Please describe your proposed solution.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Cardano has valued academic rigor and community participation since its inception, and this tradition continues with the “Cardano Open: Ecosystem” campaign question: ‘what creative ideas and activities will expand our global footprint, educate, and onboard more Cardano and Cardano Dapps users?’

RESEARCH SOLUTION

To support the campaign goal of proposing creative ideas and activities through educational and community-oriented approaches, the Research Guild will produce a marketing resource to educate and inspire the public about the global potential of a Catalyst-inspired model for decentralised innovation. This resource will be delivered as a visually-striking “Collaborative Innovation (Platform Expansion Pack)” as influenced by video game expansions that serve to broaden user experiences. This Expansion Pack will be a research-backed infographic e-booklet that outlines a vision for where a decentralised innovation platform can take the world, outlining:

• Accessible and user-friendly collaborative platform design
• Increased decentralised funding opportunities for individuals and projects
• Collective problem-solving on a global scale
• Enhanced and transparent voting system participation
• Accelerated innovation development in a collaborative environment
• Active engagement in a crypto token economy
• A dedicated enterprise launchpad and market for new ventures
• Utilization of bounties systems and noticeboards for diverse opportunities
• Streamlined project and team-building with customizable templates
• Seamless Web3 integration for a holistic user experience

In the research stage, our project will conduct a review of Project Catalyst in the above capacities, as well as exploring similar platforms across the broader blockchain ecosystem, web2 corporations, collaboration software and tools, P2P and crowd solutions, and government organisations. In the marketing stage, rather than deliver a research report, we will translate our findings into an attractive and compelling marketing pack that simplifies our key findings using game-themed graphic design. The pack will be marketed to three principal groups:

1. Current and Future Developers
2. Global Blockchain Participants
3. Members of the Public with an interest in decentralised tech innovation and investment.

This resource will be delivered as an infographic e-booklet in PDF form for free distribution.

RESEARCH PURPOSE

The purpose of the "Platform Expansion Pack" will be to inform, educate and invite contributions from global participants around what collaborative innovation platforms (including Project Catalyst) have to offer, and how that offering can support global collaboration, innovation and investment in on and off-chain projects through participation. The key rationale for developing the Expansion Pack will be:

1. To support global education and adoption of Cardano, Project Catalyst and blockchain-based innovation through a compelling and spreadable visual marketing tool
2. To explore potential ideations and solutions that support the expansion of a Project Catalyst-inspired model for global off-chain applications through decentralised tech innovation and investment
3. To build a grounded research case for future research and development in this area.

The primary focus of this project will be to deliver an accessible and audience-friendly marketing tool to promote the potential of a Project Catalyst-inspired model for supporting global collaboration, innovation and investment for developers, blockchain participants and the general public.

PROJECT OUTLINE

This study will be based on the following outline:

PROJECT START (March/Q1 2024)

• Project Commencement
• Team onboarding

MILESTONE 1 (REQUIRED): PROJECT PLANNING (10% of time budget/4 weeks)

• Project Plan (comprehensive)
• Planning: A concept map of key solutions, gaps and opportunities found in the literature
• Planning: An identification of key documents, platforms and researchers invested in blockchain-based collaboration, innovation and investment platforms

MILESTONE 2-4: LITERATURE REVIEW (30% of time budget/12 weeks)

• Literature Review: Document collation, Interviews (if required)
• A review of collaboration, innovation and investment platforms across the following environments:
• Review Stage 1: Industry
• Review Stage 2: Academic
• Review Stage 3: Government

MILESTONE 5: CATALYST OVERVIEW (SNAPSHOT) (5% of time budget/2 weeks)

• Catalyst Evaluation: an evaluation of Project Catalyst platform implementations to date
• An evaluation to outline current platform collaboration and coordination issues and solutions within Project Catalyst.

