Trent McConaghy is best known for his pioneering work in developing Ocean Protocol.

Early Life and Education

Raised on a pig farm in Canada, McConaghy pursued a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Saskatchewan. He conducted research in machine learning for the Canadian Department of National Defense in the late 1990s. Then, he later earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from KU Leuven in Belgium. ^[1]

Career

McConaghy's early career involved AI research for national defense. His first startup venture, ADA, explored the intersection of human creativity and AI-based machine creativity. This work led to ADA's acquisition by Synopsys in 2004. His doctoral research furthered the integration of machine creativity with existing engineering knowledge. ^[1]

His second startup, Solido, focused on leveraging AI to support Moore's Law in chip design. Siemens acquired Solido in 2017. ^[1]

Ocean Protocol

Ocean Protocol, aims to democratize global data. Beginning in 2013 with the launch of the ascribe NFT platform and followed by the creation of the BigchainDB blockchain database in 2015, his focus shifted towards Ocean Protocol in 2017. This platform facilitates secure and private sharing of AI data, preserving privacy and digital sovereignty. ^[1]

“I believe that Ocean will become ubiquitous, and we are on track with that. How do you get to the ubiquity and its sustained growth over long periods? Facebook has become ubiquitous right now. It started with just college students and Harvard. But then it spread itself one university at a time. And eventually, after years and years of sustained growth, it became ubiquitous. And hopefully, it won’t be ubiquitous forever because it’s centralized. And typically, things fade. Ocean, though, I hope, becomes ubiquitous and has decentralized goals. It is an infrastructure for civilization, just like TCP/IP with web protocols on top.” ^[2]

Writing

Transitioning from technical academic writing to blog posts, McConaghy has become a notable voice in the blockchain and AI space. His writings cover various topics, from NFTs to the intersection of AI and Web3. ^[1]

Other Projects and Personal Interests

Beyond his professional endeavors, McConaghy has pursued a diverse range of interests, including painting, BCI hacking, hypnosis, and video game programming. ^[1]