The intentions behind the Cartesi Grant program seem very solid to me. However, I would suggest adding one additional element. From what I understand, the current strategy allows for the submission of project proposals (RFPs) and community-driven initiatives (community proposals) through the program.
My proposal would be to increase active engagement with real-world companies. For instance, creating something similar to ‘Cartesi Space’ aimed at collaborating with companies from various industries. This would provide their IT departments a dedicated environment to easily experiment and iterate with the Cartesi stack, with full support from the Cartesi team. This proactive approach would focus on reaching out to companies, educating them on the potential of the technology, and demonstrating how it can bring tangible value to their products and end users.
While inviting applications is one approach, actively engaging with more traditional industries, educating them, and working alongside them is another. The Cartesi community could also take time to identify strategic industries where the Cartesi stack has the most potential—for example, car industry or agriculture—and map out key players to contact. This initiative would create a space with resources for education, rapid prototyping, and experimentation, ultimately hoping to spark product development within IT departments and integrating the Cartesi stack as a core component. This strategy would bring real-world utility to users and grow the ecosystem by embedding Cartesi in everyday products. I think once you’re integrated into real-world applications, ecosystem growth and dynamism follow more naturally
This can be seen as additional element and it can be subsumed under 1-3-5 of already defined intents.
Thanks for the first clarifications. I still have some unclear points, let me summarize them below:
RFP discussion approval process: Our previous experience, during wave 1, with forum discussions and with the analysis process is without a clear timeline in which a process should be completed, things trend to be loose. imo we should have a clear max period to complete the review and decision on the RFPs
Once an RFP is approved what is the plan, I presume builders can apply for a grant to attend that RFP, in that case, the point of having a max period to revert with feedback to the builders is very important since that was the most common complains from the grantees in the last season (unclear timeframe for grant approval, radio silence on grant application feedback and excessive time on overall process). In that sense to give an expectation to applicants on time is a very important thing to do, the potential community involvement, although its a wonderful initiative, reinforce even further the necessity of clear time window for process completion
Is the RFP required to also be under one of the intents?
@ilija I agree that strategic outreach and education are crucial. I see this as something that can be addressed through an RFP proposal, inviting community discussion.
@bruno.maia I agree that having clear timelines for the approval process and optimizing for efficiency is crucial.
The approval process for an RFP will largely depend on how quickly it receives feedback and comments from the community and the core team. RFP adoption will be based on the feedback gathered during the discussion phase.
For the approval process of community proposals, the Grants Council will work to make this more efficient by creating Discord threads to initiate discussions shortly after a proposal is submitted. This will allow both the core team and community to provide feedback, which the Grants Council will take into account during proposal evaluation.
Overall, I expect these processes to improve throughout Wave 2, with a focus on enhancing feedback loops.
Yes, all RFPs must align with at least one of the Intents.
Love how you’ve set up both RFPs and Community Proposals as pathways for Wave 2! This gives experienced teams a clear direction through RFPs while still keeping the door open for creative, out-of-the-box ideas from the community. Smart way to balance structure with innovation. Looking forward to seeing what kind of projects this brings to Cartesi!
