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Building DeSci in Africa
Recorded: May 2, 2025 Duration: 1:03:06Space Recording
Short Summary
The conversation centered on the burgeoning field of decentralized science (DSci) in Africa, highlighting Molecule's initiatives to enhance community involvement and equitable access to scientific funding. Participants discussed the growth of interest in DSci, the need for new funding opportunities, and the importance of bridging gaps between traditional science and Web3 technologies.
Full Transcription
Music Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hi everyone, how are you? I am super excited for the space today.
excited for the space today. This is one with some of my Desai Edu cohort, which is amazing.
But yeah, I think just to get started a little bit about us, what we do, why we're hosting this
space with Desai Edu, I'm just going to give you a rundown of everything. But Molecule is a,
of everything but Molecule is a we're a tech company we work in the intersection of web3
technology and science generally it's around like healthcare science and what we've done is we've
built this sort of IP protocol layer that allows science to get funded and for IP to sort of be this more liquid asset that essentially
allows for a lot more sort of community involvement, equitable access to science.
And yeah, kind of is breaking down the barriers that science has kind of become accustomed to.
So that's what we've been doing. I am Ella, speaking on this Molecule account.
I am a Molecule scientific communicator.
I've been with Molecule now for two years,
and I've seen it grow through a lot of stuff.
And towards the end of last year,
we had a really, really great period of growth, and we realized that we needed a lot more
sort of talented people working on design and helping out in design and a lot of people could
come to us and they would sort of say they're really interested in getting involved in design
but wouldn't really know where to start or especially because I think decentralized science
is about like bringing together people from the web 3 industry and from the scientific industry was that either
people were really well equipped with their scientific skills um but felt a little bit
unsure of their web 3 or vice versa um and so we ran we are running a dsci edu course which is
essentially um a course that aims to get everyone on the same page so they
can go and operate in the DeSci ecosystem.
And through that, I've met some really, really wonderful people based in Africa.
And I mean, I'm South African myself.
I currently reside in Berlin, where Molecule's home base is.
But we were chatting a lot about the potential of decentralized science in Africa and how that could grow and
you know we had some ideas around it so we decided to host this space to kind of get to chat to you
guys see what you're thinking and just sort of create an open forum for that discussion.
And so I'm joined by Etet, who's in our course, Mark Anthony, and Joe. Joe, I have invited you up to be a speaker. You need to accept the invite and then you'll be able to speak on the Twitter
space. But yeah, maybe we can start with Mark Anthony. Do you want to do a little intro?
Of course. Am I audible enough?
Yeah, I can hear you perfectly.
All right. Okay. So my name is Mark Anthony. I am, like you said, a DSI-AGU Magzi.
I currently reside in Africa and, you know, very interested in, you know, exploring ways we can grow DSi in Africa.
I see a lot of familiar faces here.
You know, I just give a big shout out to you guys.
Web3 Talks, June, Rachel, you know, big shout out to you guys for, you know, for joining this space as well.
Yeah, very super excited about the potential of DSSAI in Africa and hope to have a very
quality conversation with you all.
Amazing.
It hit.
Can you?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think we could hear you.
Okay, Jo, do you want to introduce yourself while we figure that out. Yes, absolutely. I'll go ahead. So my name is Joe.
I am a, I guess, multi-curious scientist from South Africa. I have a background in
biochemistry or molecular biology and then have developed love and expertise in neuroscience but I'm also an enthusiastic science communicator and very
much a newbie to all things related to DSI, all things related to crypto. It was one of those
fields where I thought I don't have to pay any attention to crypto, that is never going to
affect me and I was completely wrong. I came across DSI probably about six months ago,
and then the DSI Edu Cohort popped up,
and I thought, why not challenge myself to learn something new?
It sounds like a framework or a way of life, a way of research,
a way of curiosity that really speaks to me and the type of life I would like to live.
And here I am, and I'm in.
I'm all the way in. yeah very very excited to have this
conversation so chuffed that there are so many people uh who have joined us on this on this
little chat definitely by no means an expert on the design Africa sphere but absolutely
thrilled to learn thank you for having us.
Amazing. What a great intro and we're so glad to have you, Joe.
Etet, do you want to try that again? See if you can introduce yourself.
Yeah. Can you hear me now?
Yes. Now I can hear you.
Okay. GM, everyone. Sorry about I think my airport was giving issues. I'm great to know.
My name is Etete.
I'm a science cohort by Molly Kuhl.
I come from a developer's background,
but I'm very eager to explore decentralized science,
especially in this part of the world,
because I believe that decentralized science
basically is going to help us scale
because it basically solves like 89 or 90% of the challenges
most researchers in Africa really face.
