European Innovation Council Awards $5M Prizes to Six Innovative Blockchain Projects


The European Innovation Council (EIC) has
awarded 5 million euros ($5.6 million) to six blockchain projects to support
the global blockchain ecosystem. The awards are being granted within the
initiative program “Blockchains for Social Good”.
The prizes are conferred in the domain of
financial inclusion, areas of traceability, fair trade, and decentralized
circular economy to promote the blockchain development. As per the prerequisite
for all these awards, all the projects had offered their initiatives in open
source.
The startups which bagged the awards include
the following startups:
Dutch content authenticity firm WordProof,
Italian digital market place project Prosume, Oxfam’s UnBlocked Cash Project
OXBBU, French e-commerce platform CK2020, and the London-based food and product
traceability company Provenance and blockchain financial inclusion solution
GMeRitS, by Finnish Aalto University.
Recipients Area of development
Dutch firm WordProof which fights against
online fake news and plagiarism and is focused on rebuilding trust and
transparency on the internet received €1 million ($1.1 million).
The UK based food and product traceability
firm Provenance received €1 million for its proof Points system.
Another prize recipient GMeRitS focuses to
bring in a wholesome change in society by building alternate economic models
with blockchain as the foundation.
Another recipient OXBBU which is in partnership
with Ireland’s Oxfam and French fintech Sempo is developing blockchain-based solutions for delivering cash vouchers aid in disaster-affected regions.
Judges had a dilemma over the last prize
between the French cooperative Klero’s e-comm. dispute settlement platform
CKH2020 and Italian energy trading system Prosume, thus the prize was split
equally between them.
After the EIC announced solicitations for
the awards in May 2018, a total number of 176 entries including the
individuals, firms, and public institutions from 43 countries had applied for
the award program. The entries were closed on 3 September 2019. Initially, five
awards have been announced by the EIC with 1 million euros each as award
prices. But eventually, the fifth prize was split between two firms to extend
the scope of the prize.
The EIC announcement states:
“It is worth pointing out that one of the
requirements of the prize was to submit solutions developed in Open Source.
This will enable more innovators to benefit from the advanced technological
solutions developed by the prize winners and the other members of the Prize”.
More about the European Innovation
Council (EIC)
European Innovation Council (EIC) has
been established by the European Commission (EC) in 2017 to promote and reward
“high-risk high impact ideas, which can turn science into new business.”
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Jayashree Ingle
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA