European DIGITAL SME Alliance and Block.IS, in cooperation with Montenegrin IT Cluster, virtually provided a deep-dive into Blockchain in Europe to the members of the Montenegrin IT ecosystem.
The meeting gathered around 30 members from the Montenegrin IT cluster interested in learning more about blockchain technology and its application across sectors. The speakers were comprised of Déborah Goll from the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, as well as two members of DIGITAL SME, Benedetto Biondi from Blockchain Italia and Emiliyan Enev from Recheck.io.
Blockchain Italia is a software house based in Milan, specialised in fintech and blockchain Italia, while Recheck.io is a Dutch-Bulgarian SME that got into blockchain in 2016 as one of the pioneers and provides a tool for secure data sharing. The Montenegrin IT Cluster (ITCMNE), is a non-profit organisation established in 2013 comprised of Montenegro-based IT companies whose main business activities are the development of e-gov applications and implementation of cross-industry services.
One of the project’s aims is to build a cross-border and cross-sectoral innovation ecosystem in the sectors agrifood, logistics and fintech, and the European DIGITAL SME Alliance organised an event to share a deeper insight into blockchain technology as well as to provide real-life and concrete examples of blockchain-based use cases in different sectors.
Déborah Goll, project manager at the European DIGITAL SME Alliance, first provided the participants with a brief overview of the Block.IS project and its objectives then presented the current opportunities for SMEs and clusters to get involved in the Block.IS ecosystem, namely the Block.IS Cluster Missions and the Block.IS Challenges.
Following this introduction, the next presentation by Benedetto Biondi from Blockchain Italia allowed the participants to better understand blockchain technologies and their use. He first explained the main characteristics and features of blockchain (distributed database, peer-to-peer technology, digital contracts, cryptography, etc.), then highlighted the endless amount of possible use of this technology, such as notarisation, tokenisation, traceability, payments, smart contracts, certification. He also presented two examples of blockchain applications, namely in the food sector (Italian pasta industry) and the logistics sector (global supply chains).
The first use-case was then presented by Emiliyan Enev, CEO at Recheck.io. Recheck.io provides access to blockchain technologies to organisations, allowing them to share sensitive data in a private and secure way by using blockchain as a notary. He illustrated his points via a live demo of his company’s solution.
The second use case focused on fintech. Benedetto Biondi presented the lending protocol FolksFinance, a company of which he is the CEO. He first briefly introduced the concepts of decentralized finance and lending protocols. FolksFinance, as a lending protocol, allows users to deposit and lend money with interests to other users in need of loans.
After the presentations, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions to the speakers, which led to an informative and interactive discussion. The audience showed a great interest in the topic as well as in further participation in the Block.IS Ecosystem.