MILESTONE 6: NICHE OVERVIEWS (15% of time budget/6 weeks)

• Overviews include niche research focus and insights in the following areas:
• An overview of broader blockchain platform gaps and opportunities, innovation competitions/funds, web2 corporations, collaboration software and tools, P2P and crowd solutions
• An overview of successful marketing approaches within blockchain and collaborative platforms

MILESTONE 7: ANALYSIS (15% of time budget/6 weeks)

• Literature Analysis
• Overview Analysis
• Evaluation Analysis
• Synthesis of findings

MILESTONE 8: FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS (5% of time budget/2 weeks)

• An exploration of key considerations and findings
• A list of recommendations drawn from the analysis
• Final recommendations for Platform Enhancements and Expansion

MILESTONE 9: DRAFTING & PACK DESIGN (15% of time budget/6 weeks)

• Draft Resource: Text Editing / Review
• Draft Resource: Graphic Design & Layout

MILESTONE 10: FINALISATION (5% of time budget/2 weeks)

• Final proofing: Citations/Infographics/Copy
• Final Expansion Pack.pdf
• Dissemination

MILESTONE 11 (FINAL): PROJECT COMPLETION (Jan/Q1 2025)

• Project Close-out report
• Project Completion

RESEARCH DISSEMINATION

The final report, including a list of recommendations drawn from the overall findings, will be disseminated publicly so that the Project Catalyst team and community can initiate actions immediately, or use the findings to support or merge future Catalyst funding proposals. This marketing resource will be minted as an NFT on the Cardano blockchain, and promoted and disseminated via social channels (see project links).

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

IMPACT ON CARDANO

By visualizing a global problem-solving hub, the "Platform Expansion Pack" aims to significantly enhance the understanding of Cardano's collaborative and innovative potential to stakeholders, including developers and innovators, to actively engage in expanding and improving Cardano's reach, fostering a broader and more impactful global problem-solving ecosystem. This work will build upon the wealth of effort already shared by the Catalyst Team and community, as well as research and practices across fields of academia and industry. The success of our project will bring value to the Cardano community by providing comprehensive and accessible insights for the general public about how Project Catalyst works, and how the idea could be enhanced and expanded by engaged stakeholders (including developers and innovators) to create greater global problem-solving opportunities for more people.

MEASURING IMPACT

The measure of this projects impact will be determined quantitatively, through the number of resource reads, shares and engagements with embedded links within the resource. These metrics can be captured through academic and social channels, particularly targeting engagement with wider developer, academic, enterprise and tech networks. Qualitatively, impacts are also measured by the quality of collaborative input the RG team has with the Project Catalyst community, particularly the Catalyst Team. These impacts may be captured through engagement metrics, including online or meeting engagements, leading to info-sharing, problem-solving or implementation discussions.

PROJECT AIM

The overall aim of the project is to use an accessible research-backed resource to promote and inspire stakeholder participation with the broader potential of decentralised innovation, moving toward a global collaboration and innovation platform. Coordinated collaboration is a key industry need identified in our recent Research Guild: Cross-Chain Collaboration Report (Research Guild, 2023, p. 79). The ultimate goal being to support greater global adoption of and engagement with democratised tools and services.

Egan, T., Cu, M. & Dang, Z. (2023, January). Research Guild: Cross-Chain Collaboration Report (RG002). Research Guild. https://pool.pm/$research.guild

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

CAPABILITY

The Research Guild is part of the Project Catalyst F8 funded cohort, having two research projects funded and delivered in the areas of Cross-Chain Collaboration and Blockchain Scalability solutions. We were able to complete these projects through the experience of our team members, which included independent researchers and PhD candidates studying blockchain applications in land management, intellectual property, peer production and data analysis; a PhD in Law and International Relations; and team expertise in research, project management, community development, governance, teaching, license compliance and auditing. These projects were completed by adhering to internal systems of documentation and accountability, as well as being guided by Project Catalyst’s emergent reporting processes.

Our teams track record of academic and professional achievements in the above areas, as well as project completion and familiarity in the Project Catalyst environment, have helped to position the Research Guild as a community-based research leader. We believe it is important to capture community voices in the tech sector, as well as those of industry, academia and government. We are grateful to be part of an exciting and thriving community of entrepreneurs, developers, community managers, explorers and visionaries working in the space.

PRIOR WORK

You can view our completed projects here:

Final Reports: <https://pool.pm/$research.guild/>

RG001 Close-Out Video:

<https://youtu.be/uYvaYa508Rk>RG002 Close-Out Video:

<https://youtu.be/tdbYpJjrpAk>VALIDATION

Our approach is simple – we offer customised research reports for Catalyst campaigns. However, like software development, research takes grunt work. To achieve this work in a scalable way, we have formed the Research Guild as a collective of independent researchers investigating blockchain solutions on Cardano. Our broader vision is to build a global research network that draws independent researchers to Cardano, increases adoption as well as knowledge capital for DLT enterprise development.

