The European Commission launched the Horizon Prize: ‘Blockchains for Social Good’ in December 2017. This EIC (European Innovation Council) Horizon Prize rewarded the development of scalable, efficient and effective decentralised solutions to sustainability challenges which exploit the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) used in blockchains.
The most well known application of Blockchains is the controversial Bitcoin so far, but this Prize aimed to explore the unique potential of Blockchains for creating decentralised solutions to societal challenges which are more effective than traditional centralised approaches.
The objective was to stimulate the development of out-of-the-box multidisciplinary solutions to social challenges in areas such as support of fair trade, increasing transparency in production processes, decentralising data governance and enhancing privacy, improving accountability and contributing to financial inclusion.
Five prizes of EUR 1 million would be awarded to innovators that used Blockchain technology to develop decentralised solutions bringing about positive social change.
Our society needs new solutions to sustainability challenges, which are more inclusive and effective than traditional approaches. This prize rewards the social innovators pioneering decentralised applications of the emerging blockchain technologies to create positive change in the society.
WordProod by Dutch SME WordProof B.V developed a tool to prove authenticity and make information verifiable.
PPP by UK social enterprise Project Provenance Ltd developed a tool for businesses to prove their social impact across supply chains.
GMeRitS by Finnish university Aalto conducted wide scale experiements with alternative economic structures.
UnBlocked Cash Project OXBBU by Irish Oxfam and French startup Sempo pioneered a decentralised model for the delivery of international disaster aid.
CKH2020 by French cooperative Kleros is a platform for resolving consumer disputes in e-commerce.
PROSUME by Italian Prosume srl provided a decentralised and autonomous digital marketplace for peer-to-peer energy trading.
EIC Horizon Prizes, funded under the EU’s research and innovation programme Horizon 2020, will reward the best outside-the-box ideas that can solve a major problem facing society. The blockchain technology is already transforming the world of finance, and I look forward to seeing revolutionary decentralised solutions to innovation challenges in many domains.
The Tactile Display Horizon Prize rewarded the individual or team who came up with an affordable, portable, internet-enabled device with a full-page tactile display to be used by visually impaired and blind people.
The Horizon Prize for Affordable High-Tech for Humanitarian Aid rewarded the best, proven, cost-effective, technology-based solutions for humanitarian aid.
