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MT Capital Research Report: Current Status and Future Prospects of the DeSci Track.

MT Capital

2023-12-14 16:00

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Original Title: "DeSci Track Status and Future Prospects"

Original Author: Xinwei

TL;DR

DeSci Integration with Web3 and Blockchain: DeSci combines blockchain technology to improve key aspects of scientific research, such as peer review, funding sponsorship, intellectual property management, and data transparency.

DeSci's impact on scientific research: DeSci is expected to improve the transparency, efficiency, and democratization of scientific research, while providing new opportunities to address global issues.

Challenges and Future Prospects: These include improving peer review mechanisms, challenges in funding support, protecting data privacy, and promoting diversity participation and integration of DeSci with traditional scientific fields.

What is DeSci?

The development of DeSci is closely related to Web3 technology, especially the rise of blockchain technology. It represents a new method of scientific research, which is based on the use of blockchain technology to solve some fundamental problems in traditional scientific research. The development of DeSci focuses on improving peer review, funding, intellectual property management, and increasing data transparency and scrutiny. These are all key aspects of the traditional scientific research process.

DeSci's main features include:

·Peer review and publishing process: The traditional scientific publishing process is managed by journals, which typically involves lengthy peer review and editorial work. Blockchain technology, particularly smart contracts, can be used to streamline this process. The construction of decentralized communities and the introduction of reputation systems can improve the efficiency and transparency of the process. For example, VitaDAO is an organization that applies blockchain technology to peer review and reputation systems.

·Funding: Traditional scientific funding models often involve lengthy application processes and are susceptible to bias from review panels. Blockchain technology provides an alternative by allowing scientific research to be directly funded through crowdfunding. For example, Molecule is a blockchain-based funding marketplace that connects patients, biotech companies or investors with scientists, driving the development of an open research market.

·Intellectual Property Management: In the DeSci field, the introduction of Intellectual Property NFTs (IP-NFTs) enables researchers to share ownership of research projects and future outcomes. Molecule is a pioneer in this area, allowing scientists, biomedical researchers, and biotech companies to more easily obtain funding and commercialize their work through IP-NFTs.

·Data Transparency and Auditability: The application of blockchain technology also increases the transparency of data, allowing scientific research data to be stored and accessed in a decentralized environment. This helps to break down data silos and promote collaboration in projects and research.

DeSci's Impact and Prospects

·Simplification of Industrial Transformation: Due to the complex ownership and process of intellectual property rights in universities or research institutions, the process of industrial transformation of academic achievements is usually long and complicated. DeSci provides new opportunities for the commercialization of academic achievements and simplifies this process. By building knowledge-based NFTs and other innovative mechanisms, DeSci helps researchers more directly transform their scientific research results into commercial products. In addition, DeSci also helps VCs discover "under the table" projects, namely those research projects that are not yet widely known but have potential.

·Breaking Traditional Boundaries: DeSci is not limited to the field of scientific research. Its concepts and tools are equally applicable to art, humanities, and even indigenous knowledge systems. This interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing is one of the important features of DeSci.

·Inspiring new forms of collaboration: DeSci, with its decentralized nature, can facilitate collaboration on a global scale, especially for projects that require global environmental data and multidisciplinary input. In this way, DeSci has the potential to address some of the most pressing global issues, such as climate change and public health crises.

DeSci's Key Technologies and Applications

1. Blockchain and Smart Contracts: Blockchain plays a central role in DeSci, especially in the context of smart contracts. Smart contracts are self-executing code snippets that can be used to automate various aspects of the scientific publishing process, such as peer review. These contracts ensure transparency and efficiency in the process, while also reducing the time and cost associated with traditional publishing.

2. Decentralized peer review and publishing process: DeSci eliminates intermediate links in the traditional publishing process, such as journal coordination work, through blockchain technology, thereby improving the accessibility and transparency of research results. For example, Ants Review directly intervenes in the interaction between authors and reviewers through smart contracts, incentivizing with tokens to improve the efficiency and quality of peer review.

