Additional Guidance

This page provides additional guidance for proposers in submitting their proposals

Open Source Guidance

Open-source refers to something people can modify and share because its design is publicly accessible. Open-source software has source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance.

Open-source software, hardware, and data solutions encourage greater transparency and security and help reduce costs by developing, collaborating, and fixing in the open.

It helps create developer-friendly tooling and approaches that streamline an integrated development environment, helping to develop code more efficiently and providing ease of use for developers.

In all cases, as an essential deliverable, projects must include high-quality documentation as learning resources of the proposal.

Cardano Open: Developers (technical) is the most relevant track in Fund 12 to open source solutions.

Areas of interest:

• standardize, develop, support, or provide utilities for full-stack solutions and IDEs,

• create new libraries, SDKs, publicly available APIs, toolchains, and frameworks

What we do not fund:

The following are examples of proposals that will not be funded in the Cardano Open: Developers (technical) category:

• Proposals that are not primarily seeking to develop new technology or contribute to or support existing open-source technology. For example, a learning resource guide to developing on Plutus, Marlowe, or other smart contracts platforms like Aiken should be part of the Cardano Open: Ecosystem (non-technical) category

• Proposals that are not seeking to develop technology that is open-source and are in fact producing proprietary software or hardware

Submitting Milestones for your F12 proposal

A milestone is a specific point within a project’s life cycle to measure the progress toward successful completion. They are signal posts for a project's major deliverables and a measurable reference point that marks a significant event or a branching decision point within a project.

What are the key actions you need to take to deliver your project?

How will you demonstrate and evidence that you have completed these actions?

Clearly defined milestones as part of your proposal submission will demonstrate to the reviewer that you clearly understand the significant points within your project's life cycle and that your progress toward your project's successful completion and delivery can be measurably demonstrated.

As part of your submission, specifically, to demonstrate your capability and feasibility, you are asked to list the key milestones you will need to achieve to complete your project successfully.

At this stage, you are only asked to list the milestones broadly. Doing so will demonstrate to the reviewer that you know what key steps are needed to complete your project.

If your project is voted for to receive funding, you will be asked to submit a more detailed Statement of Milestones as part of your onboarding process.

This will include providing further details on the acceptance criteria for each milestone, the date of delivery and cost for each milestone, and the evidence you will submit for review after each milestone.

When defining your milestones, consider that you are effectively presenting a simplified project delivery plan.

Milestones are indicative and should be finalized during the onboarding process if your project is approved post voting.