Decentralized Science DeSci Practice Observation: Latest Progress and Operational Features

Decentralized Science, or DeSci, is a growing movement in the web3 space exploring how blockchain-based solutions can improve problems in scientific research, such as publishing and funding. This movement shares resonance with the principles and practices of open science and aims to make scientific knowledge more accessible, inclusive, just and sustainable. The movement was ignited when a group of scientists, technologists, and crypto enthusiasts began exploring decentralized funding avenues such as DAOs, scientific NFTs, token offerings, and crowdfunding. Due to the early nature of the ecosystem, many definitions are still evolving, including whether distributed ledger technology is considered an important part of the DeSci project. See the end of this report for additional resources on this discussion and the DeSci project.

Decentralized science aims to solve some of the problems in traditional science, such as funding and decision making. Currently, the majority of science funding decisions come from small-scale central or government sources where known biases (such as preferences for known laboratories, male-dominated projects, or politically relevant projects) exist. This has led to underfunding in many areas of science, especially for more disruptive research investigations. This small group approach does not allow for wider community engagement, such as those directly affected by the research. Taking a decentralized approach can help with this.

The Gitcoin Grants program is an initiative in the cryptocurrency space run by Gitcoin DAO to fund public goods. Through the platform, the community has the opportunity to directly support projects through donations that will be matched with funds from a specific partner fund pool. Matching amounts follow a quadratic funding allocation mechanism, meaning the amount donated is more important than the amount donated.

In September 2022, Gitcoin hosted a DeSci featured case round (GR15). This prompted $568,000 in funding to be allocated to 82 projects in the ecosystem. This influx of support has enabled many DeSci projects to move to the next stage. TalentDAO and DeSciWorld analyzed it to explore the impact and contribution of donations to the DeSci ecosystem. Discover what these projects are and what they've achieved with the funding they've received. Forty-one of the 82 Gitcoin Round 15 DeSci projects covered in this report responded to a survey about their achievements, barriers, needs, resources, funding, and demographics.

Survey Overview

We asked 21 questions covering identifiers such as project purpose, association, team composition, and perception of achievement. We also asked open-ended questions to allow respondents to gain a more detailed understanding of their needs, barriers they faced, and their achievements in the GR15 round.

To analyze the information in the open questions, we used inductive content analysis encoding, an exploratory method that allows themes to emerge directly from the data. We identified these themes and then categorized participant responses according to the selected list themes to use as analysis codes. We set a threshold for each topic, so there must be at least 9 responses for the topic to be considered. The summary count looks like this:

The DeSci project has achieved success in multiple areas

DeSci projects have achieved results in publications, partnerships, educational efforts, event participation, new implementations/updates, and delivered products/services. Among those who said they had achieved all their goals, five out of seven participated in the event. However, partnerships are often made possible by projects that fail to achieve their goals.

Project work focuses on community building, research, funding and technical infrastructure.

Notable findings:

1. Out of 22 projects focused on community building, 8 participated in the event, but only 2 indicated that they entered into a partnership.
2. Of the 9 projects that completed education work, 7 focused on community building, but only 3 focused on fundraising.
3. Out of 16 projects focused on technical infrastructure, 11 had new implementations/updates or released products/services.
4. Of the 3 projects that received other funding, 2 also focused on research.

DeSci projects require comprehensive funding and specific talent at different stages of project development

The needs of DeSci programs vary according to the level of program development or achievement.

Projects that achieve all goals need funding to reach the next level. Four of the six projects that accomplished all proposed goals stated that funding was their only need, suggesting an unmet need from investors or funding sources to enhance the DeSci ecosystem and advance science.

Projects achieving most of their goals (8-9 out of 10) most need support for business model and market fit, suggesting that with talented business professionals supporting projects at this stage, more The project will achieve all of its goals.

Projects that achieved 70% or less of their goals indicated that attractiveness was the top need. This suggests that the main focus at this stage may be community expansion and engagement.

Sponsorship has played an important role in helping fund the ecosystem thus far

During Gitcoin Round 15, $587,000 flowed into the DeSci ecosystem, most of it from sponsor matches determined through Gitcoin's quadratic funding formula, which weighs the number of donors more than traditional sponsorship models. Due to the early nature of the DeSci ecosystem, more analysis is needed to establish stronger correlations with funding.

DeSci's demographics leave room for improvement

Although DeSci is much more represented than the wider web3 ecosystem, the gender distribution of project leads still needs improvement. Currently, only women-led teams make up 1:6 of projects, while only men-led teams still make up 3:5. DeSci projects with female core teams also focus more frequently on research and community building.

DeSci can be a space for people of all ages

The media often portrays web3 as an industry dominated by young players. In the DeSci ecosystem, this description may not be so accurate.

The project leaders range in age from 19 to 70 years old. This gives DeSci a solid foundation, making it a space suitable for any age, appealing to those with more experience and those with less knowledge of the traditional scientific system.

DeSci projects supported by Gitcoin are currently mainly concentrated in North America and Europe

DeSci is currently concentrated in North America (78%) and Europe (41%), followed by Latin America (26%), South America (17%) and Africa (12%), with all other regions less than 10%.

The DeSci ecosystem is very interested in sharing knowledge and learning from other projects in the field.

One complaint often expressed against traditional or institutional science is the lack of collaboration and the competitive nature of the space. DeSci tends to be against this stance, with half of the projects providing "information or resources that help enhance understanding of the DeSci ecosystem." This includes repositories, insights into legal formalization or scientist onboarding, and educational tools like documentation, videos, and lecture series.

Furthermore, people have a desire to learn from each other. 42% of projects expect future DeSci landscape analysis efforts to explore open collaboration and partnerships, would like to see more projects working in open ways and collaborating with other initiatives and how they do this.

Future DeSci landscape analysis work could expand our understanding of the evolving DeSci ecosystem

DeSci Landscape is a budding ecosystem, and as the project continues to mature, more pronounced trends may emerge.

According to the survey, the ecosystem indicated that they want a more transparent definition and dialogue about what these projects are actually doing, so that their work and collaboration can be more easily tracked. There was also interest in learning more about the demographic characteristics of each program (gender, age, professional background, nationality, etc.). Also asked for more information on how the partnership will be partnered and funding will be received, as well as a way to measure DeSci's impact. This can help people understand how funding these projects can actually impact the scientific field, such as overcoming pain points that have held back traditional science.

in conclusion

At a high level, opportunities to participate in and support DeSci vary according to the level of achievement demonstrated by a particular project. DeSci is also more inclusive from an age and gender perspective than the wider web3 ecosystem and traditional science, which is in line with the ideal of decentralization.

As DeSci continues to expand and grow, we expect to see increased participation and community growth. Talents are needed in all aspects, but the needs for talents at different stages are different. The DeSci project has plenty of room for scientists to join, but developers, lawyers, marketing experts, and project managers are also needed.

DeSci is in the early stages of ecosystem development, with many projects in development and an active community. We believe that, as it continues to develop, it can profoundly impact the scientific field and lead to meaningful results in the years to come.

resource

Awesome-DeSci: A curated list of awesome Decentralized Science (DeSci) resources, projects, articles, and more.

DeSciWorld Dashboard: A free-to-use online dashboard that aggregates and displays information about DeSci projects

DeSci.Global: A calendar of upcoming and past decentralized science events.

Open Scientist's Distributed Ledger Technology

Implementing DeSci in Web3 Development: A Builder's Guide

Can blockchain unlock science?

DeSci Guide, the latest Web3 movement

Decentralized Science (DeSci)

Boosting Movements with Gitcoin Grants

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