What is DAO and how it can save science?

Nowadays we see severe challenges and unpredictable speed of changes in all spheres of the human environment, which makes traditional organization structures way less effective. Their decisions are made by central authorities, and the price of their mistake can be too high. Very often they lack public control, so the consequences of the wrong step may stay undetected for a long time, which results in a sustainability decrease.

What is DAO?

These limitations of traditional public organization forms call for new approaches. That is the reason why decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) emerge and become a reasoned choice for like-minded people to achieve common goals.

Main features of DAO

• DAO has no central government: the process of decision-making is divided between individual tokenholders who have direct votes on every matter.
• All decisions are open to public view, which makes them transparent and provides a means of reputation impact.
• DAO is designed as an instrument for a bottom-up management approach: people feel that they have real participation in their entity which motivates them to act responsibly.
• Rules of DAO may be set in smart contracts and are fulfilled automatically.

Initially, DAO appeared in blockchain and cryptocurrency companies, but now the form is quickly spreading in manufacturing, finance, art, and, importantly, science.

Why DAO can be useful for science?

Traditional science now struggles with several difficulties. Yet, DAOs come to solve them. Blockchain instruments provide for more independence of science DAO in comparison with traditional organizations.

DAOs provide science with alternative financing

Crowdfunding is only one of the options; others are tokens staking and utility NFT sale. For DAO, tokens are often like shares in a digital world: owning a token gives you the right to receive dividends and/or vote. As for utility NFT, it is a unique key that gives you access to the product: for example, it can work as a medication prescription that nobody can fake.

Just imagine the group of researchers developing a new drug and getting funds from patients that can potentially benefit from it. And after its successful launch, DAO can get a part of its money back based on points of more flexible monetization. Business models in DAOs can include well thought out tokenomics that provides different benefits for all the participants according to the specific algorithms — smart-contracts.

DAO can make peer review more effective

Expensive agents like science journals with their contradictory demands are no longer needed. Any scientist can quickly and easily interact with other researchers in his respective field. Science becomes more accessible and verified.

DAO can help to track scientists reputation

Now, the h-index is used which encourages scientists to multiply publications only to increase it and to get access to funds. This has nothing in common with scientific interest. On the contrary, personal portraits of scientists in DeSci may take into account not only publications, but reviews, mentoring, participation in other authors’ research, and how one is involved in public activity concerning her subject. New approach to confirm the authorship — digital signatures (e.g., NFTs) do open-source products and articles more secure as ever. Authorship also becomes more secure due to NFT.

Wrap-up

Ultimately, the DAO system can stimulate like-minded scientists from all over the world to unite in online coworking think-spaces and cloud laboratories, which can empower fundamental and technical advances. With a community-driven approach, science is to become open.

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