AAK Tele-Science New Platform MVP - Django & ReactJs Integration

As the technical lead and a member of the board of directors at AAK Tele-Science, I spearheaded the full-stack development of a cutting-edge online platform, built from scratch using Django REST Framework for the backend and ReactJS for the frontend. This project was a major milestone following the strategic overhaul of our architecture, designed to overcome the limitations of the previous Elgg-based system. The new platform introduced several advanced features, including AI-driven data analytics, blockchain integration, and real-time collaboration tools, while drastically improving the user experience and platform performance.

AAK Tele-Science is a startup based in California, USA that strives to bridge the gap between academia in industry through an ambitious online platform that acts both as social media and a collaborative space. This online platform is intended to provide numerous services to researchers, investors & institutions such as:

Research project collaboration & funding opportunities.

Lucrative investment opportunities in creative scientific projects.

Expanding professional network by finding researchers, investors & institutions recommended to you through AI services.

Profile building services, including research & investment portfolio imports & AI-driven data analytics.

Other collaborative, social media & fintech services such as complex events capabilities intended for scientific conferences & workshops, extensive blogs functionalities, news feed, chat & blockchain integration for scientific digital assets, NFTs & smart contracts.

Initially, Elgg was chosen by the administration at the time as the foundation for AAK Tele-Science’s first website due to its built-in social media components. Elgg is a customizable monolithic web framework written in PHP and MySQL, designed for building social apps. It comes with numerous built-in features like user registration, authentication, groups, blogs, notifications, and more. However, Elgg presented significant drawbacks that severely impacted our development workflow and product scalability. Thus, the need arose to revolutionize the company's tech stacks and development practices.

The platform was rebuilt using a modern microservices architecture with clear separation between the frontend and backend, enabling smoother development practices and future scalability. The backend was designed using Django REST Framework, with well-documented REST APIs, while the frontend was developed with ReactJS, following industry-standard UI/UX designs.

Implementing a scalable system capable of supporting a large and growing user base.

Leveraging AI to provide real-time data analytics for researchers and investors.

Integrating blockchain technology to enable secure, transparent financial transactions and contracts.

Building a flexible frontend that could seamlessly implement business-driven UI/UX designs.

Under my direct & close supervision, the AAK Tele-Science team was able to achieve the following:

The ReactJS-based frontend delivered a 300% improvement in navigation speed compared to the old Elgg platform, enhancing user interactions and engagement.

The separation of frontend and backend allowed developers to work independently without blocking one another, increasing development efficiency and reducing bottlenecks.

Implemented a comprehensive user management system where users could sign up as researchers, investors, or institutions.

Users could connect with one another and form partnerships through the platform’s social connections features.

Integrated JWT-based authentication and authorization, ensuring robust security protocols and secure user sessions.

Developed a powerful feature for scientific portfolio imports, allowing researchers to upload their work from sources like Google Scholar, NSF, NIH, EU Horizon, and US patent databases.

Investors could import financial portfolio data from the USA SEC Edgar database, receiving real-time data analytics to inform investment decisions.

Integrated AI-driven algorithms to generate data analytics such as innovation indices and market relevance metrics for both researchers and investors.

Created a project collaboration system where users could propose research projects, request funding, or search for collaboration opportunities.

The system provided AI-generated recommendations for users to match with other profiles based on their project needs and interests, facilitating more effective partnerships.

Integrated comprehensive blockchain features to allow users to connect their digital wallets (e.g., MetaMask) and interact with blockchain-based services.

Cryptocurrency transactions: Users could test buying and selling AAK Tele-Science’s cryptocurrency "AERO" using USD in a SepoliaETH testing environment.

Digital Market and Auction Integration: Users could buy and sell digital assets such as patents, software, and licenses through blockchain-enabled marketplaces.

Blockchain-powered contracts: Institutions and individuals could create negotiation-based investment agreements and employment contracts through the platform, ensuring secure and transparent transactions.

Built a system for hosting scientific events (e.g., conferences, workshops) that allowed event organizers to create custom registration forms, schedule activities, manage fees, and set capacity limits for event attendees.

Developed a collaborative blog system where researchers could write multi-page, nested blogs to document and share their findings, providing a platform for long-form content creation.

Implemented real-time chat functionality for users to communicate directly on the platform.

Integrated notifications for key actions such as project invitations, proposals, and contract updates.

Built a powerful search engine that allowed users to search for other researchers, investors, and institutions based on various criteria (e.g., name, country, SEC-registered investor CIK number).

Provided comprehensive filtering options for users to find relevant information quickly and efficiently.

Integrated Stripe for managing user subscriptions and payments, allowing users to subscribe to different plans to unlock premium features and extend usage limits.

Developed backend logic to handle subscription upgrades, renewals, and payment transactions seamlessly.

Complex feature integration: The integration of AI-driven analytics, blockchain, and complex collaboration tools required seamless coordination across different teams (backend, frontend, data science, and blockchain). I facilitated this by implementing agile/scrum methodologies & leading collaborative planning sessions, clearly defining tasks and epics for each team, and ensuring smooth communication between all stakeholders.

High-performance requirements: To achieve significant performance improvements, we employed ReactJS optimizations and server-side caching techniques, which reduced loading times and improved user interactions by over 300%.

Blockchain complexities: Blockchain integration presented unique challenges in terms of security and transaction integrity. By incorporating MetaMask integration and creating detailed smart contract workflows, we ensured that blockchain transactions were both secure and user-friendly.

Scalability requirements: The platform is intended to be able to host tens of thousands of users & high traffic. To address this, a transition towards a highly scalable cloud-based infrastracture with microservices architecture was performed, which required a complete overhaul of the company's system.

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The development of the AAK Tele-Science platform was a success, leading to a modern, scalable platform that addressed the limitations of the previous system while introducing advanced features for researchers and investors:

300% improvement in platform performance.

The ability to host AI-powered data analytics, blockchain-based transactions, and real-time collaboration features.

A more flexible and maintainable codebase that allowed independent workstreams for frontend and backend development.

Full implementation of modern UI/UX designs aligned with business goals.

This new platform became the foundation for AAK Tele-Science’s growing business model, allowing the company to expand its user base and introduce new, innovative features continuously.