Can NFTs Be a Game Changer for University Research ?

This notion probably seems highly improbable. We can remember though that in the startup world, most good ideas seem bad at first. If they were clearly good, the market would already have the product.

How could a non-fungible token (NFT), a piece of digital property usually known for transacting wacky digital art, upstage centuries-old academic institutions?

Let’s start at what generates most deep scientific research: university support. Most scientists have no choice but to enter a university as a professor. They need its funding, facilities, and support network. That is, unless they are among the few to go to a specialized research institute or become a corporate in-house scientists.

Looking at one science area– pharmacology –can bring this into greater detail. Currently, research to create new drugs suffers from chronic underfunding. As a result, research stops in the early stages of the pharma development cycle. New therapy ideas often never reach patients. Ideas perish in the “Valley of Death” between initial drug research and clinical trials because researchers struggle to get funded.

The valley of death takes place because of three main reasons:

• Lack of visibility to relevant investors: Scientists struggle to acquire funding from private…