The Baden-Württemberg Foundation is launching a blockchain ideas competition to find innovative and sustainable use cases for distributed ledger technology, particularly blockchain technology. The BW Foundation aims to support research projects that develop innovative solutions to socially relevant problems using blockchain technology.

Only procedures that do not significantly increase energy consumption compared to conventional solutions and are compliant with data protection regulations will be considered. Thus, sustainable concepts are the focus. The BW Foundation is providing 1.4 million euros for the blockchain ideas competition.

The feasibility studies that are sought and supported will demonstrate the economic, technological, and social feasibility of these applications. The goal is to identify risks and evaluate potential solutions. Building on the successful research program Industry 4.0 of the BW Foundation, the ideas competition is aimed at researchers who develop original approaches for the future of blockchain in Baden-Württemberg. In addition, the program promotes the exchange of various actors within this interdisciplinary research field.

Blockchain technology offers comprehensive possibilities and has many untapped opportunities in general. This includes blockchain, a technology for managing data in a non-manipulable register transparently and collectively. This makes it easier to exchange and verify data records within a network without the need for a central authority. Thus, blockchain technology opens up a wide range of applications, such as in the health sector, industrial manufacturing, or public administration.

However, there are also challenges that have hindered the broader use of blockchain technology. One disadvantage for blockchain applications is their response time; the cause being that as the number of users increases, more time is needed for processing and confirmation. Additionally, blockchain applications typically require a lot of computing power, leading to high energy consumption.

To give as many good ideas as possible a chance, the subject spectrum of the blockchain ideas competition is very broad. It ranges from artificial intelligence (AI) to security applications, the energy sector, logistics, and healthcare to production. In principle, other application fields that can benefit from blockchain or other distributed ledger technologies can be addressed. Eligible applicants are publicly funded research institutions and non-profit research institutions. Industrial collaborations are possible under certain circumstances.

My conclusion: Blockchain is a technology of the future. The BW Foundation’s funding for blockchain has caught my attention for years, and I would welcome it if other federal states or foundations followed this pioneering example.

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