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RESEARCH
MICROFINANCE PLATFORM |
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"By defining 'entrepreneur' in a
broader way we can change the character of capitalism radically,
and solve many of the unresolved social and economic problems
within the scope of the free market."
Muhammad Yunus (2006)
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UNKNOWN
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RESOURCE SUMMARY
LEARN ABOUT RESEARCH MICROFINANCE |
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RESEARCHERS
LEARN
HOW RESEARCH MICROFINANCE CAN HELP YOU
PURSUE YOUR RESEARCH INTERESTS |
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INVESTORS
LEARN
HOW RESEARCH MICROFINANCE CAN EMPOWER YOU
TO BECOME AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN
CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH |
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A
web-based platform designed to
provide any individual or community
open access, and
the opportunity to
directly shape, contemporary scientific understanding.
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RESOURCE OBJECTIVES
EMPOWER NON-RESEARCHERS TO
MORE ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN
THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
PROCESS BY PROVIDING AN
AVENUE FOR DIRECT FINANCIAL
INVESTMENT
۰
PROVIDE
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHERS WITH A FINANCIAL
INCENTIVE FOR ENGAGING IN TRANSPARENT AND
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PRACTICES
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There are two
imperatives that have led us to develop this
research microfinance platform. In
order of importance, these are the growing
sense of disconnect between members of the
scientific research community, as well as
between this community (as a whole) and the
remainder of human society; and secondly,
the slow pace at which new research is
adopted by commercial industry.
What this
unique platform allows is an unprecedented
degree of communication between the research
and non-research communities.
Researchers seeking funding for their
research projects may, instead of completing
countless grant applications or tailoring
their research interests to suit those grant
announcements periodically posted on
departmental bulletin boards; submit their
research proposal to be funded by way of
microinvestments drawn from the broader
online community.
In exchange
for these microinvestments,
researchers will maintain regularly-updated
research logs to allow their investors to
follow the course of their work on a daily
basis, as well as provide a forum for their
investors to directly communicate with them
via comments and similar forms of user
feedback. In addition, by allowing
researchers to maintain research logs, we
hope to encourage a greater degree of
collaboration between researchers. If
two researchers working on the same project
maintain independent research logs, it would
allow each researcher to publicly represent
their individual contributions to the
project, as well demonstrate their ability
to constructively collaborate with their
peers.
In the long
run, the maintenance of these logs will
allow researchers to produce a body of
documentation far more representative of
their research skills than a CV simply
listing their publications.
For those
individuals who invest in these research
projects, whom we shall refer to herein as
investors - or entrepreneurs, this
platform provides an unprecedented ability
to invest directly in an idea - as
opposed to a business or business plan.
In doing so, it seeks to encourage each
investor and entrepreneur to explore, and
pursue, the potential industrial
applications of these ideas.
Furthermore,
as there is no minimal level of investment
required, and as there are no fees (e.g.
transaction fees, registration fees) levied
upon potential investors, this platform
encourages all individuals - irrespective of
their circumstances - to directly contribute
toward shaping the course of scientific
research!
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MICROFINANCE PLATFORM
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RESEARCHERS
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GETTING STARTED
OPEN YOUR FREE
ACCOUNT
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SUBMIT YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT
PROPOSAL
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GET FUNDED!
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SEEK ANSWERS TO YOUR
QUESTIONS
By utilizing our
research microfinance platform, you will no
longer have to tailor
your research questions
to suit award
announcements posted on
your department's bulletin
board!
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SPEND YOUR TIME ON RESEARCH, NOT PAPERWORK
As an alternative to the
traditional grant
application - which can
be lengthy, redundant
(especially if you are soliciting
multiple funding
sources), and
time-consuming; our
easy-to-use platform
allows you to maintain
a single online profile which
will be published
alongside each of your
submitted proposals.
This frees you up to
devote more time to
developing your ideas,
and conducting your
work.
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BE JUDGED BY YOUR IDEAS,
NOT YOUR PUBLICATIONS
By publishing each
research project
proposal within a
centralized
marketplace, we seek to
provide all researchers
with an equal
opportunity to receive
investments and to be
judged not by the
quantity of publications
in their portfolio, but
by the quality of the
proposal which they have
submitted.