Our validation process rests on the track record of our projects, the capabilities of our contributors, and the replicable nature of the research process. Since research processes are fairly predictable in their structure and approach, we are able to apply and replicate our research offering to a diverse range of campaigns and proposals within Project Catalyst – essentially tailoring projects to meet campaign and community need.

Through rigorous collation, analysis and synthesis, the end goal of the research process is to distil valuable insights from a wealth of data, insights that others may have missed and that may contribute to new opportunities and innovations. For us, this begins with identifying key needs and opportunities in the area of research and development, aligning with areas of team interest and expertise, and shaping proposals (timeframes and deliverables) in relation to past experience and future availability.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Finally, in terms of fund management, the total funds distributed to the Research Guild to date for project salaries, administration and completion equates to US$168,738 or ₳410,000. The processes we use to manage these funds are visible in the RG Payment Pathway document:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t_W_7428QuP3WaslxitsRAnnVK1kFYua/view?usp=sharing

What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Milestone: Project Planning

Output: Project Plan completion

Criteria: Clarifying research methodologies, repositories/databases per literature review stage, document collation targets, team role allocations, communications and accountability processes, project questions and goals, timeframes and reporting.

>Milestone: Literature Review (Stage 1) – Industry Overview

Output: Successful document collation, summarisation and snapshot of Industry approaches to crowd problem-solving, collaboration and funding.

Criteria: Achieving stage targets for document collation, summary tabling, summarisation and snapshot documentation (1-3 pager) for this milestone.

>Milestone: Literature Review (Stage 2) – Academic Overview

Output: Successful document collation, summarisation and snapshot of Academic approaches to crowd problem-solving, collaboration and funding.

Criteria: Achieving stage targets for document collation, summary tabling, summarisation and snapshot documentation (1-3 pager) for this milestone.

>Milestone: Literature Review (Stage 3) – Government Overview

Output: Successful document collation, summarisation and snapshot of Government approaches to crowd problem-solving, collaboration and funding.

Criteria: Achieving stage targets for document collation, summary tabling, summarisation and snapshot documentation (1-3 pager) for this milestone.

>Milestone: Project close-out

Output: Project close-out report and Report video completion

Criteria: That the project close-out report and video link are forwarded to the Project Catalyst Team to confirm completion

Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Research Guild: Troy Egan

Research Lead, Project Manager, PhD Candidate (2019-Current)

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/troyegan/>

Troy is a PhD candidate at The University of Auckland in New Zealand, studying peer production strategies within the transmedia industry. He has a Masters in Cultural Leadership from the University of New South Wales, Sydney; as well as 20 years’ experience in the creative, health and community development sectors in New Zealand and Australia. Troy supports the Research Guild’s project management, research and reporting contributions.

Research Guild: Zubeka Dang

Research Assistant, Bachelor of International Economics and Trade, Data Science Student (2021 – Current) <https://www.linkedin.com/in/zubeka-dang-95193a2b/>

Zubeka has worked in many areas such as trading, technology and linguistics. Her broad areas of interest have fuelled her passion for data analysis. She earned her Bachelor of International Economics and Trade from Renmin University of China and is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Data Science and Analytics at Seneca College, Toronto, Canada. Zubeka supports the Research Guild’s research and reporting contributions.

Research Guild: Eva Gentner

Independent Researcher, Masters of History of Art and Visual Culture, University of Oxford, England. <https://www.linkedin.com/in/eva-gentner-a46413140/>

With an interdisciplinary background in art, architecture, philology and technology, Eva is interested in universal concepts, mutual influences and the intersections between disciplines. Eva holds a Master of Studies in History of Art and Visual Culture from Oxford University, England. She completed a dissertation investigating the role of NFT’s and blockchain art as an emergent artistic and democratic medium, and she organised the Project Catalyst-funded OxBAT – Oxford Blockchain, Art and Technology – Conference (26-28 Sept. 2022). Eva supports the Research Guild’s research and reporting contributions.

