Pioneers and Process

I came across this interesting quote from a researcher who sees a significant weakness in having your peers OK everything you do. If nothing else, it points out the significant challenges that pioneers face in any industry or sector:

The main problem is that peer review, the bureaucratic god of science without whose blessing research cannot be funded, has been deemed infallible. That's not too bad in the mainstream where everyone more or less agrees what the most important problems are. Pioneers, however, rarely agree with anyone and this rare breed are now wrestling to scrape enough funds together to test their ideas.
- Professor Braben, Chief Executive of Venture Research International Ltd.