investigations suggest that exploitation strategies and a focus on publishing hot-topic papers contribute to this observed effect. These findings provide valuable insights into the impact of funding and hold important policy implications for supporting disruptive research endeavors.