Deep Funding (DF) is a grant program by SingularityNET that empowers AI developers and innovators, distributing funds to community-selected projects to foster the development of new AI applications to be onboarded in the Foundation’s decentralized AI platform. These grants, which do not require repayment or shares, aim to shift control from a few large companies to a more open and democratic AI ecosystem.
Community members can ask questions, offer feedback, and participate in the selection of the awarded proposals, either directly, through voting, or indirectly by 'Community Experts' that represent the wider community.
By answering any questions promptly and concisely you will nurture a healthy dialog that may benefit you and your proposal. Please treat all feedback with due respect based on the premise that the community is here to help you and improve the quality of our program.
The purpose of SingularityNET is to drive the development of benevolent, democratic, inclusive Artificial General Intelligence. This means that all proposals are welcome:
For more information about the goals of Deep Funding, please read: https://deepfunding.ai/funding-with-purpose-growth-strategy/
The BEST Round Proposals have:
The BEST RFP proposals follow all conditions stated in the RFP and have:
Work Ethos.
In general, we expect the teams to be cooperative and communicative on their projects toward the SingularityNET community and the Foundation. Likewise, the Deep Funding team will have a constructive and cooperative attitude in guiding the teams, supporting our shared goal of making the project a success and driving utility to the platform.
Teams are expected to be self-reliant and independently handle the tasks necessary to complete their milestones. They are responsible for executing and delivering milestones without direct support from SNET or DF personnel resources, unless previously in agreement.
Each RFP defines its own set of rules and guidelines, and comes with its own timeline. Important criteria are the maximum amount that is available per project, and the timeline during which the RFP is open for submissions.
In the detailed description of the RFP, you will find other conditions, often specified as 'Must haves' 'Should haves' and 'Could Haves'. Also non-functional requirements may be defined, such as conditions on performance, documentation, security, etc.
Be sure to read all conditions in the RFP carefully, especially if you are submitting a proposal to multiple RFPs.
“Building a Compassionate and Abundant Future”
This grant program is an initiative within the BGI Nexus project in SingularityNET that empowers AI developers and innovators. Funds will be distributed to community-selected projects to foster the development of beneficial AI applications and initiatives that align with SingularityNET’s vision for beneficial AI and AGI.
These grants, which do not require repayment or shares, aim to shift the locus of AI and AGI development from large companies focused on economic ends to a more open and democratic AI ecosystem, and create real solutions for real-world problems.
Through these grants, we aim to contribute to a diverse ecology of AI that benefits life and contributes to the flourishing of humans, societies, and the biosphere.
Award
The total funding available for BGI Nexus Round 1 is $500,000 in token, with a max cap of $50,000 USD per project.
Note: Being the first test round of the new BGI Nexus funding program, and the first partner round on the Deep Funding platform, there are many unknowns. Therefore, some program parameters may need to be adjusted in response to how the grant round progress unfolds. The review and selection process will be refined as the round progresses to be in line with the demands of the round and the number of proposals.
In-progress changes will be minimized as far as possible, and any changes will be clearly communicated at the earliest possible opportunity to the entire community via email and announcement channels; participants are responsible for monitoring these channels and receiving all updates.
Community members can ask questions, offer feedback, and participate in the selection of the awarded proposals, either directly through voting or indirectly by 'Community Experts' who represent the wider community.
As a proposer, by answering any questions from the community (or from the coordinating team) promptly and concisely, you will nurture a healthy dialogue that may benefit you and your proposal. Please treat all feedback with due respect, based on the premise that the community is here to help you and improve the quality of our program and outcomes of BGI development.
The purpose of the BGI Nexus is to foster discussions, share resources, and provide funding for developing beneficial AI, AGI, and other impactful technologies that benefit life and contribute to the flourishing of humans, societies, and the biosphere.
This means that all proposals are welcome that:
“Social or environmental good” is defined as outcomes that include:
Other beneficial outcomes not listed here, can be considered by expert reviewers. However, the beneficial component should not be an add-on but a central goal of the project. It should also have a strong AI component. While not mandatory in this special round, proposals aiming to onboard onto or utilize AI services on the SNET decentralized marketplace are particularly welcome!
For now, we are not considering areas unrelated to AI and AGI projects, though the initiative may expand into more general areas at some time in the future if there are sufficient resources to do so.
For more information about the goals of BGI Nexus, please read:
https://bgicollective.singularitynet.io/
Round proposals MUST:
Proposer teams MUST:
Proposals must be submitted through the Deep Funding submission portal, which enforces strict guidelines, including mandatory fields and character limits, to encourage succinctness.
Expert Reviewers may, or may not, contact proposers through comments to provide eligibility feedback based on the requirements of the round.
