EU awards €5 million to blockchain solutions for social innovations

The Commission announced today the winners of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Prize on Blockchains for Social Good, which aims to recognise and support the efforts made by developers and civil society in exploring the applications of blockchains for social innovation. A total of €5 million has been awarded to six winners, who will work on identifying scalable and high-impact blockchain solutions to address various societal challenges, such as delivery of international aid, verifying authenticity of online content, utilising renewable energy, and many more. Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: “I warmly congratulate all the winners. The proposed solutions show how blockchain can create positive social change by supporting fair trade, increasing transparency in production processes and e-commerce and contributing to financial inclusion by exploring decentralised economic structures. I hope that this award can help upscale these outstanding ideas and inspire many other innovators.” Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market, added: “Participation from 43 countries in the Prize on Blockchains for Social Good has shown us the potential to address local and global challenges with blockchain technology that offers decentralised, trusted and transparent solutions. Europe has to fully recognise and support European technological innovations to address both industrial and sustainability challenges.” The call attracted 176 applications, with 80% of applications coming from start-ups and small and medium businesses (SMEs). The six winning solutions come from Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK and they strongly relate to the UN Sustainable Development Goals in contributing to responsible production and consumption patterns, renewable energy use, disaster relief and economic inclusion. They have been developed in Open Source to maximise transparency and to enable more innovators to build upon the solutions developed by the winners. More information about the winning projects is available here.