Decentralizing Research Towards “Open Academia”: Ten Years of academist and Beyond
By Ryosuke Shibato, CEO of academist
On July 24, 2024, I gave a talk at DeSci Tokyo/Funding the Commons Tokyo, held at the United Nations University in Shibuya, Tokyo. DeSci Tokyo is an initiative launched in 2023 to realize “decentralized science.” Its first event in 2023 was held with support of 2.3 million yen, more than double the target amount, raised through academist crowdfunding. This event was held on an even larger scale as part of the Funding the Commons event series, which explores new mechanisms for funding public goods. Below is an edited version of my talk.
Introduction
I’m Ryosuke Shibato, the CEO of “academist”. For the past 10 years, I have been running a company called “academist”, building a system that connects researchers with stakeholders who support their research.
Today, I would like to discuss three main points:
- Why we need “Open academia,”
- What we have accomplished in the past 10 years, and
- Our vision towards what I call “Decentralized Research Institutes.”
1. Why We Need “Open Academia”
About 15 years ago, when I was a PhD student majoring in theoretical physics, I felt a sense of discomfort despite my love for research. We had almost no opportunity to know what the lab next door was doing. Looking back, I now recognize this as a culture of “Closed academia”.
During a graduate program, I had the chance to visit Silicon Valley. There, I met many PhD candidates who were building connections with diverse stakeholders based on their research. This experience inspired me to start “academist” upon returning to Japan.
Initially, I organized interdisciplinary meetups for graduate students from different fields. I realized that while it’s difficult to understand the details of each other’s research, we can understand the vision behind it. This led to the idea of creating a site where research visions are gathered, allowing researchers to connect with diverse stakeholders.
Our original plan was to run a media platform where researchers could present the appeal of their research. However, this didn’t meet the researchers’ needs. Gradually, we discovered “crowdfunding” as an effective means to provide researchers with incentives and returns for their outreach while enabling a wide audience to know and support them.
What is Open Academia?
Let me characterize what I mean by “Open academia” by contrasting it with “Closed academia.”
In “Closed academia”, research is mainly funded by public money. That leads to a distance between supporters (taxpayers) and researchers, and researchers tend to appeal their research vision primarily to government funders. The main recipients of research output are limited to peer researchers. In our view, such a closed culture of academia has led to many problems. Researchers lack the freedom to pursue their own interests, and society misses the opportunity to fully appreciate the value of research.
On the other hand, “Open academia” relies on diverse sources of funding. That enables various means of interaction between people and researchers, encourages researchers to share their vision with the wider public, and ensures research outcomes are shared with broad stakeholders. This is the kind of academia we should build.
Looking back on the history of academia, we can see an alternation between “closed” and “open” modes. In the 16th through 18th centuries, the printing press helped open up academia by liberating knowledge from closed universities. We believe the same thing should happen in the 21st century, driven by information technology.
2. Ten Years of academist
Our activities currently consist of three main pillars:
- academist Crowdfunding
- academist Fanclub
- academist Grant
Let me explain the first two in more detail.
academist Crowdfunding
We started academist Crowdfunding in 2014. This was the time when crowdfunding in general was becoming popular. Platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo started around 2008–2009, and in Japan, Readyfor and Campfire began their services around 2011–2012. Academist was the first platform dedicated to academia in Japan. We chose the “all-or-nothing” model where you set a target amount and only receive the funds if you reach that target. This was because we believe committing to a target is an important part of the process.
To date, 312 projects have been successfully funded through our platform. Just to pick a few cases:
- In the Thundercloud Research Project, astrophysicists studied the mechanism of lightning formation by observing gamma rays emitted from thunderclouds. This was such a novel approach that they could not receive public funding: Kakenhi (Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research). So, they tried crowdfunding and were able to begin their project. With their initial success, they later received public funding, which subsequently led to their paper being published in Nature. So this is a model case of crowdfunding leading to a significant scientific impact.
- The Interdisciplinary Soccer Analysis Project used game theory and machine learning to analyze soccer in a novel way, appealing to supporters due to its easily imaginable impact.
Comparison: Public Funding vs Crowdfunding
Below are the main differences we have found between public funding and crowdfunding.
The important point here is that it’s not an either-or choice between crowdfunding and public funds like Kakenhi. They have complementary roles. The key difference lies in the direct communication route created between researchers and supporters in crowdfunding. This non-monetary aspect is critical in realizing “Open academia”.
academist Fanclub
To extend the one-shot nature of crowdfunding into continuous relationships, we started the fanclub system. Supporters contribute a small amount monthly, and researchers provide regular updates, including their daily activities.
We’ve also implemented a prize-format program supported by industry partners, using a Quadratic Voting-like mechanism to distribute funds based on the number of supporters rather than the total amount of support.
Our Accomplishments in the Past Ten Years
In the last ten years, we launched 312 projects and partnered with researchers from 189 universities, who earned 27 thousand supporters, with a total pledged money amounting to 3.1 million yen.
Moreover, 34 researchers have subsequently acquired approximately 270 million yen from other funding sources, demonstrating the academist’s role as an initiator for projects that later secure larger funds. Importantly, two-thirds of researchers collaborated with non-researcher stakeholders such as companies, media, and the education sector.
Multiplied impact of “academist”
So what have we learned in these years? Firstly we learned about the non-monetary value of crowdfunding; that crowdfunding is more about connecting researchers with people than about connecting money with projects. Another thing we learned is the importance of “Research Relations” or “Re:Rels” for short. Re:Rels are skilled people who help researchers brush up on their visions and help find supporters or fans. By supporting hundreds of projects, the academists’ team has come to excel at this Re:Rel function.
We are planning to elaborate on this “Re:Rel” concept as a critical function further in the coming months.
3. Towards “Decentralized Research Institutes”
Crowdfunding was a way to decentralize research funding. While the current model typically matches one or a few researchers with citizen supporters, research is inherently a team effort. The next step is to realize an autonomous and decentralized formation of research teams, supporters, and research relations themselves. This is our concept of “Decentralized Research Institutes.”
We define a “Decentralized Research Institute” as having diverse funding sources where public funding is not the majority, consisting of not-so-large teams (up to about 50 people), being open to collaboration with other institutes. The third aspect is critical for our “Open academia” vision.
Below is a rough sketch of what a “Decentralized Research Institute” looks like. There are researchers, and supporters gathered around a specific research topic. In it a Re:Rel staff plays a key role in binding the project. In the initial phase, the institute starts with the research vision, they gather supporters, do the research, and deliver outcomes.
In the later phase, various impacts enable further expansion of the institute.
A Prototype: The “1,000 True Fans” Project
So how do we make this happen? As a milestone towards our vision, we’re launching the “1,000 True Fans” project in the 4th phase of the academist Prize. Seven aspiring researchers were newly selected just recently. Team academist and these researchers will work together with a large number of fans that would support the project sustainably.
Through this initiative, academist aims to boost its capability as a Re:Rel, developing the crucial skills of identifying promising research and determining researcher compatibility. This project we believe is a first step toward envisioning an “Open academia” where “Decentralized Research Institutes” flourish. We wish to lead this movement.
Summary
Here is the summary of my talk:
- We believe that the default mode of 21st-century academia must be “Open academia”.
- Crowdfunding is more about connecting researchers with people than about connecting money with projects.
- “Research Relations” is a critical yet undervalued function.
- “Decentralized research institutes” are the next direction towards Open academia.
Please contact us if you have any ideas to materialize the Decentralized Research Institute, are interested in supporting us financially, or want to join us as an academist team member. Let’s all move forward to realize a truly open academia.
(edited by Ryuichi Maruyama）
