Why Academic Research Should Be Freely Available to All

My latest article:

Science drives innovation. Unfortunately, scientific knowledge is locked behind closed doors. The current system requires academics to publish in high impact journals. This is inefficient knowledge sharing. It is slow, bureaucratic and requires academics to give away their copyright. Above all, it is very expensive. Each university pays millions of euros per year in public money to obtain access to that research, which was paid by them in the first place. It is time for change, which is why we are building Imagjn. Imagjn open knowledge, where everybody has access to all scientific papers without artificial barriers such as paywalls. To do that, we have to change the rules of the game.

Three Useful Nuggets of Information

My weekly tips from around the web to get you thinking.

1. Blockchain spending continues to grow.

The amount of money invested by organisations that want to benefit from a decentralised ecosystem is expected to grow significantly in 2019, from $1.5 billion in 2018 to $2.9 billion in 2019 - a growth of 88.7%. (NewsBTC)

2. What do blockchain and organic cotton have in common?

Organic cotton is a challenge due to the fragmented industry. An agricultural blockchain startup aims to change this. They are partnering with fashion giants for a pilot test to see if blockchain can be utilised to ensure the integrity and authenticity of organic cotton in the supply chain. (Forbes)

3. An $899 IoT robot will soon brick itself.

When the company behind the robot Jibo sold its intellectual property to an investment firm, it was the first step to the end of Jibo. Now, the robot announced itself that it’s time on earth is over. It gave the sad news with a song and a dance. (Motherboard)