European Innovation Council Awards $5M to Six Blockchain Projects

Published at: July 1, 2020

A technology unit at the European Commission has awarded millions of dollars to several blockchain projects in an effort to support the use of blockchain in socially beneficial ways.

The European Innovation Council has awarded 5 million euros ($5.6 million) to six blockchain initiatives within its “Blockchains for Social Good” program.

Announcing the news on Tuesday, the EIC noted that the prize intends to promote blockchain development in the areas of traceability, fair trade, financial inclusion and decentralized circular economy.

The awarded startups include Dutch content authenticity firm WordProof, British startup PPP, Finnish GMeRitS, Oxfam’s UnBlocked Cash Project OXBBU, French e-commerce platform CKH2020 and Italy-based digital marketplace project PROSUME.

All of the winners have presented their projects in open source. The EIC noted:

“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 participants in the Prize.”

Areas of blockchain applications turned out to be wider than the EIC expected

According to the announcement, a total of 176 participants have applied for the award program since it was opened in May 2018. Applications came from 43 countries, with 19 of them arriving from outside the European Union, the EIC said.

Closed on Sept. 3, 2019, the program originally sought to award 1 million euros to five projects in five different social innovation areas, the organization noted. However, the EIC eventually decided to fund six projects, extending the scope of the prize to six different areas and splitting equally the fifth prize, the organization explained.

The winner specializes in blockchain use against fake news

WordProof, the first project on the EIC’s winner list, tweeted that the project received a 1 million euro prize. “The European Commission has just rewarded WordProof with 1,000,000 euro by winning the ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ contest,” the Amsterdam-based startup wrote.

Committed to fighting plagiarism and fake news with help of blockchain, WordProof recently received 275,000 euros ($308,700) in financing from Noord-Holland Innovation Fund for the development of technologies to better protect data on the Internet.

The EIC was launched by the European Commission to support “high-risk, high-impact ideas, turning science into new business” and accelerate innovation. Launched in 2017, the EIC is currently in the pilot stage and is expected to be fully implemented in 2021. Recently, the European Commission’s head of the digital innovation and blockchain unit, Peteris Zilgalvis, highlighted uses of blockchain tech in communication between member states and fostering crypto innovation.

Tags
Technology
Blockchain
Funding
Europe
Awards
Related Posts
NFT studio Mojito completes $20M seed round with help from Sotheby's
NFT development studio Mojito announced Friday that they have raised $20M in seed funding from a number of investors including internationally known auction house Sotheby's. According to an announcement published in Forbes, Sotheby’s auction house, in partnership with Future Perfect Ventures, Creative Artists Agency and NEA’s Connect Ventures, contributed to the round at Mojito’s estimated value of $100 Million. The Delaware-based start-up indicated that it will use this new injection of capital to grow and develop its engineering teams, make a better version of its current NFT platform and further develop its NFT trading and investment platforms. The NFT market …
Adoption / Oct. 22, 2021
Galaxy Interactive raises another $325M fund aimed at metaverse and next-gen games
Galaxy Interactive, a venture capital firm focused on next-generation interactive technology, has announced it has raised $325 million for its second fund from 70 different investors. The fund is focused on virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence and blockchain-based games. In a Tuesday announcement, Galaxy Digital, the majority owner of Galaxy Interactive, stated that $150 million from the fund has already been allocated to new portfolio companies, including Republic, 1047 Games, Elodie, Roar, Art Blocks and Masterworks, with other additional investments to be announced in coming months. Established in 2018 by general partners Sam Englebardt and Richard Kim, the company …
Technology / Oct. 20, 2021
Beyond Bitcoin? Little known project jumps 116% on €2.75M EU ‘new money’ grant
A little-known blockchain project more than doubled in value overnight following the announcement of its involvement in a European Union digital economy research program. The spot price for the Ethereum-based Streamr (DATA) token increased 116% leading into Feb. 12, after it was revealed the project would be used as part of an EU pilot aimed at creating a new kind of money. Announced on Feb.11, the ATARCA Consortium was awarded €2.75 million ($3.33 million) by the European Commission as part of an initiative to address the “economic inefficiencies” incurred by artificially limiting the supply of digital goods. In a radical …
Technology / Feb. 12, 2021
Is Europe’s Experience in E-Signatures and Digital IDs Valuable for Australia?
Europe has been running a legislative framework for electronic signatures and digital identities since 1999. In 2014, the European Parliament introduced a significant upgrade by presenting electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market, or eIDAS, regulation. In light of recent initiatives in Australia to improve legislation for doing business remotely, this experience is valuable because the European community was among the first in the world to introduce electronic signatures, and it developed a unique legal and technological framework that many other countries borrowed. Though the experience is full of pitfalls and drawbacks, which are also …
Technology / April 28, 2020
Israeli startup to create blockchain chips with $70M of fresh funds
The adoption of blockchain technology is on the rise, with the majority of enterprises looking into the technology in some capacity. As blockchain becomes more pervasive, all types of users will need the most efficient access to the capabilities of this technology. One of the responses to this has been the development of blockchain chips as energy-efficient accelerators. On Feb. 23, the Tel Aviv-based blockchain chip startup Chain Reaction announced it raised $70 million to expand its engineering team for developing its next chip. Alon Webman, the co-founder and CEO of Chain Reaction, said the new chip will be a …
Technology / Feb. 23, 2023