[4] Convergent Research is designed to identifying high-impact scientific or technological R&D fields, then launch companies to address these fields with a structure they call Focused Research Organizations (FROs).
[6] A Focused Research Organization, or FRO, is a type of non-profit organization designed to address technical problems or perform scientific research.
They differ from academic research labs in that they have medium-to-large size teams with corporate structures, embrace projects which are unlikely to yield publishable results, and frequently involve scientists and engineers collaborating across disciplines.
[7] FRO projects are not profitable enough in their initial stages for them to constitute a startup company, and unlike think tanks or research institutes, tend to pursue specific technical goals rather than general research.
[8] Once their technical goals are achieved, FROs may evolve into more traditional non-profits, or become backed by venture capital and transform into startups.