Technology & Methodology
The QED System —
validation intelligence
for the Lab to IPO Pathway.
QED is the proprietary methodology and technology platform at the heart of PIPE — first developed in 2012 and continuously evolved to create the world's most rigorous, standardised process for validating and commercialising university innovation.
The QED Assessment Framework
What QED measures
at every stage.
QED assesses projects across three interconnected dimensions — commercial, environmental, and societal — producing empirical scores that determine Go/No-Go decisions at each stage gate. This is not subjective judgement: it is structured, documented, and peer-reviewed.
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Technology Readiness Level (TRL)
QED maps each project to the NASA/SpaceX TRL framework — from TRL 1 (basic principles observed) through to TRL 9 (system proven in operational environment). The Lab to IPO Pathway targets TRL 4 completion by the end of the Evaluate stage.
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Solution Readiness for Market (SRM)
SRM assesses the project's commercial readiness — covering market size, use-case definition, competitive landscape, customer validation, and route-to-market clarity. SRM 3 is required to progress to the Launch stage.
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Proposition Readiness for Investment (PRI)
PRI measures how investment-ready the opportunity is — covering IP structuring, business model, financial projections, team composition, and governance. PRI 1 is the minimum threshold for investor engagement.
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Business Operational Readiness (BOR)
BOR evaluates the operational foundations of the emerging venture — including legal structure, regulatory compliance, operational infrastructure, and governance framework — before capital deployment occurs.
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Environmental & Societal Viability
Every project is assessed for environmental impact and societal value — not as a box-ticking exercise, but as a genuine filter. Projects with negative environmental or societal profiles do not progress, regardless of commercial merit.
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Risk Register & Gap Analysis
QED produces a live risk register and gap analysis for every project — documenting known risks, mitigation strategies, and the specific gaps in capability, evidence, or structure that must be addressed before progression.
Blockchain Infrastructure
Why QED requires
distributed ledger technology.
QED was designed from the outset to leverage distributed ledger technology — not as a marketing feature, but as a functional necessity. The QED system creates immutable, auditable records of every assessment, milestone, and decision across the Lab to IPO Pathway.
This immutability is what makes QED trustworthy to institutional investors. When a project reaches the Fund stage, an investor can audit the complete history of validation, milestone achievement, and governance decision-making — all on-chain, all verifiable, all unchanged.
The IP-NFT vault structure also relies on distributed ledger technology — enabling arm's-length assessment of innovations without public disclosure of the inventive step, whilst creating a permanent, timestamped record of IP provenance that strengthens both patent and publication positions.
🔐IP-NFT Digital Vault
Innovations are stored as dynamic NFTs — timestamped, protected, and accessible only to authorised reviewers. IP provenance is permanently recorded without public disclosure.
📝Immutable Progress Records
Every milestone, assessment, and decision is recorded on-chain — creating an auditable history that cannot be altered or disputed by any party.
🗳️Community Governance
Key decisions in the ecosystem are governed by $GDAO token holders — creating a decentralised, transparent governance layer that aligns all stakeholder interests.