Hi dkdoyle
It;s on the UP and UP!!
"Admin" has posted to this issue and fully cleared it up for me.
Robert

PS Read this too.


This part of the agreement that researchers must agree to.
Request For Proposal Version RFP 2004-03 Nov More below.
World Community Grid is designed as a resource for research done with a philanthropic or

humanitarian purpose and will only be available to projects conducted for public and not-for-profit .

From
Request for Proposal (RFP)


Page 1 of 5 Request For Proposal Version RFP 2004-03 Nov

Request for Proposal (RFP)

Purpose

World Community Grid is seeking proposals from research organizations interested in harnessing

the immense power of Internet-connected computers to accelerate humanitarian research. Our goal

is to support innovative efforts that will benefit most from this technology and promise to deliver

significant results on the most pressing issues facing the global community. To meet this goal,

World Community Grid plans to implement as many as five to six research projects per year.

Background

Grid technology joins together many individual computers, creating a large system with massive

computational power that exceeds the power of a few supercomputers. This capability can be

applied, on a global scale, to very large and complex problems for the benefit of humanity.

In 2003, the IBM Corporation was one of the sponsors of a smallpox study that took advantage of

grid computing. This study, using today’s largest available supercomputers, would have taken

years to complete. With grid computing, this study was completed in less than six months and

identified 45 potential smallpox-treatment candidates.

World Community Grid: A philanthropic initiative

As a result of the smallpox study success, IBM sought partners to create World Community Grid as

a wholly philanthropic initiative, with the vision that it would be the world’s largest public

computing grid tackling projects for the benefit of humanity. The name was chosen carefully to

represent the endeavor’s reach (worldwide), its volunteer and scientific collaboration (community),

and its technical underpinnings (grid computing).

World Community Grid, with technology and funding provided by the IBM Corporation, is making

grid technology available to public and not-for-profit organizations to use in humanitarian research

that might otherwise not be completed due to the high cost of the computer infrastructure required

in the absence of a public grid.

An Advisory Board of prominent philanthropists, scientists and officials from leading public and

private organizations has developed the selection criteria and will be reviewing proposals to identify

those with the best potential to benefit from World Community Grid’s technology and make

significant progress on the priority humanitarian goals. (See www.worldcommunitygrid.org for the

list of Advisory Board members and more background information on this initiative.)

World Community Grid is designed as a resource for research done with a philanthropic or

humanitarian purpose and will only be available to projects conducted for public and not-for-profit

purposes. It will serve as a useful tool for the completion of a certain stage of research, hastening

Page 2 of 5 Request For Proposal Version RFP 2004-03 Nov

the progress of projects into further phases of development. Results must be made available to the

global research community by the sponsoring research organization and remain in the public

domain. The results will also be available on World Community Grid’s website for volunteers and

other visitors.

Because projects must serve to promote human welfare directly or indirectly by advancing

knowledge in areas that contribute to the overall goal, it is anticipated that projects in the following

disciplines will be submitted:

• New and existing infectious disease research: Research on cures for HIV and AIDS,

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), malaria, and others.

• Genomic and disease research: Studies that seek to identify the functions of the proteins

that are coded by human genes and how they might relate to cures for common diseases.

• Natural disasters and hunger: Earthquake predictions, information on improving crop

yields and livestock production, and evaluation of the supply of critical natural resources

such as water.

• Environmental Research: Meteorology and severe weather prediction, pollution

remediation, climate modeling, and others.

Research that has the potential to assist economically disadvantaged communities and those in

developing countries or to provide the initial research that can open new fields of inquiry will have

priority.

Technical Requirements

Projects must meet three basic technological requirements, to ensure benefits from grid computing:

1. Projects should have a need for millions of CPU hours of computation to proceed.

However, humanitarian projects with smaller CPU hour requirements are able to apply.

2. The computer software algorithms required to accomplish the computations should be such

that they can be subdivided into many smaller independent computations.

3. If very large amounts of data are required, there should also be a way to partition the data

into sufficiently small units corresponding to the computations.

Ideally, existing application software would meet the above requirements. However, if existing

software does not already meet the required characteristics, there may be technical modifications or

alternatives that could satisfy the requirements. In order to meet the goal of opening new areas of

inquiry, World Community Grid will seek at least one project each year that has a viable research

proposal yet requires technical support to develop application software. The assessment of the

project usually will require technical discussions with World Community Grid’s technical teams to

explore the possibilities and effort required to adapt the project’s computational tasks to best exploit

the grid. This will ultimately be a factor in deciding whether to proceed with a particular project.