Research Guild: Research Contributors

The Research Guild is a collective of independent researchers investigating blockchain solutions on Cardano. We are a professional research network within Project Catalyst that aims to support initiatives at all levels by forming problem-solving scrums around key issues. Past contributors have included Masters and Doctoral researchers in the fields of blockchain applications, law, international relations, land management, information systems, the arts and enterprise.

Invitations for graduate and professional researchers to join the Guild are open: <https://forms.office.com/r/T3fmuMv79g>

Sév | Independent Researcher, Compliance / IP Auditing, PhD Candidate (2021-Current)

Sév has a professional background in license compliance and intellectual property auditing in the software industry, both open source and proprietary. He started his PhD with The University of Osnabrück in Germany, focusing on the impact of distributed ledger technology for the management of the intellectual property life cycle. Sév has research interests in NFT’s, DAO’s and has contributed to governance building within several Catalyst projects. Sév supports the RG project.

IdeaHub: Other Contributors

IdeaHub is an emergent project within the Research Guild that will explore research and development in the areas of tech enterprise, collaboration and platform building. We are open to working with like-minds in this domain.

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

PROJECT COSTS – SALARY BASE RATE

The core cost for Research Guild projects goes toward researcher salary and wages. We have determined a base hourly rate for researchers, based on the average of five online career surveys. We have selected surveys from the US, Canada, New Zealand, England and Germany. USD is the native currency for Project Catalyst recipients, while Canada, New Zealand and Europe are where our research team resides. These rates will not include a specialist rate which take into consideration education level, skills or experience, which have been factored into previous funded proposals.

• Indeed.com (US) = US$80,114

https://www.indeed.com/career/researcher/salaries

• Talent.com (CA) = CA$91,150 (or US$67,110)

https://au.indeed.com/career/researcher/salaries

• Payscale.com (DE) = €60,031 (or USD $66,033)

https://www.payscale.com/research/DE/Job=Research_Scientist/Salary

• Salaryexpert.com (NZ) = NZ$102,656 (or US$63,583)

https://www.salaryexpert.com/salary/job/researcher/new-zealand

• Reed.co.uk (UK) = £50,483 (or US$63,999)

https://www.reed.co.uk/average-salary/average-researcher-salary

• Average Researcher salary across RG contributor countries = US$68,167.80

The base salary rate for this project will be:

• US$68,167.80 per annum (₳176,144)
• US$1,420.16 per week @ 48 weeks
• US$35.50 per hour @ 40 hours

The budget requirement for the Platform Expansion Pack is as follows:

PROJECT COSTS - RESEARCH TEAM SALARY

RESEARCHER (x2 @ 15 hours per week)

• @ US$35.50 per hour
• @ 15 hours per week = $532.50 x 2 = $1,065
• @ 40 weeks = $21,300 x 2 = $42,600
• Sub-Total = US$42,600 (₳110,078)

PROJECT MANAGEMENT (x1 @ 15 hours per week)

• @ US$42.64 per hour (project manager rate)
• @ 15 hours per week = $639.60
• @ 40 weeks = $25,584
• Sub-Total = US$25,584 (₳66,109)

PROJECT COSTS - ADMINISTRATION

• GRAPHIC DESIGN

US$5,308 (₳13,716)

• MARKETING/PUBLICITY

US$2,000 (₳5,168)

• ACCOUNTING

US$1,500 (₳3,876)

• LEGAL FEES

US$408 (₳1,054)

• SUB-TOTAL = US$9,216 (₳23,814)

TOTAL = US$77,400 (₳200,000)

(Note: The USD to ADA rate is $0.387 at the time of writing. NZ Tax has been factored into costings)

PROJECT COSTS - BUDGET (PER PROJECT STAGE)

PROJECT START

• Timeframe: March 2024 (Q1)

MILESTONE 1 (REQUIRED): PROJECT PLANNING

• 15% of Financial Budget: ₳30,000
• 10% of Time Budget: 4 weeks
• Timeframe: April 2024 (Q2)

MILESTONE 2 (REQUIRED): LITERATURE REVIEWS (Industry)

• 25% of Financial Budget: ₳50,000
• 10% of Time Budget: 5 weeks
• Timeframe: May 2024 (Q3)

MILESTONE 3 (REQUIRED): LITERATURE REVIEWS (Academic)

• 25% of Financial Budget: ₳50,000
• 10% of Time Budget: 5 weeks
• Timeframe: June 2024 (Q3)