So happy to explore this.
Amazing minds, amazing talent in this cohort.
Cool. Thank you. Also, just I wanted to say to the crowd um if you want to come up to speak just
request to speak and i'll let you up but it's obviously a conversation so if you have anything
you want to say please feel free but um i think maybe i wanted to start with like my first
observation is sort of having gotten to know you guys is that like Joe comes from a very
traditional science background and like you know academic research all that sort of thing
um and then ETAI I know it does like smart contract and is a developer so kind of comes
from this other side of like this web3 side and then Mark Anthony you come from you know you
studied science and then went into work for for like web
crypto companies so I think you guys kind of all collectively sort of create the the spectrum of
people that you will find in decentralized science um so maybe if we could just do like
like I like I would love to know um what was the, like, clicking point that you were
like, okay, no, I'm into Desai, like, I want to pursue this? Okay, I'll just go first. Okay, so for
the entry point, I think the first time I ever heard about Desai was on 2023 when I was part of you know the the initial core team with
um cannabis DAO so basically we're finding out you know ways to there is basically a research
or DAO you know concerned with cannabis and you know THC tetrahydrocannabinol and all that stuff
and it was the first time I was in like in
a in a DAO you know like a proper science DAO and there were like different contributors and all that
stuff and it was like very interesting to me to note how this basically exists like a company but
it's decentralized you know like anyone can contribute and anyone can you know get rewarded
for their contributions as well so that was like the first time i ever you know found out about this eye and then i kind of fell
off a little bit after that because you know the cannabis doubt didn't go forward but you know lots
of great experiences were learned there and then i you know i continued in the typical web 3 world
you know doing dgen stuff and all that stuff but yeah eventually you know molecule you know just came knocking at
the at the door again and you know we just had to take the opportunity and it was like the perfect
opportunity to jump back in and yeah that's basically what led me back into dsci plus like
she like um ella mentioned i have a background in you know applied biology and biotechnology so i actually like have
an interest or like yeah like a background in this stuff and yeah it was very exciting for me to just
jump back in perfect i'm just gonna jump in next uh Like I say, DSI came into my awareness about six months ago. I was on Twitter, as one does, or X, as one should be. They spoke such passion about how they were able to fund research that they truly, truly believed in that maybe was not typically something that would be supported in a institutionalized academic environment.
And I thought, oh, OK, I didn't know that was a thing. I'd like to have research interests that are purely my own or something that I'm interested in that I can just ask the rest of the world.
Are you curious about these things too?
And if you are, help me achieve my research dreams by funding my research.
And then I started joining a few more DSI groups and following some more DSI enthusiasts
on Twitter.
And then really just the world of interconnectivity led me to the DSI
Edu cohort but I think what keeps me coming back to DSI as as a concept I think is that it's
I think of it more as a as a material or as a substance it's not just a concept it's not just
catchphrases it's really a way a philosophy almost of how we choose to approach
the world really and i think someone who who is curious about decentralizing science or finance
or whatever your sphere of interest may be it's really about a return of a structure that is set
up by the community for the community something that everyone feels like they're participative, something that everyone feels they maybe benefit from
or can contribute to. And I think in the age of the fourth industrial revolution, it's
kind of scary to imagine that that can very easily slip away. So to me, it's the substance
that allows us to remain connected by not only our interests, but our philosophy and
how we choose to live yeah that's me
so i i think i'll just go next um i first came in contact with this science sometime last year
i work for a blockchain company uh leaks earlier too so basically, part of work is we have to keep up to trend
or keep up to date with the trend in technologies.
And as at the time, I remember it was real world assets
and decentralized physical infrastructure and designs.
But nobody was really looking towards designs.
People were more interested in real world assets,
tokenizing real world assets and stuff.
But I'll say I'm a curious person.
So I decided to take a look.
And it was interesting because this was the concept
I could relate with because I come from a scientific background myself from university
day. So I dig more into it, started following communities. And then basically it led me to
the EDU cohort. And here I am today. But the interesting thing is that I can completely relate with how this science is solving the problem in
terms of what I've been able to learn from the EDU cohort and what happens in the future
and I really appreciate science. It's really worth exploring. Yeah, thank you.
That's me.
Of course.
Okay, cool.
That's so interesting, guys.
Joe, I would be super duper curious.
What was the project or the research that was funded that you saw?
Do you remember?
Of course, I remember.
It had to do with breath work and the relationship between the heart and the brain um
i forget what it's called now um if anyone knows the word i'm thinking of it's just slipped my
mind but it's about how your breath work and your cardiovascular system can influence your mental
state and vice versa so yeah just right up my alley.
Amazing.
Super interesting.
