A New Paradigm in Scientific Research: Decentralization Science ( DeSci )'s Rise

Scientific research has always been an important way for humanity to explore the unknown and pursue progress. However, traditional research models face many challenges, especially in the process of translating basic research into clinical applications. Decentralization science ( DeSci ), as an emerging research model, is attempting to leverage Web3 technology to address these challenges and open up new possibilities for scientific research.

The Predicament of Traditional Research: The Valley of Death

Scientific research is typically divided into two main stages: basic research and clinical research, connected through translational research. However, there is a significant barrier in this process known as the "valley of death:"

• 80%-90% of research projects fail before entering human trials.
• Only 1 out of every 1000 candidate drugs ultimately gets approved.
• Even in the later stages, nearly 50% of experimental drugs fail in phase III clinical trials.

The root of this phenomenon lies in the misalignment of incentive mechanisms among academia, funding agencies, and industry, leading to three major issues:

1. Insufficient funds: Funders tend to support projects that can be commercialized quickly, while researchers tend to be conservative in order to secure funding.

2. Researchers and clinicians collaborate to reduce: the evaluation systems of the two groups are different, lacking collaborative motivation.

3. Poor reproducibility of scientific discoveries: Factors such as publication bias make it difficult to replicate experimental results.

These issues ultimately lead most research to fall into the "valley of death", unable to be transformed into practical applications.

DeSci: A New Paradigm in Scientific Research

Decentralization science ( DeSci ) attempts to utilize Web3 technology to address the aforementioned challenges. Its core concept is to coordinate the interests of all parties through Decentralized Autonomous Organizations ( DAO ), blockchain, and smart contracts, promoting research from the basic stage to clinical application.

DeSci mainly changes the traditional research model from the following aspects:

1. Addressing funding shortages:

   • Gather funds from patients, researchers, and investors through Decentralization.
   • Making transparent democratic decisions through token governance
   • Smart contract automatic execution milestone funding

2. Promote collaboration between researchers and clinicians:

   • Coordinating research hypotheses and methods in DAO
   • Tokenization of intellectual property incentivizes both parties to participate
   • Establish an on-chain reputation system to reward various contributions.

3. Improve the reproducibility of scientific discoveries:

   • Record detailed research methods and data on the blockchain
   • Establish an open publishing platform to share all experimental results
   • Utilize distributed storage to ensure data integrity and access control

Overview of the DeSci Ecosystem

Currently, the DeSci field has formed a preliminary ecosystem, mainly including four key innovation areas:

1. Infrastructure:

   • Financing Platform
   • DAO tools ( such as IP tokenization, legal agreements, etc. )

2. Research:

   • Global DeSci Community
   • DAO focusing on different scientific fields

3. Data Services:

   • Open access publishing and peer review platform
   • Data Management Tool

4. Memes:

   • Projects that directly provide funding for scientific experiments
   • Token as an investment tool for other DeSci projects

Several sub-industries worth noting include:

• Tokenization of Intellectual Property: Converting IP into tradable digital assets
• DAO Formation: Supporting the Decentralization Governance of Scientific Projects
• Funding platform: Achieving direct crowdfunding for research funds
• Publishing/Peer Review Platform: Incentivizing open and transparent academic communication
• Data interoperability solutions: ensuring secure sharing of data and patient rights

Outlook and Challenges

DeSci, while still in its early stages, has shown the potential to reshape the research model. It provides new possibilities for coordinating the interests of various parties and promoting the translation of basic research into clinical applications.

However, DeSci also faces some challenges:

• The existing technology stack is more suitable for basic research and translational research, while support for clinical research is still inadequate.
• The legal status of DAOs is still unclear, which may affect the willingness of potential funders to participate.

Nevertheless, DeSci has made significant progress in addressing the "Valley of Death" in scientific research. With the advancement of technology and the improvement of the ecosystem, Decentralization science is expected to become an important force in driving technological innovation.