MILESTONE 4 (REQUIRED): LITERATURE REVIEWS (Government)

• 20% of Financial Budget: ₳40,000
• 10% of Time Budget: 5 weeks
• Timeframe: July 2024 (Q3)

MILESTONE 5: CATALYST OVERVIEW (Snapshot)

• 5% of Time Budget: 2 weeks
• Timeframe: July 2024 (Q3)

MILESTONE 6: NICHE OVERVIEWS

• 15% of Time Budget: 6 weeks
• Timeframe: September 2024 (Q3)

MILESTONE 7: ANALYSIS

• 15% of Time Budget: 6 weeks
• Timeframe: October 2024 (Q4)

MILESTONE 8: FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

• 5% of Time Budget: 2 weeks
• Timeframe: October 2024 (Q4)

MILESTONE 9: DRAFTING & PACK DESIGN

• 15% of Time Budget: 6 weeks
• Timeframe: December 2024 (Q4)

MILESTONE 10: FINALISATION

• 5% of Time Budget: 2 weeks
• Timeframe: December 2024 (Q4)

MILESTONE 11 (FINAL): PROJECT COMPLETION

• 15% of Financial Budget: ₳30,000
• 100% of Time Budget: 10 months
• Timeframe: January 2025 (Q1)

How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

VALUE FOR MONEY

This project will seek to fund 2 PTE researchers and 1 Project Manager/Research Lead over the course of 10 months, at an average rate of salary (as outlined in our Cost Breakdown section). Each team member, with experience in blockchain research within the Catalyst framework, will be assigned to a specialist reporting outcome for the project, requiring comprehensive data identification and collation, documentation, summarisation, distillation, analysis and drafting. Along with additional project management costs, and graphic design services pivotal for this marketing product, this project will achieve campaign outcomes at lower cost than other specialist researchers working in government and industry, and in less time than a study of this nature might warrant. In the “Cardano Open: Ecosystem” campaign, our team will be asking for ₳200,000 (1.9% of the total ₳10,500,000 available), for the purpose of researching and marketing the potential of Project Catalyst as a prototype for global collaboration and innovation. We believe that our team can achieve this outcome at a reasonable funding amount and timeframe, at an average cost.

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Open-sourcing and community collaboration are values held highly by the community, which ensure open and accessible info-sharing to support ecosystem growth and optimization. This is an environment our team are familiar with, having completed Catalyst-funded research in the areas of Cross-Chain Collaboration and Blockchain Scalability. The “Platform Expansion Pack” will apply research expertise to identify and distil current and potential implementations of platform-based collaboration and innovation, as well as insights into how best to promote this knowledge to target markets. This is achieved through our customised and replicable research approach, which tailors’ solutions to campaign questions, for the purpose of achieving campaign insights and outcomes within campaign timelines. It is also achieved through our research and project management experience across fields (see Capability section). We are confident we will successfully deliver this project and its outcomes to the Catalyst community, having done so twice before. Within the “Cardano Open: Ecosystem” campaign, our experienced research team will then employ graphic design specialists to create an accessible and attractive educational resource for marketing and promotional purposes.

CROSS-CAMPAIGN ALIGNMENT

A unique strategic approach our projects can offer is to build research scope around more than one campaign outcome. We achieve this through our Project and Literature Review design, which will focus on an interconnected approaches to a research topic (such as research as education, research and development, or research applications). Along with this campaign, this project will also address cross-campaign goals found within three other campaigns:

1. Cardano Use Cases: Concept
2. Cardano Open: Developers
3. Catalyst Systems Improvements: Discovery

“Cardano Use Cases: Concept” is seeking ‘use cases to deliver adoption and real world utility of Cardano to a global base of users and customers.’ This project will achieve this goal through an education and marketing driven approach. “Cardano Open: Developers” seeks to develop new technology and open-source development. This project will achieve this goal through a research-informed approach to platform ideation within an open-source context. “Catalyst Systems Improvements: Discovery” is seeking research and detailed studies particular to Catalyst-specific problems, with the goal of generating new information and understanding for the purposes of system improvement. Although this project will not focus specifically on Voting System improvements required of the Discovery campaign, it will provide research and ideation around how the ecosystem can be expanded and promoted to key stakeholders and the general public.