After an almost 2-year long streak of online events, Block.IS Milan mission went live, delivering ideas and introducing SMEs and Clusters in a hybrid way!
Block.IS Cluster Missions aim to bring clusters and blockchain SMEs together, to inspire them to learn more about Block.IS ecosystem and to understand better how they can benefit from EU funding, business and technical support. In order to provide a fully immersive event for Block.IS Cluster Mission participants, the event was collocated with the FTS FEST ‘21 taking place from 6-8th of October in Milan, Italy.
First two days of the FTS fest were devoted to Digital Transformation, The perspective of FinTech 1.0 through 3.0, Digital Public Goods, Impact for positive change, future business model to realize the full potential of cloud, future of financial inclusion and Embedded finance including more than 40 speakers!
ENTERS Block.IS
Followed by a warm introduction by Matteo Rizzi (Co-Founder of FTS Group) and Block.IS project coordinator Antonio Damasceno (F6S), Demetrio Migliorati (Banca Mediolanum Group and Founder of Startup Studio Milan) took the stage and provided a unique insight on the Italian Spunta project as well as the private permissioned distributed ledger through the banker’s lens.
PITCH YOUR STARTUP
During the Pitch Your Startup session moderated by Matteo Rizzi 4 startups, both Block.IS veterans and those that have embarked on the project in the 2nd Open Call have presented their solutions. The viewers got to know:
- Marco Filippi, Founder & CEO at Volvero tackling the mobility and transportation industry;
- Chiara Casoni García, Digital Marketing Specialist presented GATACA, a startup dealing with decentralized digital identity.
- Guruprasad Venkatesha Co-Founder & CEO of b-cube.ai shed light on their solution for trading in cryptocurrencies.
- Cristoforo Mione Co-Founder of Casval, closed the session by presenting its platform to automatically capture the highest stablecoin returns from existing lending protocols on Ethereum at any given time.
PANEL DISCUSSION
Moderated by Alessandro Longoni (Head of FinTech District) the panel discussion: Blockchain Challenges and Opportunities across Tech European Scene has introduced Roberto Capodieci (Blockchain Tech Expert, Founder of BlockchainZoo.com, CEO of DecBC), Stefan Gheban (Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder at Young Platform), Vincenzo Di Nicola (Co-Founder at Conio). Finance market and education, traditional trading, regulations and the power of new digital currencies – spanning across different continents were at the main focus.
PITCH YOUR SME & SHOW US YOUR CLUSTER!
Special sessions were devoted to the selected SMEs and Clusters. Clusters are crucial for the Block.IS ecosystem providing a platform to act as multipliers of comprehensive support our accelerator is offering to innovators.
To prepare the stage Roberto Capodieci opened the session with his inspirational speech and excerpts from his book “New Strategies in Blockchain”. Following the speech, Francesca Aliverti (FTS Group) introduced and opened the floor for questions to chosen participants. The SMEs have represented different domains of blockchain application as well as market readiness introducing both their solutions and along presenting Clusters, their respective networks.
The best SMEs of the Milano Cluster Mission were presented by Marco Crotta of Foodchain, Iwa Pawlak from FORSTUM, and Aivars Lipentis presenting ENRIGA followed by our guest Cluster representatives Tomi Pikuli from AgriNET Albania, Silvana Sanfeliu Giaimo bringing Fondazione Torino Wireless as a regional leader in the digital transition game and Tanja Dukić of Montenegrin ICT Cortex. This was an opportunity for the SMEs to shed more light on their blockchain solutions and for Clusters to showcase the transformative power of the group in bringing about innovation. Followed by both live and online viewers, Block.IS Cluster Mission has served successfully as a platform for networking and creating synergies with innovators, investors and clusters.
BLOCKCHAIN FRAMEWORK AROUND EUROPE
The Second panel discussion introduced Andrea Danielli (CEO and founder of Mopso Srl – Head of Amlet project), Marco Crotta (Blockchain Expert & Consultant at Blockchain Caffe), Demetrio Migliorati (Innovation at Mediolanum; Co-Founder at FoolFarm; Contract Professor at Ca’ Foscari & Cattolica Universities), Francesca Aliverti (Co-Founder FTSGROUP). The panel tackled important aspects of the current blockchain frameworks around Europe, challenges and possibilities the sector is facing, among them the prejudices and misconceptions that terms “blockchain” and “crypto” are surrounded with and how it reflects on the success of startups.
Big thanks go to FTS Group as organizer (especially Francesca Aliverti, Renata Alves and Matteo Rizzi) all of the speakers, panellists, SMEs and Clusters that made this event a success!
In case you have missed any of the sessions, pitches and/or panels, stay tuned and follow us on social media for the recordings! For the upcoming events, keep an eye on the next Cluster Missions taking place in Valencia, Regensburg and Brussels!