Okay, cool.
We've also got Kiho up to speak in Vexhalia.
If you guys want to also just say hi or if you have something to say.
Hi, guys.
GM GM.
This is Kiho.
Yeah, happy to be here to talk about building D-Sci in Africa. Basically, this conversation started with Mark Anthony.
He was quite interested, right?
We discussed about how we could bring D-Sci to different parts of the world
because we are talking about decentralized science.
So we need to really decentralize it
because if this dsai movement uh stays within the western hemisphere then then that's not dsai
yet right so we were thinking about how to bring it to parts where even the word of dsai is not
heard or will it be possible to scale it down into a global phenomenon? And that's when we stumbled upon Africa and African communities.
There's a huge Web3 presence.
So, yeah, it was Anthony who kind of initiated this conversation.
And then we started discussing this over a period of time.
And then I'm super happy that this is catalyzing and super happy to see
like you know where it goes further. I'm a big big fan of you know bringing DSi to different
parts of the world. I think that's the only way to kind of you know democratize and really
decentralize science because it should be a global forum for the commons right like house of commons for
science uh yeah a true network yeah true network state yeah i so agree with you i think one of the
things that was also really interesting for me having done like having been now being south
african and i was educated in south africa um and did my my biochemistry degree there. So I was kind of exposed to the, I guess,
like, I mean, very early level. I mean, I did not sort of have to do like funded research.
I was just doing my undergrad and honors degree there. But what was very interesting is that I think funding is, of course, limited as it is, I think, across the world.
But it feels definitely like the funding opportunities in South Africa as well were much more limited and also had, especially when it came to government funding, was also a lot more around certain target areas that were
sort of more um applicable to south africa so there was i i know that our labs at uct did a lot
of tb research and hiv research um and that was like sort of the more popular funded topics um
but it was i heard that it was much harder to get funding for slightly off-topic things.
I think, as Joe was saying, it was outside of those popular areas.
You had to park it as a hobby project.
I'm really curious, I think, maybe to hear from some of the other people on the call. Like, what do you think is, like,
the thing that DSI could help with most
in the African research sphere?
Okay, so maybe I'll go first here.
So one of the ways I identify DSI
is really helping out is in terms of data because if we really
check most of the data that is used mostly for R&D is mostly gotten from either Europe or the US.
We don't really have that data that is coming out of Africa in terms of research or development of any pharmaceutical.
So I believe this science definitely is going to address this problem.
Basically, by decentralizing science, it allows for Nigerians, because I live in Nigeria,
and then other parts of other African continents to be able to probably share data on research, share data on some kind of discovery in a way in real time, in a way that is beneficial to everyone.
And then everyone can scale up on this research in terms of collaborative research. That's what I'm trying to say.
research, that's what I'm trying to say. Also for funding opportunities, we also know that
outside Big Pharma, most private investors that fund research, they kind of like keep
those data for themselves. But in Africa, we do not even have like access to most of
this funding. Most of the funding come from the government. Most times, to be honest, the
government is not really interested in spending huge amounts of or huge sums of money on long-term
goals, especially when it comes to research, at least this part of the world. So I believe
this science basically is going to help address access to funding for African researchers to allow
them to explore and then of course find meaningful solutions for humankind.
Yeah, thank you.
Yep, yep, that's like spot on.
Because like also something related to, know talent networks as well because with this
I you can basically have African researchers African builders playing on the global level
we know with the global team and not being limited you know because in Africa you tend to have like
you might be limited because you are just based in Africa or based in whatever part of the world you're in.
But with decentralized science, you have, it's everything is global.
It's like everybody just comes together and, you know, works on a certain, you know, outcome.
And that's like the beauty of DSI, in my own opinion, you know, global participation and a global, you know, talent network, basically.
Joe, I would be super curious.
You probably have the most touch points with academia
and academic funding and what that landscape actually looks like.
Would you kind of say that this, like, I guess,
what we've been speaking about, this, like, perception of limited limited funding do you think that is the truth like or like a reality
oh i think limited funding is absolutely a reality um i think south africa is also
one of the more privileged research and resource
privileged research and resource,
research populated countries in Africa.
So I think, you know, again, my perspective is one
that is already coming from a lot of privilege
from an institution that already has a lot of funding,
a very well acclaimed research institution.
