Name of Project: Middle East Community Building and Evangelism
Proposal in one sentence:
Promote and grow Ocean Protocol’s community, footprint, and contributors by engaging and educating the Middle Eastern community through content, dialogue, and events.
Description of the project and what problem is it solving:
Why the Middle East? For the context of this proposal, we are defining the Middle East as the region the spans the Levant, Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia, Egypt, Iran and Iraq. Individuals in these regions speak many languages but the primary languages we are focused on in this proposal are Arabic and Hebrew.
Ocean Protocol unlocks data so it can be used productively. The Middle East’s data is growing exponentially yet is massively under-utilized. Most companies and institutions in the Middle East have tremendous amounts of data but have difficulty leveraging it. Conversely, many others are starving for data, particularly those seeking to implement AI. Spreading awareness and driving Ocean Protocol evangelism in the Middle East (particularly targeting research intuitions and key innovation companies and governmental institutions) will drive the adoption of Ocean protocol across more data providers in this region. Ocean Protocol will allow these providers to share data while maintaining control and having transparency. More so this will have the downstream effect of catalyzing innovation like autonomous driving, medical research, and more. In addition, by spreading awareness and knowledge of Ocean Protocol to the non-technical public, we can continue to drive investment and a greater community to the Ocean Protocol and its DAO.
Data and Innovation in the Middle East [Market Fit]
- Governments and businesses across the Middle East are beginning to realize the shift globally towards AI and advanced technologies.
*PwC estimates that the Middle East is expected to accrue 2% of the total global benefits of AI in 2030. This is equivalent to US$320 billion. In absolute terms, the largest gains are expected to accrue to Saudi Arabia where AI is expected to contribute over US$135.2 billion in 2030 to the economy, equivalent to 12.4% of GDP. In relative terms the UAE is expected to see the largest impact of close to 14% of 2030 GDP. These two countries will be where we target our social media efforts.
*Big Data is central to the development of infrastructure, relevant knowledge economy, and market orientations. However, to accelerate the progress of Middle Eastern Big Data implementation, the countries need to start building the necessary data infrastructure to ensure they can store, share and analyze the vast amounts of data.
Forming the right governance is a key step as is establishing Big Data functions. This is where Ocean Protocol is poised to unlock tremendous value.
Countries within the Middle East are determined to invest in AI. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have placed AI at the heart of their economic strategies over the next decade, while countries like Egypt and Qatar have established their own initiatives to strengthen such technologies.AI is set to have an outsize impact on the UAE (where it’s expected to account for 13.6 percent of GDP by 2030), Saudi Arabia (12.4 percent), and Egypt (7.7 percent).
*The current boom in all things AI is spurred by breakthroughs in machine learning, which “trains” computers to perform tasks based on examples, rather than by relying on programming by a human. Machine-learning algorithms are now helping data-wealthy companies in the Middle East boost profits and reduce their expenses. For instance, Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company (ADNOC) has already begun mining its terabytes of historical and current data for insights.
Countries like the UAE and Qatar are also pushing to transform car-clogged streets and aging infrastructure into people-centric urban environments. Data—and by extension, artificial intelligence—is central to that urban transformation.
In summary, the big data and AI initiatives the Middle East will be driving over the next decade will need to be powered by efficient data exchange mechanisms. Ocean Protocol can help power these efforts by allowing businesses and individuals to exchange and monetize data and data-based services. Ocean’s software is built to facilitate this data exchange, linking users who need data or do not have resources to store it, with those who have resources to spare.
Blockchain and Cryptocurrency in the Middle East
- From Dubai’s first-of-its-kind Bitcoin Fund listing to the Bank of Israel’s trial of a digital shekel, enthusiasm among authorities and citizens in the Middle East is spreading.
- Despite the majority of blockchain startups choosing to set up shop in crypto-friendly territories such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the next wave of crypto adoption is likely to come from citizens in unstable autocracies, as well as those in countries suffering from crushing inflation – Iran and Lebanon to name but two. Crypto is not just an alternative investment, but they can be used to relieve economic and financial turmoils.
- With this inbound massive adoption, we intend to create translations of all Ocean blog posts, white papers, business papers and social media posts and podcasts to the primary languages spoken in the Middle East—Arabic. We will also translate select blog posts and articles to Hebrew to target key institutions and stakeholders in Israel. We will also drive engagement opportunities to educate and onboard new members to Ocean Protocol.
Grant Deliverables: (Provide us with a check-boxed list of deliverables for the funding provided.)
- Translate 30 blog posts to Arabic.
- Translate 10 blog posts to Hebrew.
- Post weekly content on the Arabic Twitter channels.
- Send a monthly Arabic newsletter that aggregates different posts, weekly newsletters. Target academic and research institutions.
- Increase total published content in Arabic Month Over Month
- Send a quarterly Hebrew newsletter that aggregates different posts, weekly newsletters. Target academic and research institutions.
- Grow the blog site, Twitter users Month Over Month.
- Support Ocean Protocol development efforts by sharing feedback, insights and learnings with the Ocean Protocol development team.
- Support Ocean Protocol business development efforts by representing the protocol at least one middle eastern conference.
