Project name
NeuraDAO
Description
Positive-feedback-loop funding ecosystem for neurotech research
Vision
Create a sustainable funding model so that researchers can focus on actually doing research.
Problem
Funding in academia is slow, bureaucratic and wasteful. On top of this, even though most grants come from taxpayers’ money, much of the research output is locked away (e.g. behind a paywall, with the artefacts produced being unreachable or simply irreproducible). Research at the intersection of neuroscience and technology (neurotech) is greatly affected by these issues.
Solution/Product
NeuraDAO’s mission is to create a transparent, positive-feedback loop to fund neurotech research. We want to drive effective decision making by recognising great contributions equipped with long-term alignment amongst participants.
- The DAO will build up its treasury by minting and offering its Governance token, the AXON token.
- The treasury funds will be used to sponsor research projects in exchange for the rights to the IP and data produced.
- The proceedings from the respective licensing will return back to the DAO treasury, which then will be able to continue investing in other future projects
- DAO participants will have the opportunity to receive distributions after successful projects are completed.
Additionally, we want to ensure that the world’s top experts continue long-term aligned and motivated. For that:
- Voting power is only granted for staked token with a lockup (e.g. voting power = amount of AXON token staked * staking length)
- There will be a token pool to reward promising projects and talent, with a long vesting period, based on potential contributions and milestones
Validation / Traction / Progress so far
We currently have a Discord server with more than 100 users.
In addition, we have created a Github Org and Gitbook for documentation.
The core team is currently validating the funding model with neurotech researchers as well as our tokenomics and governance frameworks with experts from other DAO and DeSci projects (e.g. VitaDAO, OpSci)
Team (alphabetically)
- Amy Nick: PhD graduate in clinical Neuroscience, currently working as a patent attorney.
- Ahnaaf Khan: research & development at Muse (portable EEG headset manufacturer)
- Anush Mutyala: research & development at Divergence Neuro (mental health platform)
- Inês Pereira: medical doctor, Neurology resident and PhD student in Computational Neuroscience
- Nick Singh: former Technical Front End Leat at Sky
Grant Amount Requested
10K USD
What it will be used for?
- Support the technical infrastructure (e.g. gas fees).
- Work with legal experts
Attach any additional documents/resources about the project
How did you hear about MGD’s Funding program?
Through Aliya (Kernel Block 5 Steward)