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EARN ROYALTIES THROUGH
DIRECT LICENSING
By utilizing our
microfinance platform,
you will communicate
directly with investors
who may, in time, derive
industrial applications
for your research.
In doing so, you will
potentially reduce the
lag time between the
publication of your
results, and their
industrial application,
as well as ensure that
you will be afforded an
opportunity to directly
profit from any and all
commercial applications
of your work.
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MICROFINANCE PLATFORM
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INVESTORS
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GETTING STARTED
OPEN YOUR FREE
ACCOUNT
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BROWSE OUR RESEARCH PROPOSAL
MARKETPLACE
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INVEST WITH OUR EASY TO USE
TOOLS
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DO MORE THAN DONATE ...
INVEST!
By investing in
scientific research
projects via our
microfinance platform you will not
only be contributing
directly toward the
conductance of a
research
project, but, as a
part-owner of the
research you choose to
invest in, you will
become a part-owner of an
idea
that - through
licensing -
may yield a financial return!
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ACTIVELY
SEEK ANSWERS TO YOUR
QUESTIONS
By providing direct
access to the scientific research
community,
this platform will allow
you to seek out
individuals conducting
research that addresses
questions which effect
you, and to invest in
their work directly.
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SHAPE THE COURSE OF
FUTURE RESEARCH
By providing this
platform for direct
investment, you will now
be in complete control
of which projects you
choose to finance, and
to what degree you seek
to do so.
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NO OVERHEAD ... JUST
SCIENCE.
Due to the simple
structure of our
organization, and the
broad support we have received
from the academic
research community; we are able
to maintain our online
environment without
requiring any user fees.
Thus, by investing in
research projects via
our platform, you can
rest assured knowing
that no portion of
your investment will be
allocated toward
administrative
expenses/overhead.
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HOW IT WORKS
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IT ALL STARTS WITH A
QUESTION ...
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Each
research project
cycle begins with a
question.
Within The OSSP, a
researcher is
defined not as an
individual who has
been formally
trained, and
received the
socially-recognized
qualifications to
consider themselves
as such. A
researcher is
defined herein as
any individual who,
out of their own
curiosity about
themselves and the
world which
surrounds them,
attempts to satisfy
that curiosity
through active study.
Science is, after
all, defined simply
as knowledge
acquired through
study.
Once
a researcher has
decided upon a
question they wish
to explore, and
designed an
experiment by which
they hope to do so,
they then submit
this experimental
design in the form
of a research
project proposal.
This proposal, in
addition to
describing the
question they seek
to explore, and the
design of their
project itself, will
also include a
budget listing the
expenses that will
be required in order
to conduct it.
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THE RESEARCH CYCLE
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When
these project
proposals have been
received by The
OSSP, they are then
submitted for a
rigorous peer review
- conducted by our
faculty, as well as
volunteers within
the academic
research community
(primarily
college/university
professors) who
possess some degree
of knowledge
regarding the field
of study the
researcher seeks to
explore.
If a
proposal
passes this review, it
is then published
online for our
online community of
potential investors.
Once published,
investors may browse
each project, and
the profiles of each
researcher, and
choose which ones to
invest in.
Over time, these
investments will
accumulate, and once
they have reached
the target budget
proposed by the
researcher, they
will be transferred
to allow them to
begin their work.
In
addition to allowing
investors an
opportunity to
contribute
directly toward
a specific research
project, our
platform also allows
for one significant
advantage to
investors and
researchers alike.
As a researcher
begins conducting
their proposed
project, they will
also begin
maintaining an
online research log
(R-LOG) which will
allow their
investors to follow
the course of the
study they have
contributed from
beginning to end!
Once
a project has been
completed, the
researcher then
submits a final
report summarizing
the results of their
study, providing
insight regarding
the understanding
they have
contributed to our
collective
understanding of the
question they
explored, and
anticipating how
this study may
contribute toward
the course of future
research.
... AND ENDS WITH A
GREATER
UNDERSTANDING! |
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