CROWDFUNDING UNIVERSITY RESEARCH...because it takes a village to fund the answers Professor Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab
Crowdfunding Industry Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab Fundable Infographic 2014 3
Crowdfunding Models 1. Donation Model: Donation-based Reward-based 2. Investment Model: Equity-based Lending-based Royalty-based Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 4
Crowdfund Investment Platforms Country #CFIP Country #CFIP US 344 Brazil 17 UK 87 Australia 12 France 53 India 10 Netherlands 34 South Africa 4 Canada 34 Russian Fed 4 Spain 27 HK SAR, China 1 Germany 26 UAE 1 Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab World Bank Report (2013) 5
Research Platforms 1. Domain Specific Platforms (e.g. MicroRyza, Thinkable and PetriDish) 2. University Specific Platforms (largely for student projects, driven by Enterprise Divisions) 3. Specialist Education Platforms (e.g. hubbub and by extension Crowdcube-hubbub, driven by Advancement Divisions) Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 6
Crowdfunding techniques 1. All or Nothing (AoN) Money is only collected from contributors if a pre-determined minimum amount has been pledged within a nominated time-frame. 2. Keep it All (KiA) Whether the project goal is met or not, all of the funds collected (minus commission) are handed over. 3. Bounty Funds are raised for the creation of a product or the solution of a particular problem and are awarded when someone successfully provides the requested service. Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 7
pozible.com Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 8
pozible.com/researchmyworld Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 9
pozible.com/research Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 10
pozible.com/research Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 11
Summary (May 2012-June 2014) Launched 21 and fully funded 17 distinct research projects across a wide range of academic disciplines (an 80% success rate). Raised over $155,000 in new research funds (plus more) Engaged over 2100 distinct donors to give money to academic researchers Generated more than 340 news stories and 20,000 social media engagements Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 12
Incentives Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 13
Social Media: Combined (R1) Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab Visualization: Stuart Palmer 14
Social Media: Success/Failure (R1) Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab Visualization: Stuart Palmer 15
Social Media: Tweets & $$$ (R1) 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Tweets+Retweets Total Pledges ($100s) $30 $25 $20 $15 $10 $5 $0 Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab Visualization: Stuart Palmer 16
Pledge Timeline: Mighty Maggots $1,800 $1,500 $1,200 $900 $600 $300 $0 8/05/2013 10/05/2013 12/05/2013 14/05/2013 16/05/2013 18/05/2013 20/05/2013 22/05/2013 24/05/2013 26/05/2013 28/05/2013 30/05/2013 1/06/2013 3/06/2013 5/06/2013 7/06/2013 9/06/2013 11/06/2013 13/06/2013 15/06/2013 17/06/2013 19/06/2013 21/06/2013 23/06/2013 25/06/2013 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab Visualization: Stuart Palmer 17
Pledge Timeline: All projects (R1) $10,000 $8,000 $6,000 $4,000 $2,000 $0 8/05/2013 10/05/2013 12/05/2013 14/05/2013 16/05/2013 18/05/2013 20/05/2013 22/05/2013 24/05/2013 26/05/2013 28/05/2013 30/05/2013 1/06/2013 3/06/2013 5/06/2013 7/06/2013 9/06/2013 11/06/2013 13/06/2013 15/06/2013 17/06/2013 19/06/2013 21/06/2013 23/06/2013 25/06/2013 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab Visualization: Stuart Palmer 18
Broad benefits Disintermediation of research funding Reduction of compliance burden for researchers (and universities) Digital presence building for the researchers and their work including capacity building in digital culture/skills for the researchers Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 19
Specific benefits Provide a unique opportunity to promote research in terms of its meaning to communities and not just other academics ( to bring research home ). Successful funding campaigns relied on clear communication of projects and social and traditional media engagement. Shift the way universities promote research in an increasingly networked environment Provide an additional funding stream for researchers, Deb Verhoeven particularly @bestqualitycrab those at the start of their career 20
Specific benefits Focus effort on communicating with the public rather than labour-intensive, highly competitive, blind reviewed funding applications with diminishing success rates Provide discipline-neutral opportunity; both science and humanities-creative arts were able to generate funds if community relevance was demonstrated Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 21
Challenges the digital capacity of individual academics the digital capacity of academic institutions the difference between existing campaigns for crowdfunding and those specific to a projects with research focus the public s response to projects from different research disciplines Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 22
Engagement-led research I m now more skilled (but with more room to grow) in the use of social media. I ve also become more outward looking - more aware of who s doing what beyond the confines of Deakin University and my world of research. I have a much wider digital footprint, have made many new contacts, discovered an astonishing array of actors in my field and defined that field more precisely as well as identifying new potentials for my research. I think this has catalysed me to take the first - the biggest and the hardest step in becoming digitally literate - specifically around my own profile. This is excellent. Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 23
Following Up Research My World Pilot Project Evaluation: http://bit.ly/rmywreport Checklists for researchers and universities: http://bit.ly/rmywchecklists Pozible Research http://pozible.com/research Deb Verhoeven @bestqualitycrab 24