Decentralized Ride-Sharing Startup Wins Europe’s Biggest Open-Industry Blockchain Competition
Total €50,000 in prizes awarded to four winning startups - Arcade City (decentralized ride-sharing - €20,000); CargoChain (international shipping on the blockchain - €15,000), Clipperz (IP protection - €10,000), plus Community Prize for Helperbit (P2P donations - €5,000).
12 shortlisted startups came from around the world to pitch for prizes at Award Ceremony held in Berlin on 17th May.
Once the niche technology for coders interested in finance, today blockchains are recognised for their immense potential to disrupt a vast range of industries. To activate this innovation in Europe, GTEC launched an Innovation Award, supported by founding partners RWE and Globumbus, attracting applications from across the globe.
Pitching their ideas at the Award Ceremony in Berlin on 17th May, the 12 startups on the competition shortlist came from Ghana, Israel, Germany, Italy and the UK. The founders presented a diverse range of blockchain applications - including decentralized ride-sharing, event ticketing, P2P donations, a decentralized architecture office, international shipping, and land registry in the developing world.
Dr. Carsten Stöcker, Innovation Programme Manager, Blockchain Competence Team, RWE Innovation Hub, commented,
“The fourth industrial revolution will be built upon a Machine-to-Machine economy with autonomous vehicles, 3D printer, robots, drones and IoT. We believe that blockchains will be the 'lubricant' for asset sharing and secure transactions between both people and machines. Having a corporate blockchain strategy is a must for financial and non-financial players.” Globumbus founder and competition sponsor, Jens Hewald added,
“I see a recognizable shift towards non-fintech solutions.”
At the Ceremony, attended by over 200 people from Berlin’s startup ecosystem, keynote speaker, Trent McConaghy (founder of ascribe / BigchainDB) described the city as one of four blockchain capitals in the world, alongside San Francisco, New York, and London - citing the GTEC Award as evidence of the ever strengthening interest in the technology.
Gold Award winner, Christopher David, founder of Arcade City, said,
“We are very humbled to win first prize among so many awesome blockchain startups. The community is really evolving fast, and it's great to see Berlin playing such a big role. Arcade City will definitely be back to Berlin before long.”
German Tech Entrepreneurship Center (GTEC) is the first private-sector, open campus for entrepreneurship in Europe, founded at ESMT in Berlin in 2015 by RWE, Henkel, ESMT, Globumbus, Noerr and the Sigmund Kiener Stiftung. Connecting an international network of companies, universities, and startups, GTEC acts as a springboard for innovation in Germany and beyond. Together with its founding partners, GTEC promotes entrepreneurship and supports tech startups to access the market better and grow faster.
http://gtec.berlin/blockchaincontest/
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