And I think just even in saying that sentence,
that brings me back to why
the concept of DSI is so important is because the name that comes behind mine as to which
university I studied at or what my degree name was should not be as important as the type of
research I put out or the type of research access that people have to reading my research the type of research impact that i can make so yes the access to funding is a huge problem but even just hearing it to speak about
data big data sure let's talk about big data in africa let's also talk about data on our phones
data access to internet that is also something that africa is not as
access to internet that is also something that Africa is not as
well off as the rest of the world with so it's kind of difficult for me sometimes to wrap my
head around conversations of DSI and building a big data space and yes in an ideal world it would
be amazing if Africa was the spearhead of the DSci space because I think we have a lot of very unique
opportunities in Africa with genetic diversity and, you know, research, resource-rich countries,
but I think we have some problems that are also, or considerations rather, that are much, much
bigger than just big data. It's small data, it's access to knowledge from a very basal level it's textbooks
it's the quality of primary school that you go to the entrance to universities that you have access
to so i think when we speak about dsci something that i'm still kind of grappling with is yes
research funding is limited but even access to research dissemination or research opportunities
is limited before we even get to the point of
applying for funding. So I don't know if anyone has any thoughts on that, maybe someone who isn't
in South Africa specifically, but it's something I think about all the time. How can we actually
start to have a valuable conversation about DSA in Africa when a lot of people don't have flushing toilets in their schools or have to
travel for multiple hours to get to the closest university or their university doesn't have an
eeg machine that records brain waves and here i'm thinking like i can buy new electrodes whenever i
want because my research is funded in south africa so yeah long babble i can talk about this kind of thing for a long time because it's something I feel quite passionately
about. But I think research funding goes quite deep. Yeah, I'll just stop there.
I mean, I agree with you.
While you were speaking, Joe, I just also thought of the problem of the mass exodus of medical
personnel, skilled professionals out of Africa towards Europe.
That's actually going to affect, I, I believe the capacity for local research.
That's another problem that we really need to look into
because over the years lately,
and like the last three, four, five years,
there's been a mass migration of,
especially medical skilled professionals,
nurses, doctors, lab scientists out of Africa.
So I believe with this science, this would actually mitigate this problem because they
wouldn't need to go out.
They would actually be very efficient wherever they are.
Just an extra thought there.
Hello, good evening.
Yeah, very, very nice to be here and lovely conversation being had.
Just wanted to just chip in a few thoughts. This is just my own personal perspective and
I'm just sharing this. So please, anybody, I hope this isn't taken out of context.
So we respect to my own experience or understanding of how this could really play a huge role in Nigeria.
I'm based in Nigeria and considering like lack of infrastructure and the things that are going on around there.
So I'm going to use my state as an example. So I come from a family of researchers.
My dad was a dentist. My mom was a nutritionist, and so I tend to move around the bio-circles.
So Nigeria, in my own assessments, currently produces a huge amount of biological-related field workers or medical workers
because there's a huge number of institutions that got access to funding, know enabled them taking more students and all
that but the challenge there it's the infrastructure which isn't available so for example in my own
state in the states the state government is creating a dna and uh pathology forensic pathology lab
in ennugu state so the person that's in charge of the DNA center
is a friend of mine.
So I had a conversation with him
around DSI, bio protocol.
This was sometime last year.
And one, there's general lack of awareness
over what DSI truly can do.
I believe that another thing, again,
is there could be a knowledge gap between
the actual industry researchers and these emerging opportunities. A lot of people truly don't really
get the concepts and they mostly come from the first thing they always question is ethics,
regulation and you know how does this you know apply to them having to work you
know in a decentralized community and then also there seems to be the need to solve the data issue
in in africa i feel like people are trying to crack it how can we store our data how can we
you know enable individuals collect data and store data in a secured
way?
These are some of the things that they are trying to solve.
So personally to me, I feel like if they could figure out how to work with the people with
existing infrastructure or are trying to build infrastructure around this side in africa or nigeria and um from there you know
help them understand the this side on a level that is on their professional level i mean i'm
an engineer so i come from an engineering background but to a medical professional
like i say the when i'm having a conversation, it's first ethics and regulations
that, you know, these are safety concerns that come first. And I feel like some of these needs
to be, there should be sensitization for researchers in these fields to enable them,
you know, come on board the same way Web3 puts an active effort in, you know, having companies and, you know, individuals serve as ambassadors to break down concepts to people that are just Web2 builders.
I feel like this side needs its own champions in Africa to enable, you know, those in the institutions catch up to the gap.
Yeah. Ah, Scott is online. I got to hear the call. Good day, Scott. Nice to see you again.
All right.
Yeah, Aguda, got your hand up.
Yeah, just wanted to say a bit.
I joined the space quite late and was listening to the mindshare
of how DSAI is perceived in Africa. Now, one thing that we need to note is that infrastructure
has always been a problem in the African space, but I don't think it's the leading cause of why
DSAI would not work in the African space. I think that, and he also touched on education,
generally Web3 itself, the blockchain itself,
it's a newer concept to the world.
