Not too long ago it was difficult to believe that a small group of people working at home could make a product and sell it in a global scale, even harder to believe was that the same small group of people could raise the resources needed to reach this goal.
Until Kickstarter showed up in 2009 and the game changed.
Kickstarter helps people and companies start ventures and projects by crowdfunding them; projects that otherwise wouldn't have seen the light of day. Examples form this projects vary from Backpacks that raised over $300,000 to homemade 3D printers, to watches that raised over $20,000,000 to movie reboots.
Crowdfunding works by:
Consumer projects are no the only ones that have been taking advantage of the crowdfunding model.
There are websites such as GoFundMe, which allows people to raise money for a wide range of matters, ranging from life events (celebrations and graduations) to challenging circumstances (accidents and illnesses) and even global disaster relive efforts (such as Nepal aid campaigns).
And there are even sites now that promote scientific research, Experiment.com is a great example, individuals, schools and scientists can contribute money or time towards achieving scientific discoveries.
The site claims: "You can fund a dinosaur fossil excavation, a historical study of medieval monestaries, or an experiment on the International Space Station. If it helps unlock new knowledge, then we can fund it. We have the technology."
Every dollar is spent trying to push the boundaries of knowledge and give it back to the community.
This platform is still developing and it has already published twenty papers in scientific journals through funded experiments.
This makes me wonder what's next:
Could we collaborate and crowdfund a sustainable city?
Could we fund a mission to Mars?
We'll have to wait and see (or participate) to see were Crowdfunding takes us, I believe its going to be a very exiting decade for global collaboration.
[EVK]
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