We're funding our first women's health research projects! 🧬🪩🚀
AthenaDAO mints its first IP-NFT
50 project submissions, 10 finalist, 6 projects sent to senior reviewers in academia, pharma, and Biotech VC, and here we are! 💁♀️ We are funding our first of three research projects to become IP-NFTs, totaling over $250 000 USD for women’s health research.
Thank you so far to all our partners, supporters, contributors, and community members. We are making a reality working on the biggest overlooked opportunity in biotech: women’s health.
The meteoric Barbie Movie success demonstrates yet again what is possible when you work on things that cater to them.
It is early days for AthenaDAO, you can still join our revolution to bring women’s health out of the perception of charity and unto one of the most untapped areas of opportunity in biomedical R&D.
You can:
And most importantly, tell others we exist! 🧬🪩🚀
Laura Minquini
On August 1st, AthenaDAO will be hosting their first IP-NFT Transfer Ceremony, celebrating the funding for Dr. Mario Cordero’s research project.
We will be supporting Dr. Mario Cordero and his work in ovarian aging at Pablo de Olavide University with a funding amount of $120 000. His project tackles inflammation that is responsible for ovarian reserve via the inhibition of the cGAS-STING pathway. Mario’s research group is exceptionally positioned to develop novel inhibitors as a tailor-made treatment opportunity for women in need of better options for fertility treatments.
To learn more, please check out this amazing article written by Ella McCarthy-Page at Molecule.
This is a major milestone for us and we would LOVE to see you there!!
📣 Join our upcoming community info sessions!
Over the past few weeks, we have launched a new website, the Reproductive Health Report - Vol II, opened a call for applications for research projects on Endo and PCOS, and we are about to fund our first research project on Ovarian Aging 🤍
👉 Now, we invite you to join our All-Hands Community Call to discuss:
AthenaDAO upcoming token auction
Ways to engage with the launch
Q&A session
We’ll be hosting two sessions:
August 10th at 6 pm CET / 12 pm EST / 9 am PST
August 17th at 7 pm CET / 1 pm EST / 10 am PST
We hope to see you there!
👩🏫 Things you need to know about IP-NFTs
An IP-NFT is a tool that combines the concept of IP (Intellectual Property) and NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) together.
You can think about it like a Van Gogh painting. NFTs are non-fungible, meaning that they are one-of-a-kind and cannot be replaced. A Van Gogh painting in this sense is also “non-fungible.” There is nothing you can trade it for that would truly be the same.
They are also tokenized, meaning that there is proof out there that someone owns that asset. For NFTs specifically, they are hosted on a blockchain, which is just a fancy way to refer to a decentralized (controlled by several groups instead of just one, unlike a bank) database used to host pieces of information in chronological order online.
In the instance of a painting, hosting something on the blockchain would be the equivalent of having a contract stating you own that painting, with the NFT being the painting itself. Except, in the case of the NFT, it’s all digital.This provides an interesting concept because we can host contracts within these NFTs, that are immutable and for which we have a record of everything over time that is publicly accessible.
When we combine this idea with the concept of IP (a work that you would want trademarked, ex. a song you wrote), we are able to create a tool that protect and governs peoples ideas and creations while also providing an immutable online contract.
Using IP-NFTs provides unique opportunities for investments, enable creators to get recognition and compensation for their work, enhances the utility of projects, and allows for better security in capturing those who infringe against copyright.
AthenaDAO is using these tools to provide alternative ways for researchers to fund projects that matter. IP-NFTs do not require a patent, and thus are in the prime spot for researchers to work on critical projects that could be the root of what we base future women’s health research on.
If you want to learn more of the technicalities, feel free to keep reading ahead:
What’s an IP-NFT?
IP-NFTs combine two concepts - Intellectual Property and NFTs - into one transactable, digital, and programmable unit.
An NFT is a unique digital asset that is indivisible and cannot be exchanged on a one-to-one basis with other tokens, unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, which are fungible and interchangeable.
Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, symbols, names, and images used in commerce. IP is protected by copyright, patents, trademarks, or trade secrets, granting exclusive rights to the creator or owner to use and distribute their creations.
This combination, the IP-NFT, creates an immutable history of the project as time goes by, and is a mechanism that allows participants to directly govern the IP produced by its projects and future projects.
What’s the potential?
IP-NFTs completely transform the concepts of ownership, licensing, investment, and utility when it comes to intellectual property.
Credit: Sasha Shilina IP-NFTs allow their owners to tokenize their works, proving them as the owner on the blockchain.
Creators get fair compensation and monetization opportunities. Licensing terms of an IP-NFT are enforced and defined directly within the smart contract of the NFT - meaning that whenever the NFT is sold or used, the creator is compensated accordingly.
IP-NFTs allow for fractional ownership, in which multiple individuals can hold shares of the same IP-NFT, enabling crowdfunding opportunities and collective investments into projects, democratizing access to these assets.
IP-NFTs can be integrated into various ecosystems and platforms, enhancing their utility by expanding their reach.
Since ownership and licensing terms are directly noted on the smart contracts of the IP-NFTs, those who try to infringe against these works are less likely to misuse the content or violate copyright.
Researchers don’t immediately need patents to raise funds. They can present their ideas to investors and raise money in exchange for the investors having a percentage of the IP that is generated from the research.
In the case of AthenaDAO, IP-NFTs give us the security and platform we need to actually make an advancement on some of the most pressing issues in women’s health. The values of these assets allow us to further fund potential solutions and landmark advancements when it comes to women’s health.
IMPORTANT 💡
IP-NFTs are governed and owned by the community. If you want to get involve with the governance of AthenaDAO’s IP-NFTs, join our upcoming info sessions to learn more about our upcoming governance token launch. 🚀
Why does it matter?
For a very long time, we’ve seen a lack of progress in pressing areas like women’s health that aren’t a priority in the biomedical sector. At the same time, researchers who have been interested in these fields have struggled to find a balance between working on projects they love and working on projects that actually receive funding.
IP-NFTs open up the doors in a revolutionary way and democratize research and funding access. They compensate people fairly and accelerate the development of traditionally underfunded, but very important areas.