Even though we are, you can say we are 10 years early or so,
it's a new concept to the world.
Why did this high space?
We're still learning more about it.
We're still learning more about it.
But attacking
the solution of bringing this side to Africa, we have to start at the institutional level,
which is majorly the educational institutions. Speaking to a couple of research artificial a research board committee at the University of Lagos
Nigeria last night and they were talking about the challenges and
brainstorming solutions that they had which this side itself could solve. So
shifting the mindshare or changing the mindshare of Africans towards this side
we have to start from the educational institutions, the
universities, where research itself is being done. We need to look at that place as a starting point
before we say we want to tackle infrastructure issues. I think infrastructure issues
are something that has been prevalent since over 30, 40 years.
And the way things are going, we are looking for change, but it's still something that will be prevalent.
And these are things that might not be fully in our control.
But things like changing the mindshare and how educational institutions are being run,
which we have bigger control over individually and as a
collective unit, I think it's a easier way to go. And then from there, we can start saying, oh,
infrastructure and all of that. So I just wanted to say a bit on that when I joined.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for that reflection. I appreciate it.
Yeah.
Yep.
And I think, as he mentioned something about this as well,
you know, on a call earlier today with him, Joe, and Rachel.
So, you know, like, building the building the awareness first of all on the ground level
like i and he mentioned some ecosystems that have done it pretty well like lisk blockchain
you know i mean lisk is very popular right now in africa because i mean you see them everywhere but
they they basically laid the groundwork the previous year you know i mean they had the
internal strategy and all that stuff but they still um laid the groundwork the previous year, you know. I mean, they had the internal strategy and all that stuff, but they still laid the groundwork
of awareness building and, you know, getting into the circles, the necessary circles where
they are needed as well.
So I think that's what DSAI needs in Africa, you know, creating that awareness while also
creating out a proper structure for what to do with that awareness when
you have it so yeah i also agree with you um what's his name sorry yeah i agree with you
uh do you know one of the interesting things for me as well as which is why i've always thought
design africa would be a super interesting use case is that africa currently has the fastest
growing blockchain adoption um there are more people sort of creating wallets and starting to
transact with cryptocurrencies in africa than sort of any other any other continent and so i think
because of this like mass adoption within africa i think it would also be a bit of an easier task
to get institutions and universities to get onboarded into these like dsci concepts as well
so it almost feels like a bit of a soft like a softer target compared to maybe like i know i mean
we've as molecule we've been in discussions with universities in the u.s and they kind of are like
why would i go this kind of like it you know dsci is out there for these institutions and and you
kind of have to like the play that you make for them is like you have to kind of say like listen give it a shot
like you know this is something new and experimental but we've had a lot of feedback
before kind of going like well you know at the end of the day we could still get like
the venture capital funding or you know like something else they're kind of like why would I really put my neck out and and go this pathway
um because like they just are like they are inherently like less familiar with crypto
but I've always thought then I feel like if crypto adoption is you know skyrocketing
rocketing within Africa and that's also why you have players like Lisk and like various
blockchains that are coming and putting in a
concerted effort to break into the African market because for them you know it's a great business
opportunity and I mean for example I actually saw Solana hosted a I saw on my LinkedIn the other
day that Solana was hosting a big conference in Cape Town in South Africa as well and so they're
clearly also now you know
trying to break into the african market so it's just like i feel like there's a lot of
building energy and in combination with the fact that if you have people who are much more familiar
with crypto that then they'll be less skeptical maybe of d size as a basic concept and so it's
kind of like you have these two primed groups um and also of course
africa is a young country it's got a lot of young people which i think are inherently more tech
comfortable um as well and like it just seems like this it's such a ripe opportunity and like
i've been i do so much thinking around like how to get get that turning. Because I think once we can, I think it would be amazing.
Yeah, yep, yep.
And it's like, okay, sorry.
Okay, Scott, do you want to say something?
Let me just quickly run through.
So, yeah, like you said, the blockchain in Africa is like,
it's very nascent and like projects are like basically moving into the african market and it's way harder
selling blockchain in the west than over here in africa or in parts like um southern american
countries like argentina we're and um you know and the rest of the countries in that in that
continent because i do i see it is like the West already has an advantage.
They are basically very developed and they develop with the internet as we know it, like the Web 2.
And Africa has the advantage now to basically develop with Web 3.
And the projects that may win or will win will be the projects who, you know, try to build the Web3 projects.
That's what I'm talking about.
Will be the Web3 projects that basically try to capture the African market.
