The Internet Computer Roadmap Guide: 25 Motion Proposals Describing New Areas for Crypto Innovation | by DFINITY | The Internet Computer Review | Dec. 2021

TThe Internet Computer blockchain is constantly upgrading without the need for hard forks and network disruption. The Network Nervous System (NNS) is the tokenized autonomous governance system that makes this possible, by controlling the Internet computer in a completely open, unauthorized and decentralized manner. By staking ICP utility tokens in voting neurons, the NNS allows anyone in the world to submit and vote on proposals to the network. If adopted, the proposals are executed automatically, allowing the network to adapt in real time.

The DFINITY Foundation commits R&D resources to the Internet computing ecosystem in the form of technical contributions, which are subject to discussion, vote and adoption by the community via NNS proposals. At every stage of a proposal’s lifecycle, neural owners have the opportunity to lead the Foundation’s efforts to make the Internet computer more efficient, faster, and easier for developers to use. The community decides which upgrades are released and what code is adopted.

As 2021 draws to a close, the Foundation sets out its R&D plans for the next few years and, in recent weeks, has sought community input and feedback on those plans. (Please see the Developer Forum for a detailed explanation.) Rather than having to vote for a list of proposals over several days, there will be a single voting period. from Monday, December 20, which includes them all, allowing neural owners to easily examine the propositions in the NNS front application and register all their votes.

The 25 motion proposals outlining major upgrades and new features are listed in detail below and provide a chain mechanism for the community to vote on the future direction of blockchain. The previous motions’ proposals revolved around specific characteristics and tended to have clear, finished goals that are delivered and completed. They also tended to be measured in days, weeks or months. The following proposals have a broader focus and scope in active areas of R&D, involving extensive research in cryptography, network, distributed systems, language, virtual machines and operating systems. They correspond to where the strengths of the DFINITY Foundation’s technical expertise are best suited.

Note: Please do not vote “reject” in order to prioritize one of these long-term R&D projects over the others. The prioritization of these initiatives can be determined through community discussions.

To align the Internet Computer community around a shared understanding of these major technical initiatives, this effort will publicly identify researchers and engineers with subject matter expertise to engage and discuss with the community. There will also be plenty of discussion and follow-up proposals on each topic as work is in progress and smaller milestones and tasks are set.

1. Integration with Ethereum
2. General integration
3. Decentralized CA and DNS
4. Optimized IC for Trusted Execution
5. Governance Dapp (SNS)
6. DeFi Improvements
7. Node performance
8. Scalability
9. Storage subnet blockchains
10. Secure operating system
11. Tokenomics
12. SDK
13. Motoko
14. Post-quantum security
15. Internet Identity
16. Confidentiality: multi-party calculation
17. Formal verification
18. Security evidence
19. Malware node security
20. Parties of people
21. Decentralized node management
22. Border knots
23. Subnet blockchain splitting
24. Cartridge migration
25. Subnet blockchain recovery