United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Blockchain and Sustainable Development Goals
How can blockchain technology create new opportunities for smart cities and sustainable development?
This question was on the agenda of the side event of the 25th Session of the UN/CEFACT Plenary, Day of Cities, More than 50 delegates from across the different regions met for the 68th Commission session of UNECE.
UNECE reached out to CV VC for assistance in selecting three startups from the Crypto Valley who’s vision is to revolutionize the concept of smart cities with the use of blockchain technology. The following Crypto Valley’s natives were selected — Dezentrum, Fetch Blockchain and Nomoko and stood tall next to nine other startups from the Slovenian blockchain ecosystem and the European BlockTech Federation. The startups showcased their project at the “Smart Sustainable Cities: Drivers for Sustainable Development” exhibition organized by UNECE on 8–9 April 2019.
In addition, startups participated in several panels and presented their projects. Founders discussed how they could use blockchain to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The event started with a welcoming remark from Sue Probert, UN/CEFACT Chair, Maria Rosaria Ceccarelli, OiC Economic Cooperation and TD/UNECE, Jalka Travnik, Chargé d’affaires — Permanent Mission of Slovenia.
The first panel, moderated by yours truly, on the topic of “Blockchain Infrastructure Smart Cities” boasted an impressive lineup of speakers:
Nicholas Merle — Civic Blockchain
Mario Gigovič — Communia
Jochem Verheul — VMC Netherlands
We discussed how blockchain, a decentralized immutable ledger can go hand in hand with the Smart City concept in different fields.
Next panel was moderated by Nena Dokuzov, from the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology of Slovenia, with the following participants joining him at the table:
Branko Krsmanovič — City Pulse Protocole
Carmen Benitez — Fetch Blockchain
The panel addressed the topics of Blockchain in Mobility, Energy, Food origins and Smart Cities’ sustainable platforms.
During the UNECE event, participants learned that blockchain is one of the most prominent technologies of the future, especially when it comes to security and trust. It turns out that UN/CEFACT are actively supporting blockchain project, especially those who are delivering full trust and semantic interoperability in paperless trade systems. As the maturity of the Blockchain ecosystem grows, as one can observe in the Crypto Valley, blockchain startups are getting more traction. We at CV VC want to contribute to this global shift — through our incubation program, we will provide knowledge and funding for up to 20 startups. Thus, we are confident that various blockchain application will have breakthroughs in the few next years.
Moreover, the event showcased how blockchain can be used for the benefit of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Blockchain projects are solving real world needs, such as providing self-sovereign identities, tracing food supply, establishing quality land titles, creating a peer-to-peer marketplace for energy, public transportation solutions in smart cities and creating new and fair value with citizen data.
Last but not least, startups are building a common ownership of the citizens, thus, improving mutual decision-making process with regards to commonly owned assets.
Nicolai was involved with various startups for the past 10 years. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in International Business Administration with a major in International Entrepreneurship. Eager to learn more about the blockchain industry, startups and companies, Nicolai joined CV VC, where the cutting-edge blockchain technology meets traditional venture capital. In addition to leading certain events, his duties include overseeing the CV Labs Incubation and CV Competition process, as well as startup scouting activities. Nicolai contributes to the building up of the Swiss blockchain ecosystem and promotes the CV VC ecosystem among the global startup community and wider business partners. He is also interested in investments and trading of (crypto)currencies.