Because then when you capture the African market, you can then have like a solid, well, I say a solid case of comparison between, you know, the West and Web2 and African and South American markets with Web3, you know, and decide web 2 and african and south american markets with web 3 you know
and decide which one is better and then you have like uh you know the proof of what you're talking
about to basically show why web 3 is you know the superior tech so i see why um a lot of projects
like that you know move into the web 3 projects move into um african markets as well because like
there's a huge opportunity to basically change the game and you know move this continent from an underrepresented
area to you know a position of strength basically and DSAI has the opportunity
Molecule has the opportunity as well you know to basically enhance DSAI in Africa
so yeah um all right uh thank you uh thank you
i am rama so maybe i'd uh i'd go okay yes so maybe when i'm done, thank you very much. So hello, everyone.
Nice to be here.
The course keeps my mind.
I was in meetings today.
So yes, talking about design Africa, it's always a very interesting conversation.
And then as someone who has, let me say, very practical experience, you know, promoting Disai in Africa for close to maybe I say the second year or third year, I've been able I was part of, one of was advancing DSI in Africa.
And even from the aspect of how I use my product and marketing background as an excellent base to really, you know, talk about the structuring based off adoption and so on and so forth. So starting with adoption, I think the problems of adoption awareness
is the same as almost every other places
or every other place in the world for this AIY.
Because this AI is still very early.
I do not necessarily think the infrastructures
are the problems.
I think that introducing the right initiatives
are the key solutions.
For example,
it's where we had something we called DIY, like sort of like do-it-yourself,
where, and I was able to speak to a person, not an African do, that was, you know, how to like create.
Okay.
I don't know if you can hear me, you can just react.
I don't know.
I think maybe I have.
I was going to say, you're cutting in and out a little bit,
but we're getting most of it, I'd say.
Okay.
You can hear me now. Good you all right so so uh i was able to speak to somebody
and he said he derived his proof of concept from a very simple culture simple setup in his room
and there are other people that have done this and i'll still go there so infrastructure
is not necessarily a problem and uh i spoke about uh this i like throughout 2024
every conference or event i spoke at my topic was the same which is introduction to this i
i was very happy because the first conference there was maybe only
myself another person that knew about this side the next conference about five people then he
towards the end of the year the conference about uh 20 25 more persons in the room you know are
the answer that knew about this side so education is gradual you know so we cannot uh you know blame
the awareness on on the on the space or the continent.
It's just something we just have to do. And how do we do this? Over the couple of months and years
after working with, you know, supporting Desai, Biodao project or DAOs and all of that, we're able
to properly understand, you know, the key problem. The key problem is not necessarily the funding the key
problem is the belief is the retention why should science history such as stay in design or stay
even in in science and the one very simple answer was one of the reasons why you know we kicked off
borderless science which is commercialization, commercializing science.
Now, I think Etete mentioned something like similar in a way.
If I want somebody to believe that this site is working, I need to show them how.
And we have to not just stop at research papers.
If you even check the academia sector,
so next I see that most Africans have a lot of papers uploaded
across ResearchGate and all of that.
For example, during my university time,
I think my supervisor had about 30 something papers on Google.
He had about 50, close to 50 papers on ResearchGate.
So there are a lot of research work, research papers, a lot of background and knowledge,
but there's no product. So a product is a proof that either this side or even the normal traditional science is
a credible solution.
And this is what we have to look at, which is proof of science or proof of concept.
So one of the key stuff for DSAI is to take some of these projects and then walk them all the way through where they have a product.
So if a scientist can say that, OK, this is the product I have, his fellow researchers would be able to look at,
okay, how exactly did you get to this stage?
And that is an excellent proof that Desai is successful.
And recently, I think we were speaking with somebody,
I think a master's student, that was sort of like his project
his project is to solve diabetes stemming from obesity and how i will not go into detail on how
he's doing it because definitely it's confidential and we've been in talks trying to like ramp him up
and you know get him up to the stage where he will be fit for the digital ecosystem. And that's exactly what we're doing. And then recently, we, you know,
found a, just another graduate student that was able to develop a model that can really
detect, you know, malaria parasites in less than one hour compared to the conventional
model where you have to stay maybe three, five hours, or maybe you even be asked to come back the next day.
So advancing solutions for Africa and by Africa is one of the best ways to actually advance
design on the continent.
Why?
Because Africans, our general culture is we love proof.
So if something is not visible, physical,
or if they cannot feel it,
they may not necessarily believe you get.
So this is one of the key steps,
you know, to ensuring that this eye stays on the continent.
And this is why this education is important.
And how are we, you know, trying to do this?
Though I know it was a very individualistic effort throughout last year,
but now we're trying to expand.
And we do that by targeting communities.
So there are various communities here in Nigeria.
