For time immemorial, science has been about discovery, a “science of whats”. Yet on a day-to-day basis, many of us do science that might feel more intangible than real. Working in a laboratory, students and senior scientists alike, often find it difficult to foresee the material products that will emerge from their valuable research, not to mention the multiple innovation future(s) ahead. The chain of data-to-analysis-to-knowledge-to-innovation remains opaque in daily institutional anxieties of many research and development (R&D) organizations, be they situated at a university, industry or government.