ConV2X 2023: When The Big Easy Met the Big Innovators in Web3 and AI-Driven Healthcare

The Summit keynote at ConV2X, discussing Blockchain, AI and Healthcare was my highlight for September 2023.?

Held in New Orleans, this conference attracted experts in Web3/AI/Healthcare that showcased live examples of ground-breaking innovation.

Take the Medical Research discussion for example. No question, our traditional peer review system, that should be the gatekeeper of validity etc, has failed both industry and the community at large.?

• The majority of medical literature is not reproducible and negative studies do not get published thus we’re missing at least half of the scientific truths.?
• Researchers are pseudo-required to advance the work of previously-funded researchers if they hope to gain any funding.?
• Breakout ideas have no established track in which to operate.?
• Lifestyle or natural remedies are often devoid of intellectual property (IP) potential thus fully abandoned by traditional scientific approaches that require robust IP-based business models up front.

I could go on but instead let’s consider how the future of scientific research is being addressed by decentralized approaches.

Ray Dogum, Jelani Clarke PhD and others discussed a growing community of DeSci nodes. This movement allows a wider framework to validate the value. Strong examples include:

1. Vita DAO, Longevity research community with $4.1 million in funding from Pfizer and others.
2. Athena DAO, Advancing Women’s Health research.
3. And even…HairDAO the community serious about solving hair loss.

No question, hair matters!!

Hair transplant market alone is expected to grow to $53BN in 2028, up from $17BN in 2022. HairDAO is a major step up from online tribes such as Discord or Reddit forums. They have built a functional organization on the belief that providing effective incentives can usher forward effective outcomes. To this end, HairDAO provides a token: $HAIR, to coordinate and incentive a self-organized group of over 1300 individuals around a common goal: research hair-loss remedies.?

Matti and Rapolas in Hair is Money remind us…”IP is the most defensible moat in biotech. Community is the most defensible moat online. Formalizing online allegiances with a token is potentially a powerful phenomenon that could bootstrap the most defensible organizations in the world.”

These are early days. To be sure we have much to learn. More on Data-to-earn models can be found in the transformation of Healthcare outlined in my book: Wealthcare: Demystifying Web3 and the Rise of Personal Data Economies also available as an NFT.

Please like/share/comment below. Your thoughts are much appreciated!