Access Science: Have you ever wanted to fund progress? Heres how

Crowdfunding: It has to be the correct flavour for the correct cause

Got a few euro to spare? Through crowdfunding websites, some researchers and start-ups are asking the public to pitch in directly. And while crowdfunding science is still relatively niche, some projects have brought in substantial support.

University of Edinburgh spin-out Parkure has attracted about 80,000 (110,000) through ShareIn to genetically engineer flies to screen drugs for their potential in treating Parkinsons disease, and the crowdsourced funds will be matched by a grant from the Scottish government.

With the funds, Parkure plans do a small screen and follow-up on their discoveries, building traction to raise the funding needed for a full-scale screen of tens of thousands of candidate drugs, says Parkure chief executive and co-founder Dr Lysimachos Zografos.

So whats in it for the crowdfunders? They get shares. These are bought for a small amount, but if we are commercially successful the value of the company increases and thus the value of their share increases, he says. Once an exit opportunity opens they can exit with a financial profit.

For Dr Joanne Mac Mahon, capturing peoples imaginations was key to a project that she and Dr Laurence Gill wanted to crowdfund.

We wanted to provide an alternative water source for a pilot solar water-disinfection system which had been installed in the rural village of Ndalani, Kenya, in 2008, says Mac Mahon, who recently completed a PhD in environmental engineering at the department of civil, structural and environmental engineering at Trinity College Dublin.

Gill and his team at Trinity had developed the pilot disinfection system, but by 2011 drought had dried up the dammed river that acted as the main water source, says Mac Mahon.

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Access Science: Have you ever wanted to fund progress? Heres how