What is World Community Grid?



Is World Community Grid a non-profit organization?

World Community Grid is a philanthropic initiative, started in November of 2004. Its purpose is to create the world's largest public computing grid for running research projects that benefit humanity. For more information, go to http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/about_us/about_us.html



How does World Community Grid get new projects?

First, a non-profit organization has to have a research project which benefits humanity for which they require some serious computer power in order to complete the research. Then someone from the research organization goes to the World Community Grid website and Submits a Proposal. At World Community Grid, we review the proposal to ensure it meets all requirements and is technically feasible to run on the grid. Then subject matter experts review the proposal to ensure that the research is technically correct. After that, it is placed on the schedule for launch.



Are the results produced by World Community Grid part of a commercial venture?

No. This is a philanthropic project, not for profit. The direct results of work done by the World Community Grid will be in the public domain.



This sounds too good to be true. Am I missing something?

Everything benefits! Members who volunteer their unused processing power benefit by not only making their devices more productive, but also by helping make scientific inroads on humanitarian problems. Research organizations benefit by having access to huge amounts of computing power at no cost, enabling them to make more effective use of critical funds. The scientific community benefits because the project results are shared and made available in the public domain. The world benefits because humanitarian research is advanced.



What is different about World Community Grid and other BOINC distributed computing projects?

Many of the BOINC projects are oriented toward one single research goal. And for those, the researchers have to set up their own infrastructure and manage the workload themselves. World Community Grid is able to accommodate multiple research projects. We run these projects for researchers from nonprofit organizations so that they do not have to manage the work and thus are able to focus on the science part of the research. For more information about how projects are selected to run on World Community Grid click here

To learn how to register and start participating in World Community Grid click here



Is World Community Grid working with any cryptocurrency organizations?

World Community Grid does not currently have relationships with any organizations that create or distribute cryptocurrency. 



Do World Community Grid projects involve animal testing?

So far, none of our past or current projects have involved animal testing while they were running on World Community Grid.

World Community Grid projects are considered basic research, which means that they are studying the foundations of a particular scientific subject rather than testing treatments in a lab. If a project is successful, it may lead to animal testing (typically by a separate research group) at some time in the future.