Excellent statement of the problem. The challenge is that (1) the most important ideas to fund, look like bad ideas, but (2) most ideas that look like bad ideas, are in fact bad ideas. I don't think that “fund more ideas, even ones that look bad” is quite right.

Elements of a solution, I suspect, include: (A) have a more diverse range of *funders*, not a centralized agency, and (B) have a decision-making process that puts more authority in the hands of individuals (not committees) who are allowed to operate on their judgment and don't have to produce highly legible justifications for “accountability.”