  In recent years, the interest in high intensity proton beams in excess of
several milli-Amperes has risen. Potential applications are in neutrino
physics, materials and energy research, and isotope production. Continuous wave
proton beams of five to ten milli-Amperes are now in reach due to advances in
accelerator technology and through improved understanding of the beam dynamics.
As an example application, we present the proposed IsoDAR experiment, a search
for so-called sterile neutrinos and non-standard interaction using the KamLAND
detector located in Japan. We present updated sensitivities for this experiment
and describe in detail the design of the high intensity proton driver that uses
several novel ideas. These are: accelerating H2+ instead of protons, directly
injecting beam into the cyclotron via a Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ), and
carefully matching the beam to achieve so-called vortex motion. The preliminary
design holds up well in PIC simulation studies and the injector system is now
being constructed, to be commissioned with a 1 MeV test cyclotron.
