Innovating the Research Funding and Publishing Industry - Open Research Shop Gears Up for Launch
Where did your idea of business come from?
The idea came from me looking for a way to finance the costs of my own PhD. I was staring out of my apartment window thinking desperately how I could find enough money to cover the costs for my PhD when the thought popped into my head that I could do it using tokenization. When I realised that I could fund my own PhD using Open Research Shop's process. I realised that I could actually finance the costs of all other types of research.
What inspired you to turn your idea into a business?
I have always been an entrepreneurial individual, so it just seemed like the logical thing to do. From being very young I have tried to create businesses. I started off growing and selling flowers and vegetables to the people on my street when I was a small child. I created a social enterprise in my bachelors degree that donated all surplus profits to the welfare department at Falmouth University (see picture) and I have also been self employed for a lot of my life.
When I realised that the idea that formed Open Research Shop had the potential to create a more equitable research system, one that could allow anyone, anywhere at any time to create a piece of credible academic research I dropped everything to make it a reality, because I couldn't think of a more important thing to do.
Ben Pinder
Founder and CEO
What support did you receive from the University of Sheffield to develop your idea?
We didn't really receive a lot of support from UoS to develop the idea, but that is because we didn't ask for any. We did however find some value in the events that Emerge offers. We have also been able to have some conversations with key stakeholders that work at UoS, such as academics, to help us validate the idea.
What does it mean to be awarded the Future Founders Fund?
It means a great deal to be awarded the future founders fund. It will help us purchase some items that are key to helping move forward with our planned development activities. Outside of the monetary value it also gives us reassurance that UoS and the Emerge team believe in us enough to award us this grant funding.
What do you think the most important skills are to succeed in the start-up industry?
For a technical start-up company you need technical skills, and this is where Drew Morgan came in. He's a senior developer with over a decade of experience and was instrumental in helping me to fine-tune my idea. We spent several weeks talking through and visualising the solution and he's the one who has put together the system.
I love Ben's idea because it has so much potential. Funding PhDs is just the tip of the iceberg; Open Research Shop's opens up the possibility for us to help people of all backgrounds who may not have previously been able to break into the academic market. It also opens up research and education to the masses and even offers the possibility of creating research journals in future. It's a fascinating project and one that I've loved being a part of.
Andrew Morgan
Co-founder of Open Research Shop
There are of course key skills that a person needs to be able to survive in the start up industry. These are skills such as sales and business development, strategic analysis, software development, design etc. I personally think it's more important to have certain personality traits. Such as characteristics like determination, and resilience.
Most of the people you meet along the way to creating a start-up will doubt you and the idea. Even the experts will question your ability to do what you say, most often casting doubt on you, in my opinion this is because they consider the concept impossible and because they cannot see how it can be achieved they don't believe anyone else can do it.
The next character trait is to be humble, when you prove these people wrong don't hold it against them that they lack vision or belief, just accept that you see the world in a way others don't, which is probably why you are creating a start-up and they aren't.
Finally above everything else I think kindness is the most important character trait a person can have. Everything you do should be based on kindness, if you are doing that then you are creating a business for the right reasons. Everything we do at Open Research Shop is based on kindness, we want to allow the world to create research and for researchers to use our platform to change their lives and the lives of others. It is also worth saying it is possible to be kind and not be a pushover.
What advice would you give to anyone who would like to start a business?
Make sure you understand what it is you want to do. There is no point starting a business if you don't enjoy what it does. You might as well work for someone else's business if you start a business and you don't like what your business does. Other than that, be ready to put everything into it. Starting a business is not easy, it requires you to sacrifice your present for a better future, and that is something not everyone is capable of doing.
Ben Pinder
Founder and CEO
Where is your business up to now, what are you looking forward to in 2024?
Open Research Shop is currently testing our MVP, we are working with alpha testers to refine the product and get it ready for launching to the market. To help with this we are part of a start-up incubator which is offering us some advice and guidance and we have started building relationships with higher education institutions to get the green light to onboard their academics to the platform to be the first users.
We are also doing the same with research investors, in that we are building strong meaningful relationships with them, educating them about the new investment asset we have made and onboarding them ready for the platform launch.
Get in touch
We are very much looking forward to launching in 2024 and changing the world of research funding and publishing as we know it. If you are interested in helping test the product, raising funds for your research or investing in research please email us at info@openresearch.shop to find out more or fill our form in at the bottom of our holding website https://openresearch.shop/
International scholarships
We offer a generous package of financial support for international students, including undergraduate and postgraduate taught scholarships worth £10,000 towards the annual tuition fee.
Applications are open for existing offer holders for programmes starting in autumn 2025.