Articles/Blog Posts to be Translated:
- Ocean Tokenomics
- Ocean Protocol Network Launch is Coming
- Ocean Tokenomics II
- Radical Markets and the Data Economy
- Hitchhiker’s Guide to Ocean Protocol
- Technical Guide to Ocean Compute-to-Data
- v2 Ocean Compute-to-Data Release
- Ocean Protocol launches Compute-to-Data
- How Does Ocean Compute-to-Data Relate to Other Privacy-Preserving Approaches?
- Ocean Compute-to-Data in JupyterLab
- Ocean Protocol decentralized data marketplace solutions for the automotive industry
- Filecoin Storage integrated with Ocean Protocol by Protofire
- Ocean’s on Polygon Network
- Compute-to-Data is now available in Ocean Market
- Why We Need Data Unions to Support the Data Economy
- OceanDAO Roadmap Update — Mid-2021
- Ocean dives into Quantitative Finance with Battle of the Quants
- Stake & earn OCEAN on Bancor
- OCEAN to be listed on Benchmark Protocol’s lending platform
- Ocean Market fork by Big Data Protocol will expand the Open Data Economy
- Ocean datatokens will be tradeable on Decentr’s DEX
- Ocean Protocol partners with Injective Protocol to create novel data derivative products
- Ocean Protocol and Moonbeam Partner to Bring a New Data Economy to the Polkadot Ecosystem
- Ocean Protocol Joins Open DeFi Alliance, Connecting Members With New Sources of Liquidity in Data Tokens
- Ocean Protocol partners with Robonomics Network to utilize IoT data
- Ocean Makes Multi-Network Even Easier
- What AI Regulation means for Silicon Valley
Which category best describes your project? Pick one. **Outreach / community / spread awareness
#Which Fundamental Metric best describes your project?
Market WAU (Weekly market participants in Ocean Market or across all data markets)
What is the final product?:
- Translate 30 blog posts to Arabic.
- Translate 10 blog posts to Hebrew.
- Post weekly content on the Arabic Twitter channels.
- Send a monthly Arabic newsletter that aggregates different posts, weekly newsletters. Target academic and research institutions.
- Increase total published content in Arabic Month Over Month
- Send a quarterly Hebrew newsletter that aggregates different posts, weekly newsletters. Target academic and research institutions.
- Grow the blog site, Twitter users Month Over Month.
- Translate technical white papers to Arabic.
- Support Ocean Protocol development efforts by sharing feedback, insights and learnings with the Ocean Protocol development team.
- Support Ocean Protocol business development efforts by representing the protocol at least one middle eastern conference.
How does this project drive value to the “fundamental metric” (listed above) and the overall Ocean ecosystem?
ROI
Bang (Value Added) : 37,000
Buck (Grant) : $20,000
% (Chance of Success) : 80%
Total = 1.48
Bang (Value Added) is measured with the following formula: (Website Visitors + Twitter Followers + Substack Visitors) / 3 * 0.80.
Not captured are the partnership opportunities with key governments and data institutions in the Middle East that could stem from these efforts.
Buck (Grant) Pricing:
Blogs, Articles & publications: 100,000 Words * $0.15 = $15,000
Technical white paper translations: 45 pages * 15 dollars per pager * 3 = $2,000
Proofreading : $1,000
Marketing campaigns & ads = $2,000
Total : $20,000
We will also run targeted social media campaigns and awareness.
Proposal Wallet Address: 0xbA8F9B84b4b8BCf0F2FdD4daF1110E81B1ABdb47
Have you previously received an OceanDAO Grant (Y/N)? No
Team Website (if applicable): We will be setting up the following: www.oceanprotocol.ar
Twitter Handle (if applicable): @OceanProtocolARA [Not currently set up]
Project lead Contact Email: lakminany@gmail.com
Country of Residence: USA
Part 2 - Team
Part 3 Proposal Details
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30 translated blog posts in Arabic will be posted at www.oceanprotocol.ar
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10 translated blog posts in Hebrew will be posted at www.oceanprotocol.hw
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We commit to sharing insight from Arabic community with Ocean Protocol team (particularly engineering and development feedback)
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We commit to kickstarting business development efforts with key government institutions in the UAE and North Africa
Project Deliverables-- Roadmap
What is the project roadmap? That is: what are key milestones, and the target date for each milestone.
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Over the next 4-5 months we will lead biweekly sprints with the goal of publishing at least 4 translated blog posts each sprint. The first sprint will start on 10/11. We will seek the support of contractors to facilitate transcription and translation and help accelerate our efforts.
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We will publish a content calendar to organize weekly Twitter content as well as monthly newsletter. We will publish the monthly newsletter the first Tuesday of every month.
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Metrics will be assessed weekly and monthly and reported on.
Please include the team’s future plans and intentions.
Strategic Partnerships: Partnerships with universities, NGOs, Data centers, corporations in the Middle East etc.
Please include the team’s future plans and intentions.
Strategic Partnerships: Partnerships with key stakeholders like universities, NGOs, Data centers, innovation hubs, grass-root corporations etc. Our immediate focus is to develop these partnership networks in Nigeria and then Africa at large.
Possible Additions:
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Ecosystem Building: Organize events and meet ups at leading higher education institions in Egypt, UAE and Israel.
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Talent Pool: Develop talent pool of qualified data engineers and analysts to evangelize Ocean Protocol and its benefits.