ValleyDAO is a global organization comprising academics, bioentrepreneurs, business developers, open-source bioengineers, and bio-enthusiasts working together with researchers to evaluate, fund, and commercialize synthetic biology research.
Our vision is to accelerate the development and adoption of climate-oriented synthetic biology research by utilizing collective intelligence - or in other words - by harnessing the expertise and network of our community members. One of the primary reasons of creating ValleyDAO’s community is to support the research projects that apply for funding. The skilled community members are paired with individual projects depending on the members’ expertise and the needs of the projects. For instance, a business developer may be paired with a research project in need of commercialization assessment and market research. Applying researchers can also get connected with industry professionals directly and collaborate with other researchers in the community.
A visual depicting ValleyDAO’s workflow when researchers apply for funding
To drive our mission forward, we’re actively pursuing research collaborations with researchers at academic and non-academic institutions. Our goal is to fund the scientific development of solutions for specific problems (‘verticals’) and enable (‘horizontal’) technologies in climate and food synthetic biology. Some examples of the verticals we are interested in are biomanufacturing of packaging and bioplastics, food and feed, cosmetics and personal care, biofuels, fine chemicals, industrial enzymes, and therapeutics. Horizontal technologies of interest include, but are not limited to, fermentation, waste valorization/refining, molecular farming, cellular agriculture, cell-free biology, automation, carbon fixation, DNA read & write, metabolic engineering, gene circuit design, and strain engineering.
ValleyDAO plays a pivotal role in incubating synthetic biology research by assisting academic researchers in navigating the complex transition from academia to industry. By fostering an ecosystem that encourages collaboration and knowledge sharing, we help researchers with promising technologies or intellectual property (IP) translate their research IP or patent into viable commercial applications.