There are a lot of Web3 communities here in Nigeria.
So not everybody is a scientist, but it's also important that they know about this.
And this is why we have to build up uh programs and more
programs and infrastructure to accommodate this side you know last year all through all of the
events it was only just one speaking slot for this side and maybe was just myself in all of
the conference in my lagos blockchain week at them a a dow a dow had an event as well econ
you know so what we have to do this year is that because, okay, this Q2,
we have Q3 and Q4 to go, is at every, we make provisions for every event
that we're organizing to have a segment that talks about this.
I could start as a panel.
So yes, because of the fact that we want to really educate everybody,
we cannot see you
really jump in their face so they do not get the wrong perception so it's gradual education and uh
and um that's like one of the best ways we could do and then targeting some of these scientists
you know and they're pulling them up through the blockchain uh opportunities and advantages, maybe through funding, et cetera, and so on.
And for us, for me, and as Borderlands as a team, this is what we're trying to do.
But I also believe that other ecosystems, because I think that was one of the works
where I think Based Africa could as well support archathons that would help people
build on all of these platforms.
So if we have simple solutions that will solve simple problems, you know, day-to-day problems or daily problems across the continent,
and that people can begin to use, I think are coding stuff, and also to educate the public.
Thank you so much, Scott. I know you've been very involved in the DCI ecosystem for a while now.
And it's great that you're out there presenting and onboarding the next wave of DCIers.
I think, Vex, Saria, you had your hand up.
Okay, jam, JM everyone.
Yeah, I'm Vexaria and I'm particularly very very interested in desay because of personal reasons. um sickle cell so i was like i mean you have three space so what will i do to like support
my people and we know in africa we have lots of sickle cell persons so but the research here it's
i think it's quite neglected yeah sickle cell but building design africa we, we know Africans are very talented.
And here, most persons, if you are not a doctor, if you are not a nurse, if you are not studying
a science related course, it's like you are not actually studying in school.
So we have so many scientists here in Africa that are quite very very talented and
intelligent but I think the problem we have as Scott said is education because if you check the
web3 space most people that are there are the computer scientists students or people from
other courses that maybe they tried taking something that was like they had so much
time on their hands and they wanted to take it some they want to take like an extra course or
something coding and then they just ventured into web 3 and we all know that in before you come into
this you need to have a background knowledge of science it's not something you just enter and then
of science it's not something you just enter and then you try understanding except you are being
taught so i think it's actually education if you can take more awareness to the science
aspect in africa like the science area because most people in um i think it's just recently
in um i think it's just recently most people in the medicine nursing medical laboratory courses
are trying to like embrace tech because they feel oh their course is very very serious they don't
have to do any other thing except what they are being taught in school so i think we need more awareness yes and we also need to onboard people
that are already in the defy we need to see how defy and this i can like dance together
so that people in the defy space can actually educate people that are coming from the
medical space because this is blockchain plus science.
So we need both of them because a researcher will not start coding.
So we need people that can explain what they want to people that can actually code.
So I think we need more awareness and more education in Africa.
And it will be very powerful because there are many talents here in Africa. And it will be very powerful because, yeah,
there are many talents here in Africa.
And scientists are here.
And most, yeah, most medical practitioners, yeah,
they actually want to help Africa.
But, you know, the funding and everything, it's limiting them.
So I think if they get to know that this side is here,
it will really, really make sense. Yeah, thank you.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, it's interesting.
I feel like actually kind of across the board
of all the people that we've spoken about,
kind of the one thing that they keep returning to is awareness and education around decentralized science.
And so I think outside of maybe like, you know, going to conferences and speaking, do you guys have any other ideas of like ways to educate and share the message of DSI within your local communities or, you know, within Africa in general?
Well, I would say for me, creating awareness has to be targeted.
I mean, we have, like I was speaking earlier with Mark Antony and Joe,
which was brainstorming. You see africa has a very youthful
population and then the number of um people or number of the genz's that are already crypto
native we don't most times we don't really need to go teach them what is blockchain anymore
because most of them grew up with this technology so they're already aware so but what
we need to really teach them is how to use the blockchain for science just like um the deliberate
effort we're talking about so in the local community i'm looking at probably partnering
um to create awareness at first the campus level we could target school clubs for medical students.
I know some universities in the country that stands out for producing a large number of doctors yearly.
We also have these doctors in alumni associations.
That could be another possible association or target.
possible association or target. All the medical practitioners associations, Nigerian medical
schools, all of those kind of places. I mean, we could get the boards of directors of general
hospitals on a call to actually, if they are aware, those people at the top, when we effectively
target and onboard maybe one or two and they are aware. It would be like a ripple effect, in my opinion,
because most times they do things within the organizations,
and then when you introduce a new concept,
it's easier for them to spread it within the organization
than for an outsider to try to convert a message to them.
