Author here: we did not invest; nor are we invested in any of the competitor projects mentioned in the article.
other author here, no ICO investments. We're actually working for many years on a similar system, non-profit non-ICO based. We know this scientific area a bit (see my other comment).
Thanks for your clarifications. That was my guess too, I just wanted to confirm it.
>>We're actually working for many years on a similar system...
Hmm, this is what you neglected to mention in the paper