  We identify a new dynamic agency problem: that of incentivising the prompt
disclosure of productive information. To study it, we introduce a general model
in which a technological breakthrough occurs at an uncertain time and is
privately observed by an agent, and a principal must incentivise disclosure via
her control of a payoff-relevant physical allocation. We uncover a deadline
structure of optimal mechanisms: they have a simple deadline form in an
important special case, and a graduated deadline structure in general. We apply
our results to the design of unemployment insurance schemes.