So I think that's some way we could go.
Yeah, thank you
i think um something that i think is also incredibly valuable is to not just have these
spaces be an institutional approach.
I think having conversations about decentralization of any aspect of a professional environment, whether that be science or finance or, I don't know, marketing,
just start having these conversations with your friends
and making people in our immediate vicinity aware that these types of things are happening.
Because I think word of mouth is still incredibly powerful and i'm all for approaching institutions and
i'm trying to get them on board but i also think just having the conversations in our communities
is a really really strong place to start
I totally agree. My example is always the next dinner party that you're at, tell the
person sitting next to you about decentralized science and slowly spread the message like
that. AI Wave, you've got your hand up. Yeah.
I think the conversation just kept going and I've been listening on.
And, you know, something just occurred to me
when you said, like, you know,
just talk to your friends around it.
Because you see, thanks to my, you know,
interest in biotech,
it tends to, like, spring up a conversation
around friends of mine like for
example in my city of enugo like it's my banner and my account there's a big billboard that i put
up and it says um ai arts biotech and blockchain so basically it's always unites um people in
different fields i i get to have events like I have a physical facility in my city
where we organize events. And currently I'm also leading a Bitcoin layer two project. So
the intersection of AI arts and those in the medical field, it has actually really, you know,
kind of like exposed a whole lot more people to this side. Like when you just talked about,
you know, just talking about it with friends.
I'm not a core, I'm not, I'm not,
I'm like I said earlier, I'm an engineering,
I come from an engineering background.
I'm an electronic engineer.
But, you know, what I do has, you know,
unites different communities.
So the facility allows those in the medical field
to do organized sip and paint events
you know it combines those medical guys with the arts people and then their conversations tend to
you know flow in unique ways and then also when we tend to have events that link biotech okay there
was a new uh document that came out around a book around quantum biology, which we've been discussing in our groups.
And, you know, it kind of like has been something
that's brought a discussion around people
that we met during our blockchain events.
And then from there, these are medical students.
And then from there, we just kind of like, you know,
have informal discussions.
Nobody's an expert.
They are the ones in the field. We just kind of like always, I, have informal discussions. Nobody's an expert. They are the ones in the field.
We just kind of like always, I'm always tinkering around health data.
So I'm always asking people in the medical field, what do you feel about health data?
What are the challenges?
So, you know, conversations around that.
I think I love the fact that you, you know, informal conversations also help.
Yeah.
And then linking uncorrelated events, you like uh like i said arts and blockchain ai
biotech biotech and arts arts and blockchain you know it's it brings uh an interesting conversation
yeah yeah like i like i very agree with this um line of thinking because something i also mentioned
because if you limit yourself if you try to try to attempt to get just the core science people, you find your efforts may be limited.
And, you know, word of mouth is still the best way to get people because even if someone doesn't know something, they might know someone who knows that stuff.
Right. And if you do not, you know, put yourself out there for them to see, regardless of if they're
not your target audience or not, you don't get access to those people. And you make, it just
makes your marketing job way much harder. So yeah, like a mix between, I mean, developers already,
I think there's, there's a program I saw where developers, you know, try to come into DSi as well. They're basically bringing developers to create AI models or whatever,
systems and all that stuff to aid decentralized science.
So that's like a crossover between DSi and tech.
So I agree with you, AI Wave, on that.
Yeah, I agree with you, AI Wave, on that. Yeah, I agree.
I think Gisai also inherently is very tech forward
and embraces technological advancements
on a multitude of scales and layers.
So that's also, I think, quite a cool opening um but i'm gonna have to end
this space guys we are even a minute over time um i want to say first of all thank you so much
to the speakers for joining us um it's been a really interesting conversation i'm glad
we've opened it up i would hope that we can do some more of these sometime soon um I think obviously it's a
it's a very broad topic and I think we've been able to sort of spend this hour really like
thinking through like you know where D-Cy could fit in but would love to get more like tangible
um and start chatting about like more concrete next steps at some point um and maybe you know if you know a researcher
who's looking for funding always feel free to send them my way um or you know any sort of project
i think it's great i'm always here to listen and and support um and yeah uh if anyone wants to say
any closing words other than i'm very thankful that you're all here and thank you for listening on your Friday evening.
Thank you, guys. Have a good rest of the weekend.
Thank you, guys. And I say we should keep hosting these spaces and we should keep hosting individual spaces that talks
about this site too i think that will help because i do host spaces about this side yes but i think
i'll resume that thank you so much amazing cool everyone Thank you so much.