3. Community fundraising for research: Blockchain technology is also used for crowdfunding, allowing scientists to directly connect with patients, biotech companies, or investors to drive the open research market. This funding model allows scientists to bypass traditional funding channels and receive support directly from the community. For example, Molecule raises funds for scientific research such as drug development through NFTs and DAOs.

4. Intellectual Property Management: In DeSci, NFTs are used for managing and developing intellectual property, such as scientific data or articles. This makes sharing and transformation of intellectual property more efficient, while also providing a new source of income for scientists and researchers. For example, Molecule utilizes IP-NFTs to share ownership of research projects and their future outcomes.

5. Data Transparency and Review: The data hosted on the blockchain increases the transparency of scientific research, allowing scientists to easily access and store relevant research databases, making more accurate research decisions. DeSci utilizes a unique feature of blockchain technology called "permanent network". This means that once data is uploaded to the blockchain, it is almost impossible to delete or modify. This feature is particularly important for scientific research, as it ensures that even in the face of political or social pressure, scientific data and discoveries can remain unchanged and accessible. This is critical for protecting the integrity of scientific research and combating censorship, ensuring the freedom and objectivity of scientific research.

6. Decentralized research tools and publishing platforms: DeSci provides a multifunctional decentralized platform, such as DeSci Node and LabDAO, to support the research process, including seamless integration of various formats of reports, charts, codes, and external APIs.

7. Establishment of Reputation System: In order to build a high-quality and trustworthy DeSci community, the platform needs to establish a comprehensive reputation system to track user interactions on the decentralized platform, such as likes, comments, and posts, to help establish credibility and expertise. Through blockchain, scientists' contributions - whether it's peer review, sharing research data, or participation in professional training and guidance - can be recorded and authenticated by issuing NFTs. These NFTs not only serve as direct evidence of scientists' contributions, but also as a measure of their reputation in the scientific community. This system encourages scientists to participate in community building and knowledge sharing, while providing a more objective and transparent way to evaluate and reward their work.

8. Academic Social Platform: ResearchGate in web2 has raised over 100M in funding. In web3, this type of platform provides a new way for scientists, researchers, and other stakeholders to communicate and collaborate. Through such social platforms, scientists can share research results, seek partners, and also provide VCs with a channel to discover and invest in potential scientific research projects.

DeSci Ecosystem Project

Molecule

Molecule is a decentralized biotech crowdfunding platform, with approximately 40 scientists seeking funding support for their projects on the platform. Inspired by the citizen science movement and the open development of drugs, Molecule's original idea came from the patient community, aiming to help advance and fund early drug development. Molecule is built on Ethereum and includes two main systems: Molecule Discovery and Molecule Finance. These systems create an active ecosystem for decentralized modular drug development. Molecule uses a combination of smart contracts and legal contracts to form an IP-NFT (intellectual property non-fungible token) mechanism, which allows anyone to share ownership of research projects and their future results, such as intellectual property, royalties, and data. Molecule is not limited to the basic functions of its own website, but has established a complete and large ecosystem, enabling patient collectives and drug development DAOs to maintain, manage, and interact with real-world intellectual property.

Data Lake

GenomesDAO

HairDAO

VitaDAO

ResearchHub

DeSci environment provides a more decentralized, transparent, and collaborative research environment, which is in stark contrast to the traditional, more centralized and closed-door research environment.

DeSci's Challenges and Future Prospects

Current technical and operational challenges facing the DeSci industry

·Peer Review Mechanism: In DeSci, peer review remains a critical quality control step. For example, Ants-Review has proposed a blockchain-based incentive protocol aimed at addressing the expensive, inefficient, and centralized issues in traditional peer review. However, this system still faces some key issues, such as determining review qualifications and preventing malicious behavior and cheating.

