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Blockchains for Social Good

February 10, 2020

Free

EIC Horizon Prize
‘Blockchains for Social Good’ Finalists’ Day

Jointly organized between DG CNECT and DG RTD

MONDAY 10 FEBRUARY 2020
• Joint Research Centre (JRC) •
Rue du Champs de Mars 21, 1050 Brussels

 

During the ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ Finalists’ Day, 23 finalists selected out of the 178 applications received for the 5M€ EIC Horizon Prize on ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ will discuss their social innovation solutions with other innovators in front of an engaged audience. In a five-minute pitch, all candidates get the chance to present the impact of their solutions on social good aspects and the underlying economic models, and will demonstrate how their solutions would work for people, concretely.

In each session, ample time will be devoted to questions from the public (asked in person, or though twitter and sli.do – use the event code #BC4GOOD) and from other finalists as well, to explore and debate the advantages and limitations of the proposed solutions.

This interactive event will bring together blockchain innovators, specialists and curious minds from all across Europe, in order to learn how Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) might positively affect our society in various application areas related to sustainability and SDGs.

Please find more info about the Horizon Prizes here: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/what-horizon-2020

About the EIC Horizion Prize ‘Blockchains for Social Good’

The EIC Horizon Prize ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ awards the next generation of Blockchain innovators in the broad area of social good, where Blockchain technologies can be vital to enable solutions for the emerging environmental, social and economic sustainability challenges.

By awarding 5 million euro to the innovators that come up with the most promising Blockchain solutions to different social good areas, the initiative aims to motivate the development of decentralised social innovations beneficial for the European society.

Where do the finalists come from?

In 2019, applicants from 43 different countries submitted 178 proposals, 33 of which from non-EU countries. Applicants are mostly small private companies or consortia, and include individuals and public institutions.

How are the prize winners selected?

A multidisciplinary jury of 30 high-level experts in Blockchain technologies and economic and social sciences has evaluated the 178 applications against the five criteria set in the rules of contest. This includes positive social impact, decentralization and governance, usability and inclusiveness, viability at large scale, and European added value.

The jury selected the finalists in November 2019, and will identify the winners after additional hearings, by the end of March 2020.

The jury also identified, according to the Rules of Contest, 4 additional areas, related to SDGs, which could not be foreseen at the inception of this Prize, in 2015. It also noted that unfortunately none of the above threshold applications were addressing the original area “participation in democratic decision-making by enabling accountability, rewarding of participation and/or anonymity”.

The resulting areas are as follows (in brackets, the full description as indicated in the rules of Contest):

  • traceability & fair trade (demonstrating the origin of raw materials or products and supporting fair trade and the fair monetization of labour);
  • transparency of public processes (allowing for a greater visibility of public spending and a greater transparency of administrative and production processes);
  • decentralised circular economy (enabling the development of decentralized social networks or clouds, or of decentralized platforms for the collaborative economy);
  • management of public records (managing property, land registry or other public records);
  • financial inclusion (contributing to financial inclusion)
  • aid & philanthropy (new area);
  • energy (new area);
  • health (new area);
  • quality content (new area).

Abstracts Finalists’ Day EIC Prize “Blockchains for Social Good”

20 Dec: AID:Tech

AID:Tech is an Irish company using blockchain technology to tackle issues faced by end-users and institutions when dealing with access to social and financial…

20 Dec: Alice

Alice is a decentralised impact funding and measurement platform. It provides transparency on what social and environmental projects achieve with public and private funding…

20 Dec: BED4EUC

Blockchain Energy Database for EU Communities. PROYECTOS ENERGETICOS, from now on KLENERGY, is an SME specialised in developing decentralised technologies…

20 Dec: BitDegree: Blockchain Education

BitDegree is one of the global leaders in the field of Blockchain in Education, recognized as one of the leading EdTech startups in Europe and in 2019 has won the World Summit Awards…

20 Dec: Blockchain My Art

Blockchain My Art (BMA) is a fair and transparent payment service, coming with a  powerful communication tool in one unique solution based on blockchain technology…

30 Jun: BLOCKCHAINS FOR SOCIAL GOOD EIC PRIZE WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The European Commission has announced six Prize winners, selected to receive a total of EUR 5 million to apply distributed…

20 Dec: Circularise

Circularise has developed a blockchain-based communication protocol that turns fair working conditions and sustainable sourcing of raw material into…

20 Dec: COBLO

The Content Blockchain is an open initiative and decentralized blockchain network tailored to the specific needs of the digital media content ecosystem…

20 Dec: COIN

This application is the submission of a blockchain solution for social good, the result of a partnership between ScanTrust SA and Quorum Control GmbH…

20 Dec: CommonsHood

CommonsHood is a Blockchain based Wallet app that aims to provide the general public with a tool not only to distribute cryptographical tokens…

