In this perspective, the authors challenge the status quo of polymer innovation. The authors first explore how research in polymer design is conducted today, which is both time consuming and unable to capture the multi-scale complexities of polymers. The authors discuss strategies that could be employed in bringing together machine learning, data curation, high-throughput experimentation, and simulations, to build a system that can accurately predict polymer properties from their descriptors and enable inverse design that is capable of designing polymers based on desired properties.