Welcome to the Decentralized Science (DeSci) Tokyo 2023 Conference: A Brief History of DeSci Tokyo
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by Hiroaki Hamada
Welcome to the first article in the DeSci Tokyo 2023 Advent Calendar series!
In this article, I will recount the brief history of DeSci Tokyo. Although our community hub was officially established in early February 2023, our passion for DeSci began in February 2022.
My name is Hiro Hamada, and I have been fascinated by the intersection of cryptocurrency and science since 2019. In 2021, I delved into Ocean Protocol, a marketplace for data NFTs. At that time, there was no significant movement to promote this concept in Japan.
However, in February 2022, everything changed. On February 12th, I came across a tweet about "A Guide to DeSci, the Latest Web3 Movement" by Sarah Hamburg. Inspired by the article, I wrote an article in Japanese on February 16th about why the DeSci movement is essential for modern scientists.
In June, Ariella Coler-Reilly, a former member of VitaDAO, reached out to me to write an article on "Welcome to VitaDAO" Meanwhile, Kyosuke launched the @descijpan Twitter account in May 2022.
After discovering the DeSci Berlin event, I felt compelled to host a similar conference in Japan. In June, DeSci was featured in Nikkei, one of the five major newspapers in the country.
https://note.com/hirotaiyohamada/n/n76dd6811a5fc
https://www.nikkei-science.com/?p=67523
Following several discussions, I began a series on DeSci in De-Silo, , an academic incubation program. Tohoku University, Keio University, and Kyoto University have all hosted presentations on the topic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDe8G98627o
Tohoku University: https://www.slideshare.net/ssuserd53390/pdf-252496350
Keio University: https://www.slideshare.net/ssuserd53390/pptx-252679670
Kyoto University: https://www.slideshare.net/ssuserd53390/ss-253059613
Kiwamu, Shiro, Yachima, and I formed a community called metascientia and started a podcast discussing the metascience movement, including DeSci.
In November, Genji Kawakita, a Ph.D. student at Imperial College London, expressed interest in joining DeSci.London. I connected him with a few people in London, including Sarah Hamburg.
Inspired by the London event, I wondered if we could organize a similar conference in Tokyo. Around November or December, ETHGlobal Tokyo was announced.
After DeSci London, I reconnected with Genji to discuss his experience and began talks with members from Fracton Ventures on January 28th to discuss sponsorship and event organization.
Around that time, 0xtkgshn encouraged me to move forward with the event. His contribution has been invaluable.
This passion has led us to host the DeSci Tokyo Conference 2023, and we hope you enjoy this historic moment with us.