20 Dec: DID4BASICS

Aligned with the European Directive 2014/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014, Member States have the obligation…

20 Dec: GMERITS

WIDE-SCALE EXPERIMENT WITH ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIC STRUCTURES Capitalism needs a reset, says the Financial Times, accompanied by the CEOs of digital platform giants…

20 Dec: Kleros, The Blockchain Dispute Resolution Layer

3 to 5% of the 38.5 billion e-commerce transactions per year end in a dispute. This means that roughly 155 million disputes need to be reviewed every year…

20 Dec: Meditect

A pan-European decentralized network for the traceability and authenticity of medicines. Unbeknownst to the general public, the trafficking of falsified medicines…

20 Dec: Minexx

Connecting miners to the world: Using blockchain to improve the welfare of artisanal miners. While working for an IoT solar energy company, Minexx’s founding team…

20 Dec: OriginalMy

OriginalMy is a startup using blockchain technology to improve governance, reduce bureaucracy and democratise access to justice. The challenge to achieve…

20 Dec: PROSUME

Energy should be a common good. The digital transformation is making a growing number of daily operations highly reliant on the energy infrastructure…

20 Dec: Provenance

Proof Points are a new blockchain-based software solution developed by social enterprise Provenance. They allow businesses to prove the impact behind their business…

20 Dec: SolarCoin

SolarCoin is the worlds first (solar) energy-backed currency: 1MWh of solar power = § 1SLR (independently and in addition to existing Government-backed subsidies)…

20 Dec: The Common Good Chain

The collective journey of 2030 Agenda requires citizens and organization’s commitment towards Sustainable Development. To promote accountable institutions…

20 Dec: The UnBlocked Cash Project

This application showcases The UnBlocked Cash Project, and focuses on generating positive social change among some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world…

20 Dec: VIDchain

Since the beginning of the online revolution, the secure validation of the real identity of people in the digital environment has presented itself as a problem…

20 Dec: VIGICARD

Our project focuses on the design and development of a decentralized, user-centered and scalable ledger as a mobile and a web application for the registration…

20 Dec: WordProof

The internet has a deep-rooted issue: trust. How do consumers know whether the information presented by websites can be trusted, and how can website owners claim…

AGENDA

EIC Horizon Prize, Blockchains for Social Good Finalists’ day

Time Monday 10 February 2020
08:30-09:00 Registration and welcome coffee

OPENING

09:00-09.15 Welcome by Olivier Bringer, Head of Unit ‘Next Generation Internet’ of DG Connect at the European Commission
09:15-09.30 Blockchains for… Social Good? by Fabrizio Sestini, Senior Expert, DG Connect Next-Generation Internet

TRACEABILITY & FAIR TRADE
Moderator: Rob van Kranenburg

09.30-10:30 Presentations by:
Circularise (CirSource), COIN (see slides here), Minexx (see slides here), Provenance (PPPsee slides here)
Q&A

TRANSPARENCY OF PUBLIC PROCESSES, and MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC RECORDS
Moderator: Rob van Kranenburg

10:30-11:15 Presentations by
Alice (GIVE see slides here), OriginalMy (OMHorizon2020 see slides here), VidChain (see slides here)
Q&A

BREAK 

11:15 – 11:45 Coffee Break  – Poster presentations
Commission setting the scene

DECENTRALISED CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Moderator: Monique Calisti

11:45-12:30 Presentations by
Blockchain my Art (BMAsee slides here), Common Good Chain (ComGosee slides here), Kleros (CKH2020see slides here)
Q&A
12:30-13:45 LUNCH BREAK
Poster presentations

FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Moderator: Gaelle Le Gars

13:55-14:30 Presentations by
CommonsHood (see slides here), Did4Basics (see slides here), GMeRits (see slides here)
Q&A

BREAK 

14:30 – 15:00 Coffee Break  – Poster presentations

AID & PHILANTHROPY
Moderator: Gaelle Le Gars

15:00-15:45 Presentations by
AID:Tech, BitDegree (BDG Scholarships – see slides here),
Unblocked Cash Project (OXBBU – 
see slides here)
Q&A

ENERGY
Moderator: Monique Calisti

15:45-16:30 Presentations by
BED4EUC (see slides here), Prosume (see slides here), SolarCoin
Q&A

HEALTH and QUALITY CONTENT
Moderator: Marc Tavernier

16:30-17:30 Presentations by
Meditect, Vigicard – Content Blockchain (COBLOsee slides here), WordProof (see slides here)
Q&A
17:30-20:00 DRINKS  & TALKS

Venue

Joint Research Centre | European Commission
Rue du Champ de Mars 21, 1050 Ixelles, Belgium
Ixelles, Bruxelles 1050 Belgium
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