If projects meet the technical requirements, additional information may be requested for review by

the Advisory Board for final consideration.

Page 3 of 5 Request For Proposal Version RFP 2004-03 Nov

Criteria

Projects must meet the following Selection Criteria:

1. Project has specifically stated goals and anticipated results and explains how the work will

significantly contribute to the eradication of human suffering or benefit humanity. World

Community Grid welcomes projects that demonstrate the potential to assist economically

disadvantaged communities, developing countries, or to provide the initial research that can

open new fields of inquiry that benefit humanity.

2. Project meets grid computing technical requirements and is grid-enabled. The project shows

evidence that the project results will be accelerated by the use of grid computing technology.

3. Project has adequate funding to complete the proposed research and leverage World

Community Grid.

4. Project is not already running on another grid or supercomputer.

5. Sponsoring research institution has the capacity to complete the project and maximize the

use of the results generated through World Community Grid.

6. All information in the proposal is complete and accurate.

These criteria will be used for the first phase of proposal review.

Proposals that meet all selection criteria will then be evaluated according to the following Review

Criteria:

1. How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within

its own field or across different fields?

2. What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to society? Will there be a benefit for

economically disadvantaged communities or those in developing countries?

3. What impact can World Community Grid have to accelerate the research or reduce costs?

4. Is the proposed method or approach reasonable?

5. To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative and original

concepts?

6. Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological

understanding?

Final decisions for all applications are at the sole discretion of World Community Grid.

Page 4 of 5 Request For Proposal Version RFP 2004-03 Nov

RFP Process

The following is the process that the World Community Grid project team will follow in reviewing

and approving proposals, as well as preliminary information on the process that will take place once

a proposal is selected.

1. Research organizations are invited to visit www.worldcommunitygrid.org and download a

copy of the Request for Proposal and the Proposal Application.

2. Once downloaded, the research organization completes the required information (including

Attachment A: Affirmation of Non-Discrimination and Patriot Act Compliance) and sends

it, via email, to rfp@worldcommunitygrid.org. Without assuming any liability for

inadvertent disclosure, World Community Grid will seek to limit disclosure of proposals and

related information to project staff and to outside reviewers when necessary for merit review

of the proposal, or as otherwise authorized by law. Once a proposal is selected for World

Community Grid, summary information will be made available on the web site.

3. In cases where similar proposals are received from different organizations, the one received

first, based on the date and time stamp of the e-mail, will receive preference, if all

requirements have been met by both proposals. World Community Grid staff will also

facilitate and encourage collaboration between and among organizations submitting

complimentary proposals.

4. World Community Grid’s project team will review each RFP response and pre-qualify it for

running on World Community Grid based on the six selection criteria provided above.

During this step, the project team may contact the research organization for more

information, if necessary.

5. If a proposal is complete and it is determined that the application described in the proposal

meets the six selection criteria for World Community Grid, then it will be evaluated by at

least two qualified reviewers. Those proposals meeting the review criteria above will then

be considered by the World Community Grid’s Advisory Board.

6. World Community Grid’s Advisory Board meets twice a year; however, the Advisory Board

will review all qualified RFP’s submitted by research organizations on a quarterly basis.

Updated information on the schedule for reviewing and selecting proposals will be posted on

www.worldcommunitygrid.org.

7. If World Community Grid’s Advisory Board accepts an application, then World Community

Grid’s project team will contact the research institution to inform them that the application

has been accepted. Final decision for all application decisions are at the sole discretion of

World Community Grid.

8. Once the acceptance is mutual, World Community Grid and the research organization both

sign a letter of agreement.

9. Following the signing of the letter of agreement, World Community Grid’s project team

schedules the application to run on World Community Grid and builds a project plan with

the research organization.

10. Following the conclusion of the project, the research organization will make results

produced by World Community Grid freely available to other research organizations within

Page 5 of 5 Request For Proposal Version RFP 2004-03 Nov

six months. The research organization also will provide results in a lay version for the

World Community Grid community of volunteers and interested visitors to the web site.

11. World Community Grid will work collaboratively with research partners to encourage

public visibility and high participation in the grid project as well as wide dissemination of

research findings and impact.

Contact Information

Please send any questions to rfp@worldcommunitygrid.org with your name, e-mail address,

and telephone number. Additional information and FAQs will also be available at

www.worldcommunitygrid.org.