🤔Why Catalyst?
Catalyst aims to address head-on systemic challenges that exist within the scientific community, its funding process, and the broader approach to supporting scientific innovation.
Challenges in research funding
Bureaucratic and Slow Funding Processes: Obtaining funding for scientific research is often a slow and bureaucratic process, causing delays in research progress. The National Institutes of Health (NIH), which provides the bulk of grant funding to US academic research, quotes an 8-20 month turn-around time. The COVID-19 pandemic did not afford such patience, and the popularity of Fast Grants during this time highlighted the need for faster funding solutions. The majority of the grantees said their work would not have been possible without a Fast Grant.
Misaligned Incentives for Scientists: The academic rewards system, which emphasizes citations of manuscripts over alleviating suffering from disease, has resulted in a large mismatch between capital allocation and disease burden. Multiple publications from the past 25 years have highlighted this. One study from 1999 showed a weak correlation of 0.62 between National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs, a common metric for disease burden). Another study discovered that DALYs explained only 33% of the variance in funding, indicating that the amount of funding diseases receive is loosely based on patient need.
Disadvantages for Early-Career Scientists: There is a clear trend towards grant funding older scientists, leaving early-career researchers at a significant disadvantage, potentially stifling fresh ideas. Organizations such as New Science have emerged to provide more funding for younger scientists, but rely on philanthropic donations for sustainability.
Insufficient Translational Feedback for Academic Researchers: Industry-academic collaborations in research have demonstrated significant success, with benefits extending beyond financial support to include access to unique technologies, and enhanced research opportunities. These collaborations can lead to increased publishing and citation rates, suggesting that the research conducted is of high relevance and impact. Notably, the division of labor in such partnerships allows academics to focus more on hard science, while industry partners may take on the commercialization aspects, boosting academic productivity. This type of continuous collaboration between academia and industry is far too rare, especially from a funding perspective, where grant-funding bodies provide sparse feedback to grant applicants.
This section draws inspiration from Understanding science funding in tech, 2011-2021 by Nadia Asparouhova, which goes into further depth on the topics addressed here.
How can Catalyst solve these challenges?
Leveraging market dynamics, blockchain technology, and wisdom of the crowd, Catalyst directly confronts the challenges highlighted previously, paving a new path for research funding. Here's how Catalyst proposes to address these pressing issues:
Streamlining the Funding Process: Catalyst introduces a market-based approach to funding scientific research by leveraging decentralized technologies. By listing their ideas on a crowdfunding platform dedicated to translational research, researchers gain direct access to a global pool of funders. This not only circumvents the traditional, sluggish funding mechanisms but also democratizes the funding process, ensuring that innovative ideas receive the support they need swiftly and efficiently.
Aligning Incentives with Global Needs: The Catalyst model addresses the misalignment of incentives in the scientific community by facilitating funding based on the potential impact of research on market need, rather than purely on credentials. By focusing on need and the potential for alleviating suffering, Catalyst ensures that capital allocation more accurately reflects potential societal benefit. This alignment encourages research in areas that are traditionally underfunded or overlooked, bridging the gap between capital allocation and the actual global disease burden.
Empowering All Scientists: Catalyst opens up new paths for early-career researchers by providing an accessible platform for funding their innovative ideas. Unlike traditional grant systems that favor established scientists, Catalyst offers a merit-based approach that values the potential of the idea itself. This inclusivity fosters diversity in research initiatives and encourages fresh perspectives, potentially leading to groundbreaking discoveries.
Enhancing Translational Feedback and Collaboration: The Catalyst platform fosters continuous interaction between academic researchers and collaborators, whether from industry or academia. By facilitating easier access to funding and connecting researchers with a network of peers, mentors, and potential industry collaborators, Catalyst enhances the translational impact of academic research. This model promotes a symbiotic relationship where academic innovation meets industry execution, ensuring that scientific discoveries are efficiently translated into tangible societal benefits.
Who is Catalyst meant to benefit?
Researchers: Translational scientists seeking funding and collaborators.
Market Testing: Quickly assess interest and the potential impact of research ideas.
Community Connection: Engage directly with supporters for funding and receive ongoing feedback from a diverse community of experts and patients.
Focused Research: Opt to delegate fundraising to sourcers, and to concentrate on their scientific work.
Sourcers: Researchers (or their colleagues) incentivized to get a research project funded.
Centralized Marketplace: Access a single platform to list and fundraise for multiple research projects, streamlining the fundraising processes.
Incentivized Fundraising: Earn fees from successful fundraising efforts and build a following by making research proposals more attractive to funders.
Reviewers: Experts in a research are who want to share their knowledge for compensation.
Compensation and Impact: Receive rewards for providing valuable feedback and identify projects where their expertise can be most beneficial.
Research Collaboration: Forge direct collaborations with researchers to co-design research programs and experiments.
Funders: Translational research patrons who want a stake in the research they fund.
Direct Support: Choose and fund research projects with significant impact, aligning with personal interests or values.
Community Engagement: Connect with other funders and researchers, contributing to a collaborative ecosystem.
IP Governance: Gain governance rights over the research IP and any financial proceeds, ensuring a stake in the research outcomes.
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