My strange idea is/was to turn over all "Future Tech Research" to Private Industry.
That sounds weird, so I'll explain.
I'd like to create a list of 25 "future technologies" and achievements. Depending on the achievement or technology, the business that invented did it would have a period where all employees and the business itself would pay 0% taxes to the government. Things like, "colonizing the moon" would mean a 0% tax rate for every single year the colony remained viable (with viability rules outlined under it. Things like the colony has to grow, there has to be established trade with the Earth, it requires its own government, it must produce its own food, and must operate at a profit, with less than 3% of the colonists dying every year) while things like, "Teleportation of Objects" would result in a standard 10 years of no taxes on said company.
There'd be a long list of rules for full disclosure of technology in order to obtain the "no taxation" status. Each specific thing would also have rules for which it counts as "invented" or "achieved".
My list would include things like:
"Faster Than Light Travel of a Human Being"
"Teleportation of Matter"
"Teleportation of Living Things"
"Teleportation of Humans"
"Tricorders from Star Trek"
"Nuclear Blast Nullification Technology"
"Human Colony on the Moon"
"Anti-Meteor/Asteroid Technology"
"Elimination of Cancer"
"Elimination of AIDS"
"Antarctic Colony"
"Under Ocean Colony"
"Terraforming Technology"
"Radiation Removal Technology"
"Ansible Communication"
That's the short list. Basically, I'd like to focus the intensity of businesses looking to make massive profits into things that really aren't going to see "viable" returns for a while. Instead of getting tax dollars from citizens or relying heavily on donations, I'd like to incentivize focused research from companies that make a lot of money.
That's my strange idea. It's actually pretty fleshed out and covers roughly 154 pages of documentation (I was bored, sue me). But, that's the basic jist of it.
I seriously doubt it'd work in any way I'd want it to.
Also, as each item is "removed" from the list for having been invented or accomplished, new ones take their place.