Filecoin Foundation Developer Grant Update

Original Source: FIL Network

The Filecoin Foundation (FF) is pleased to launch the Developer Grant Updates series, bringing you the latest news and highlights from the Filecoin Foundation Developer Grant team. The first issue will cover the latest developments since October 2023 in the current fiscal year (FY’24).

Proposal Overview

This year, we have received some proposals that demonstrate the community’s innovative capabilities, and have launched many funding projects from these proposals. Here are some highlights:

• FIL x Unreal Engine 5: Multiple front-end integrations will introduce Decentralization storage through web3.storage and FIL payments into its existing Unreal Engine blockchain plugin.
• Lava: An incentive RPC pool that deploys a framework for multiple FVM-based applications using a public FIL RPC solution, with features such as one-click deployment and payment.
• Ghostdrive: A user-side storage solution optimized through FVM integration, used for data uploading, downloading, and sharing.
• Lighthouse FVM Tool: FVM integrated SDK for uploading and downloading files on FIL.
• TRANSFER Data DAO: An open collective trust organization aimed at creating encryption file systems and providing access to global digital data archives.

We encourage everyone to continue sharing their ideas to help shape the future of the FIL ecosystem. Check out our funding standards here for reference when submitting your proposal.

Project Review

To meet the needs of the growing community and ecosystem, FF’s funding team is constantly improving funding opportunities and programs.

At the beginning of this fiscal year, we conducted a comprehensive review of the evaluation criteria and procedures for public funding. We made adjustments to prioritize funding for projects directly related to FIL. New projects can receive funding of up to $50,000, with a focus on following these key areas: development tools, research and development, new integrations, storage, retrieval, and FIL Virtual Machine (FVM). At the same time, we implemented a two-round review process to strengthen evaluations and ensure feedback is collected from a wider range of stakeholders within the FIL ecosystem.

In May, the FIL Foundation launched the Documentation Enhancement Grants, initiating a $50,000 fund to support the creation or improvement of network documentation.

Funding Pool Update

The FF Annual Report released in February 2024 extensively studied the projects supported by FF in the previous fiscal year (FY’23).

In the 2024 fiscal year, we will continue to fund projects that drive the development of the ecosystem forward. In addition to 24 active projects (as of August 2024), we have also funded multiple projects that have reached milestones, including:

• FIL VS Code Extension: This extension is now available for users interested in installing and deploying FIL Node daemon in the VS Code environment.
• LabDAO + Bacalhau Integration: This integration provides scientists with a low-cost, accessible, and transparent environment for useful data workloads on FIL and FIL.
• Hamster: This tool ensures that developers who are passionate about security and privacy have a comprehensive development and automation experience in the deployment of FIL.
• Spheron: Heroku for Decentralization storage, the protocol is widely used, supporting a wide range of scalable storage frameworks to meet all types of developers and business needs. 5.ipEHR: This tool enhances critical data management in the healthcare industry.

FIL-RetroPGF-1

Several FIL funding projects have been nominated in the retrospective public goods funding program FIL-RetroPGF, including: Portrait, Storswift, IPLD proly Trees, and Fileverse. The funding allocation is determined by badge holders’ votes. If you want to learn more, you can delve into it through this link.

Key Areas and Outlook for the Third Quarter

As this fiscal year comes to a close, our team is actively working on improving the effectiveness and impact of the funding program within the FIL ecosystem.

We will continue to optimize the funding process, from new methods to expedite decision-making, simplify application and review processes, to strengthening communication channels that can improve efficiency and transparency, etc. We are creating data-driven impact reports as a core tool for evaluating and understanding project outcomes. To increase project visibility and attract high-quality proposals from the community, we are expanding communication channels, including organizing monthly AMA and releasing quarterly developer funding reports.

The impact of FIL Foundation on the PL ecosystem: a close-up observation

FF and FIL Grants play a key role in promoting developer participation, project activities, and collaboration within the Protocol Labs Network (hereinafter referred to as ‘PLN’). The following are the main research results of the Open Source economy in PLN:

• Developer Participation: Compared to the wider PLN community (about 1:3), the proportion of full-time and part-time developers in the FF-funded projects is higher (about 1:1), indicating a strong commitment of developers to development.
• Total number of active developers: Combining developers involved in PLN projects and developers funded by FF for Settlement, as of the latest report, there are a total of 719 active developers in the ecosystem, demonstrating a strong developer community contributing to various initiatives.
• Network Collaboration: After analyzing the contributors on GitHub, it was found that some central projects in the ecosystem (such as Celestia, FIL, and lib p2p) have significant shared contributors, indicating close collaboration and interconnectivity among them.

In addition, in the latest community activity report, the content submitted by the sponsored recipients on GitHub continues to maintain a high level, highlighting the active contribution of the sponsored recipients and their key role in the continued development and innovation in the FIL ecosystem.

Thank you for your continuous support and dedication. stay tuned for more updates and exciting developments!