Creating a More Enterprising, Trusted and Caring World: All Happening in Crypto Valley

Creating a More Enterprising, Trusted and Caring World: All Happening in Crypto Valley

I live in an enterprising and innovative city. There are smart people everywhere, and there are new technology businesses popping-up everywhere.

But do we have the ecosystem to create truly cutting edge companies? Are we providing the ecosystem for new companies to push forward new ideas and innovate at scale? Do we truly have governments, investors, and the public sector on-side to build amazing new technology companies?

Well, I believe, Crypto Valley in Switzerland has built a near perfect infrastructure for creating the next generation of disruptive companies. It is a place which is friendly to innovation, and welcomes those with great ideas from around the world. By disruption, I mean that they will challenge existing methods and thinking, and thrive while others with the same old technology will fail. These new companies will not build information systems using methods that were defined in the 1980s, but look to new trustworthy methods of creating new worlds, and which have trust embedded into every single binary digit.

As an academic, I believe in collaboration and knowledge. I see physical borders as something from the past, while governments of the world controlled their economies. Our new world is not quite physical anymore, it is virtual, and does not represent borders. Those physical borders once defined the scope of our laws and regulations, but they have disappeared, to be replaced by new rights of privacy, content, and governance.

And so, after presenting at the Crypto Valley Conference last year, I was invited back to

It was held in Rothreuz and included ambassadors from the British, US and Canadian embassies. The thing you are immediately struck with in Cypto Valley, is that there are new buildings created everywhere you look. But they are not just any old industrial estate, the buildings are created to define new communities, where families can live. The transport system integrates with these new communities, and everything just feels so perfect for the creation of new ideas:

I really wish town planners in my own city took so much care in building new communities, especially in making every element fit together — places where families can live alongside the creation of new businesses And so, flying the flag for the UK and Scotland, I outlined some of our work:

But it was after my presentation, that I learnt most. First, it was the usage of blockchain methods to support those who benefit least from the supply of silk. While that lovely silk scarf you have in your cupboard may have cost a bit of money, very little of that would have gone to the hard-working farmers and to those involved in the supply chain in India. It is left to large companies to profit from the sweat and labour of others.

Prof. Dr. Rohini K. Srihari (University at Buffalo, USA) outlined her work in crowdsourcing data around the blockchain for the silk supply chain, and how we can build up more information about how the whole process worked. This was NOT because developed countries wanted to understand the risks around the supply of their precious goods, but in helping those in most need in the supply chain:

It is work like this, that restores your faith in academics doing good things, and to be there to look after those in most need. Her work looked at the creation of GroundTruth:

And where data was gathered around the areas (crowd-sourced and hyperlocal), and where a consensus was drawn on key events which could affect the supply chain. These could be political or even social events, and where interventions could be made to support those involved:

In a world full of fake news and global media, it is so nice to see the crowd-sourcing of local data being used for good. The next presentation also had a major effect on me, as Prof. Dr. Victoria Lemieux (University of British Columbia, Canada) defined how we best map our human world into a digital space. I listened to every single word, and every single word she said made complete sense to me …

‘Our data are us. We are our data …”

She outlined for health care, that we would always treat people with respect, and not dump them on the streets, and so we must have the same respect for our data in health care, and we must now try to reward citizens for providing their data:

Her focus at her university is to integrate blockchain methods to do some good in the world, and for this she’s setup Blockathons. These now have 35 academic partners, over 400 affiliates, and around 14 projects:

These are not projects which make money for people, they are projects which tackled core issues which our society often fails to deal with:

And for me, I hope we all build more bridges and knock down our walls. Scotland and the UK are great counties to collaborate with — and you must avoid all the negative comments at the present. For Scotland, education, knowledge exchange, and collaboration are natural for us, and we should look to Crypto Valley as a role-model into building an ecosystem which will scale into the 21st Century:

We are so privileged in our work to be supported by Blockpass IDN for the Blockpass ID Lab, and who have funded independent research into the key barriers within building a more trusted word.

So, go on, create a more caring and trusted world … and break down the walls of our past. Economic development — and building the companies of the future — must a key part of any strategy within our communities and cities, and without it, our societies will fail. If we can match these to doing good things for those who need it most, we will have built a more caring world.

In my home city, I would like to see more debates such as the one I attended in Switzerland, and where technologists can mix with health care professionals and social scientists, and interchange ideas. At the core of innovation, is knowledge exchange and we need more debate and focus on what our future world will look like. How could we build our communities? How do we best support those who are in most need? How do we stimulate new ideas and support them into the future?

Go and built a world that is fit for the 21st Century…