COMBINING BLOCKCHAIN AND BIKE CHAIN TECHNOLOGY

Ok, so we’ve all heard of blockchain, unless you’ve been living under a particularly heavy and sound absorbing block for the last 5 years. Clearly, a lot of nerds know how the technology works. But there aren’t too many business decision-makers who understand how it’s impacting on their business today, let alone what it’s likely to do over the next 5 years.

Enter locii, a Sydney-based startup with a passion for combining blockchain technology with real-world problems. locii recently teamed up with Grand Tours Projects, a bike touring company in Switzerland, to host a workshop for executives and innovative thinkers from around the globe at the beautiful and exclusive 5-star Park Gstaad Hotel. Participants included CEOs of non-governmental organizations, global corporations and start-up businesses. The theme of the workshop was … wait for it … blockchain for the real world!

Day 1 of the workshop focused on how we can contribute to the mission of providing identities to the 1.1 billion people on the planet without any formal identity document, as well as how to protect the identity of those who do have it. Two very talented and passionate students studying Entrepreneurial Leadership, Maria Braco Arguibide & Leire Reparaz from Spain, led the discussion and shared their considerable practical experience in this space. Christoph von Toggenburg, CEO of World Vision Switzerland, brought some illuminating insights on what will make a difference on the ground, particularly in fragile environments.

Day 2 was all about blockchain and logistics. Iain MacDonald from laava moderated an engaging session that focused on innovation and macro trends and how they impact customer behaviour. Christoph Sauser, arguably the world’s best ever mountain biker with four world championship titles and five times winner of the mountain bike stage race Cape Epic revealed his new coffee company Horizonte Coffee Roasters. Thanks, Christoph for your chemex and cold brew coffee - it was delicious! Jonquil Hackenberg from Infosys also joined in on Day 2 and bestowed some amazing insights and inspired everyone with her passion for impact, evidence with her recent nomination for woman of the year for “2019 Women in IT Awards & Summit Europe”.

On Day 3 the very committed crypto community leader, Jérôme Bailly as the new Chair of the Crypto Valley Association joined us with his industry expertise and equally talented cycling skills. While the very clever Chrissy Martin Meier shared her insights on the role of identity in developing countries including her work with the World Bank’s ID4D initiative. locii then wrapped up the three days that had served to outline and discuss the real-world challenges of consumers,enterprises and NGO’s with a walkthrough demonstration of their trUUth product solutions.

trUUth KYC supports the Know Your Customer process with a digital identity solution that brings a new level of security and ease of use using trUUth MBA (multi-biometric authentication). trUUth AML is an innovative blockchain-based approach using real-time smart contracts for ‘on-the-fly’ automated Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing. Finally, trUUth consent gives consumers comfort that their personal data can only be accessed by them using their biometrics and by those they consent to share their personal data with, confident in the knowledge the recipient must also prove their identity when accessing it. Check out these solutions at www.locii.id.

Finally, a big thanks to all the other participants who attended and to Keith Tuffley and the amazing team at Grand Tour Projects. Particularly Sarah Maclachlan who helped organise the whole event and our bike tour guide Uri Martins, recently retired from the professional tour with the Amore e Vita pro cycling team. We were thrilled each day with a different mountain road to climb in the awesome setting of the Alps of Switzerland.

The blend of the stunning location, daily cycling options along with innovative and action-focused sessions, proved to be the recipe for a very inspiring event. Stay tuned for the next one.