·Project Funding: Although blockchain provides a new "crowdfunding" model, funding for large-scale research projects remains a challenge. Small projects can use the NFR (non-fungible rights) model to solve funding problems, but large projects typically require national-level investment.

·Privacy Protection: In DeSci, it is important to strike a balance between promoting transparency and collaboration while ensuring data confidentiality. Zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology plays a crucial role in this regard.

·Diversity Participation: The composition of the DeSci community reflects the existing demographic characteristics of the cryptocurrency and scientific fields, with underrepresentation of women and other minority groups. This is not limited to gender differences, but also involves diversity in race, geography, and economic background. This lack of diversity may lead to bias and limitations in research directions, restricting the scope of issues that DeSci can explore and solve. To improve inclusiveness, the DeSci project needs to actively attract and encourage participation from a wider range of groups. This may include providing educational resources, establishing partnerships, and ensuring that diverse voices are heard in the decision-making process.

DeSci's Long-term Impact and Potential Development Path

·Innovative fundraising methods: Platforms like Gitcoin provide funding for projects through new mechanisms such as secondary fundraising.

·Intellectual Property Management: For example, the Molecule project has created a new way of managing intellectual property by building an Intellectual Property Non-Fungible Token (IP-NFT).

·Development of Data Markets: Open data markets will stimulate new forms of collaboration, with innovative database structures such as DBDAO allowing individuals to benefit from their data.

· The Importance of Emergency Fundraising: In responding to emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health crises, the ability to raise research funds quickly is particularly important for DeSci. Traditional government funding is often allocated according to annual budgets, which is not flexible or fast enough in the face of sudden emergencies. In contrast, DeSci's decentralized nature allows for rapid mobilization of resources and concentration of funds for critical research and response measures. This speed and efficiency is unmatched by traditional fundraising methods. This fast response fundraising approach may become a key tool in responding to global health emergencies in the future.

How to promote the integration of DeSci and traditional scientific fields

·Transparent use and management of funds: Leveraging DeFi experience, DeSci can achieve more efficient use of funds.

·Resource sharing optimization: Through smart contracts, it is more convenient to share research equipment and other resources, promoting efficient use of resources.

·Global cooperation promotion: Decentralized science can promote cooperation on a global scale through blockchain technology, especially for projects that require global environmental data.

·Application of AIGC technology: Artificial Intelligence Content Generation (AIGC) can be used to improve the productivity of scientific research texts and help better showcase research results.

·Promoting Open Science and Interdisciplinary Collaboration: DeSci supports and strengthens the concept of open science, increasing transparency and accessibility by making scientific research and data available to everyone. This helps to improve the quality and impact of scientific research. The DeSci environment encourages collaboration between different disciplines, breaking down traditional barriers between them through blockchain and smart contract technology. Interdisciplinary collaboration is particularly important for solving complex problems such as climate change and public health crises.

Conclusion and Recommendations

For scientific research institutions and investors, DeSci provides a novel method for fundraising and project management. For example, the case of VitaDAO shows that through the DeSci model, research projects can receive funding support from DAOs in their respective fields and be managed through the voting of DAO members. This model provides transparency in the allocation of funds for researchers and allows fund providers to directly participate in the decision-making process.

·DeSci's main goal is to solve the problems of funding, organization, and transparency in scientific research. DeSci uses the transparency and immutability of blockchain technology to provide a new model for fundraising and management of scientific research funds. This model may promote closer collaboration between different research institutions and private sponsors, helping to narrow the "death valley" between basic and clinical research. At the same time, it may also provide more opportunities for young scientists to support non-traditional research.

·DeSci greatly improves the efficiency of academic publishing. By decentralizing the peer review and publishing process, it reduces publishing time and complexity, allowing scientific knowledge to spread more quickly. DeSci alleviates the monopoly problem in the traditional academic publishing market by providing an open and transparent platform. This helps to increase publishing diversity, provide more opportunities for researchers to publish, and promote the diversification and democratization of scientific research.