The review process will span for 4 weeks. Technical experts and BGI community reviewers will assess projects for eligibility and quality. At any time, teams may be requested to attend a live, recorded meeting with reviewers to discuss or clarify any queries related to their proposal.
The BGI Expert Reviewers will assess proposals for eligibility, and subjectively assess the quality - Impact and Innovation - of each eligible proposal. BGI expert reviewers will be volunteers from the BGI community. The reviewers’ goal is to create a brief report on each proposal and give it a score.
The process involves several groups of experts meeting to review and rate proposals together over some characteristics:
Reviewers and proposals will be matched broadly according to reviewers’ expertise. The exact distribution of reviewers will be determined by the number of submitted proposals and reviewers.
After the BGI community reviewers complete their evaluations, proposals that receive a score of 7 or above will proceed to the Deep Funding Technical Review Team for further assessment. This team will evaluate proposals based on two key criteria:
Each proposal will be reviewed by an Expert Reviewer, who will provide a concise report outlining their assessment and final decision: Approved or Rejected.
Once the technical review report is delivered by e-mail, the proposing team has 48 hours to submit an appeal via email if they believe the decision was unfair based on technical grounds. The appeal must specifically address the points raised by the reviewer and provide clear reasoning to contest the judgment.
Upon receiving an appeal, a new set of two Expert Reviewers will reassess the proposal, including:
The final decision will be determined by majority rule: if at least two out of the three assigned reviewers (including the original reviewer) reach the same conclusion, that decision stands.
If the number of proposals in the round deviates significantly from what is expected, this process may be adapted. If this happens, the core Nexus team will decide on the best approach given the circumstances. The team will give a clear explanation of the final process and the reasoning behind it for transparency.
If needed, interviews will be held with proposers and conducted by reviewers. Expert reviewers reserve the right, at any moment during the Review period, to request a live and recorded online meeting with the proposer team to confirm their technical ability to deliver the solutions they are proposing.
After the interview, the reviewers will produce a report with their findings and will signal whether the proposal should be included in or excluded from the round.
If a team cannot attend such a call during the week after the AI Review week, it will be disqualified from the selection process.
This week serves as a platform for proposers - who have successfully passed both the BGI Community Reviews and Technical Expert Reviews - to present their projects to the broader community, articulate their value propositions, and encourage informed voting decisions. Effective engagement during this period can significantly enhance visibility and support for proposals before the voting phase begins.
Some suggested strategies for creating the desired awareness are:
The final selection will be based on a combination of BGI community reviewer scores and a Web2 community vote. The exact voting platform has yet to be determined. The community vote will be weighted at 60%, while the reviewer scores will be worth 40% of the final score.
10 - 24 February: Open for submissions
24 February - 24 March: Review period
24 - 31 March: Proposal awareness week
31 March - 7 April: Voting
07 - 14 April: Vote count
WC 21 April: Winners announced!
Our portal offers a step-by-step proposal creation flow for proposals. The flows are similar in structure but have different questions and fields depending on the type of proposal. What you need to have available for completing your proposal is:
(Depending on the RFP or pool additional questions can be asked.)
You can start and pause the proposal creation at any time and your changes will be saved after clicking 'Finish Later'.
NB: As long as the RFP or Round is 'Open for submission', proposal details are only visible to you, your team members, and Deep Funding admins / selected reviewers. During this phase, all other visitors will only see the main attributes, including the proposal's title, summary, and owner. When the submission period is completed, the proposal will be published in full to all visitors.
The portal gives specific guardrails and restrictions for submitting a proposal in terms of required fields and maximum character counts. The goal is to make proposals from different teams easier to compare and efficient to evaluate. Both by experts and regular community members.
Please take time to explain your proposal as well as possible within the given character constraints. The shorter the text the more important the choice of words is. This is especially the case for the project title and summary. They will determine whether a visitor will be motivated to click and read through the details of your proposal, so give them the attention they deserve.
Legal and finance:
Funds will be disbursed in tokens. Before any disbursement can be made we will ask you to sign a contract that states the rules and conditions in a legally binding way.
Communication Channel
Team leads are invited to the 'awarded Teams Channel on our 'Mattermost' communication portal. This is an important source for official information as well as an opportunity to get in touch with other awarded team members.
Milestone Payment
Disbursements will be made per milestone and only after the team’s delivered outcome is approved by the Review Circle, following the process specified here and the Circle instructions.
Minimum Exchange Rate
To safeguard the treasury against extreme and temporary downward volatility, we apply a minimum exchange rate of $0.20 USD per token for milestone payments. This serves as an emergency measure that we hope will never be necessary. However, if it is triggered, we will contact you to discuss appropriate next steps together.
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