€ 50,000 for the best prototypes at the Dutch Blockchain Hackathon

The Netherlands, Tuesday January 10th, 2017. On 10, 11 and 12 February, the Netherlands will be the epicentre of the latest internet technology - blockchain - at the Dutch Blockchain Hackathon 2017, one of Europe's largest and most challenging hackathons. Blockchain promises to become the biggest IT-revolution since the internet. During the hackathon dozens of teams will launch prototypes for new, ground breaking blockchain applications that will help to organize our society and economy in a smarter way. His Royal Highness Prince Constantijn van Oranje-Nassau, Special Envoy for StartupDelta, will kick off the event on Friday February 10th. An international expert jury will award a total of € 50,000 to the best solutions on the final day.

The hackathon will take place at The Big Building in Groningen, the Netherlands - also known as Holland's Little Berlin. Here, hundreds of participants will be provided with super fast internet and the latest technology by parties such as Microsoft, IBM, Ethereum, BigchainDB and Blockchain.com. For the first time ever, entrepreneurs, software developers, students, creative spirits, interface designers and data wizards in this area will work together with specialists of the Dutch government, regulatory authorities, knowledge institutions, and large companies. Never before has such a large-scale collaboration on the development of blockchain technology taken place. With this consortium, the Netherlands takes a leading role worldwide.

Both the government and large enterprises in the Netherlands are very interested in the potential of blockchain for delivering solutions for actual social challenges. What if bureaucracy and red tape could be eradicated? Or maybe we could stop identity fraud? How about if we ourselves decided on how to invest our pension funds, or where our energy is generated and supplied, and by whom? Is it possible to offer our own public services to the international community? These are relevant issues in our current society and economy - and blockchain technology has the potential to deliver solutions. The World Economic Forum named blockchain as one of the seven technologies with the highest potential for drastically changing our world.

At the hackathon, teams will focus on one of the five tracks: digital identity, re-inventing government, international trade and business, the future of pensions, and energy transition. A cash reward of € 10,000 is available for each track. The winner will receive € 7,500, the runner-up gets € 2,500. The track sponsors are: National service of Identity data (Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations), ICTU.nl (IT execution office of the Dutch Government), the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, Pension fund managers APG & PGGM, Energy Academy Europe, Nuon / Vattenfall and Nederlandse Gasunie N.V. (Dutch Gas Union N.V.). A maximum of ten teams (each consisting of 3-8 participants) can compete in each track. Participation in the hackathon is free and includes meals. Register at http://blockchainhackathon.eu

The hackathon is organized by the Dutch company DutchChain, and is supported by a unique consortium of public and private partners (private: ING, Exact Software, APG, EBPI, 216 Accountants, Deloitte, Microsoft, and IBM; public: Ministry of Economic Affairs, Dutch Digital Delta, the Chamber of Commerce, Investment and Development Agency for the Northern Netherlands, University of Groningen, Municipality of Groningen, the Provinces of Drenthe and Groningen, the National Commissioner for Digital Government, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets, and De Nederlandsche Bank). StartupDelta also supports the hackathon.

Partly owing to the active contributions of those involved, participants will have a unique opportunity to gain a substantial knowledge advantage in the development and implementation of blockchain. In addition, the Dutch Blockchain Hackathon 2017 provides the foundation of an informal network of experts and pioneers.

More than 1.5 billion euros has been invested in blockchain companies so far. Several studies, including by Deloitte, predict worldwide investments of many billions in this technology in the near future. This creates extra growth potential for companies and countries that are leading in the field. Teams that want to lead the way and shape the future can register at http://blockchainhackathon.eu free of charge, to join this milestone event.

About the Dutch Blockchain Hackathon
The Dutch Blockchain Hackathon, organized by DutchChain, is Europe's biggest hackathon, consisting of a year-long innovation programme that culminates in a three-day hackathon in February 2017, where solutions with international potential are found for social challenges by joining forces. The aim of the hackathon is to develop, connect, enforce, and accelerate knowledge, solutions, and the ecosystem itself by means of creating equal cooperation and opportunities with and for start-ups and scale-ups, students, small and medium-sized IT companies and corporates, knowledge institutions, and public organizations. This allows the winning solutions and equal competition to be deployed to organize our society smarter. The affiliated acceleration programme helps the partners involved and the winning teams to implement their solution in a way that is scalable.

The Advisory Board consists of:

  • Willem Vermeend (Special Envoy FinTech)
  • Bas Eenhoorn (National Commissioner for Digital Government)
  • René Penning de Vries (Director Dutch Digital Delta/ Ministry of Economic Affairs)
  • Claudia Zuiderwijk (Chairman of the Board of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce)
  • Peter den Oudsten (Mayor of the Municipality of Groningen)
  • Professor Lex Hoogduin (Professor Complexity and Uncertainty University of Groningen, Director GloComNet)
  • Mark Buitenhek (Global Head of Transaction Services, ING Bank)
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