SciDex includes two key elements: the SciDex Protocol and the first use case of it in the form of the SciDex MarketSpace. The SciDex Protocol works to ease the process of exchanging scientific data, letting organizations complete transactions using Smart Contracts on the Ethereum Platform.
The SciDex Marketplace or Data Exchange runs on the SciToken (SDX) and is a first-case use of the SciDex Protocol.
The team at SciDex is made up of entrepreneurs, scientists, and engineers who have experience in creating successful businesses along with a common drive to accelerate science. There are four co-founders, all of who have key roles in SciDex. Shuo Wang and Alex Bouaziz are co-CEOs, Ofer Simon is the CTO, and Constantin Overlack is the CMO.
The SciDex Protocol
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The SciDex Protocol adds a compliance component to the typical smart contract. This compliance component utilizes the Adaptive part of RASCs (Ricardian Adaptive Smart Contracts). With this protocol, data can be shared with specific terms, which lets smart contracts be both independent and compliant.
The team behind SciDex recognizes that smart contracts are incredibly useful but pinpoints a few problem areas that have led to their lack of mainstream adoption. Currently, smart contracts are too complex for businesses to be able to effectively generate, manage, and deploy them. There is also the fact that law requires legal contracts for each transaction, but smart contracts can’t be read by humans and are encrypted. SciDex also points to the fact that complex transactions frequently depend on rules and parameters outlined in the contract.
With the SciDex Protocol, businesses should be able to overcome these obstacles and start using smart contracts. The process starts by allowing for the translation of smart contracts so they are more readable. Additionally, the protocol adds proven, secured, and trusted oracles to allow for more complex transactions in smart contracts. Overall, the SciDex Protocol uses a Ricardian Adaptive Smart Contract. By their nature, RASCs are readable by both machine and man, are adaptive to change depending on the rules of the contract plus the buyer’s profile, and have the transparency and irreversibility of other smart contracts.
The SciDex Protocol has three main pillars that help it provide businesses with the solution they need via access to smart contracts. These include the knowledge base, smart analyzer, and contract builder. The first of these is an ever-growing dataset filled with written contracts that the domain sorts. The smart analyzer is a group of algorithms to recognize patterns and then learn from features of written contracts. Finally, the contract builder generates contract templates based on user input and the knowledge base.
The SciDex MarketSpace
As mentioned, the SciDex MarketSpace is the first use case for the SciDex Protocol. By creating this customer-centric application, SciDex is able to streamline the process of exchanging data. The MarketSpace includes DataDex, a large index of information on the available datasets with prices. The descriptions of data will be unified thanks to the metadata template. SciSearch is a natural-language processing search that is self-learning and powerful enough to allow for efficient navigation of the index. Thanks to the proprietary new Ricardian Adaptive Smart Contracts from SciDex, users can count on a safe exchange of data. It is also possible to make Action Calls on the SciDex MarketSpace, including calls for data contributions, curations of databases, or new data streams. These Action Calls are coupled with staking SciTokens as a reward.
The SciDex MarketSpace allows for the sharing of a wide range of scientific data, each with their own potential use cases. Sharing data about natural resources collected via proprietary technologies, UAVs, radar, and satellites can deliver insights into resource sectors. Sensors from equipment and in crops and fields can provide agricultural data indicating overall agricultural health. Satellite imagery like aerial views can give insights into container ports and areas with high levels of construction.
What Are Some Key Parts of the SciDex MarketSpace?
It is important to note that the SciDex MarketSpace is designed to be part of a community that is active and self-governed. The system includes a community-driven ranking system that can improve platform security as well as its quality. To provide incentives, the SciTokens (SDX) deliver rewards both in a manual and automated manner for things like services, loyalty, and contributions. There is also a staking mechanism in place to ensure that the MarketSpace only has high-quality data to help control bad actors.
SciDex Roadmap
The concept for SciDex formed in 2017, which is also when the founding team was assembled. In Q1 of 2018, the team validated the concept, created the SciDex Marketplace White Paper, made strategic partnerships, and completed a technical demonstration and platform architecture design. In Q2, the team developed the SML metalanguage, created the SciDex Protocol white paper, conducted the SciDex presale, and completed the initial framework for the authentication service integrator.
In Q3 of 2018, the team will deploy a distributed and in-memory key-value data structure, conduct the SciDex public ICO, make the semi-automatic scheme extractor, and have the alpha release. By Q4, they hope to have the beta release, support profiles plus user properties, review the indexing, and have the automatic scheme extractor.
Conclusion
SciDex includes the SciDex Protocol, which is designed to make it possible for businesses to overcome the challenges of using smart contracts that are in place today. The SciDex Protocol uses Ricardian Adaptive Smart Contracts in a new and creative way to solve those challenges. At the same time, the protocol is used directly in the SciDex MarketSpace, which is the first use case of SciDex. SciDex sees a long list of other potential use cases for their SciDex Protocol, including monetizing data collection, speeding up research, buying data sets to use in market analysis, and more.
