Europe, the Commission and the Blockchain

That Europe has a technological disadvantage and lacks large firms in areas like social media, e-commerce and cloud computing is a secret to no one. Caught between the USA and China, European politicians are fretting that the Old Continent's citizens will have to follow rules written elsewhere. As The Economist observes, Europe's patchwork is a disadvantage. "Despite the EU's single market, in Europe [skilled labour and capital] remain in national ponds. [...] In Brussels, officials talk of a 'Sputnik moment'".

The European Parliament as well as the EU Commission, two of the three "pace setting" Institutions in the EU architecture, have set their eyes on AI (artificial intelligence) and blockchain as potential areas where Europe should focus, and attempt to keep up with the rapid innovation taking place all over the world.

Thus the Commission has set up inside its Directorate General for Information Technology (DIGIT) a small, but feisty "Blockchain Competence Center". And it is fitting that after a "proof of concept", the first "blockchain pilot project" is addressing precisely ... the European patchwork holding both data and capital (the blood of the digital revolution) in national ponds!

This pilot project, the "European Financial Transparency Gateway" has been described in a past post. In this post, I'd like to introduce the people behind the "BLKCC" ("Blockchain Competence Center") acronym to the steem community.

The "Blkcc-ians"

Alex

I'll start with Alex Kampa (alias @sikoba) who is our Senior Technology Expert, wearing a blue shirt in this picture and working with Iulian on an ethereum smart contract deployment.
alex+iulian.jpg

Christophe

Christophe Delogne (@christophe51) is our Blockchain Analyst. He's able to bridge the communication gap between the "policy officers" of the Commission and the technology-focused "blockchain heads" surrounding him.

Iulian

Our "Blockchain Architect" is Iulian Nita, PhD (alias @smartiot), who you can see (wearing a white shirt) next to Alex in the pictures above. Iulian is a ruthless "do-er" - he gets things done!

Pablo

Pablo Staiano (@pstaiano) is our "blockchain wizard", a uniquely gifted DevOps engineer, a true "Jimi Hendrix of the Blockchain"

Additional credits

Haven't made the cut: Stéphane Vincent (@spirou), our cryptography expert and EFTG's genial Project Manager and OpenPM² expert, Elias Michelioudakis (@elias.mic)

Standing on the shoulder of Giants

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.
Isaac Newton

However, if we got where we are today, it is in great part thanks to the steem blockchain, the steem community and especially thanks to @utopian-io.

steem+utopian-giants-2.jpg
^{sources for the background image, steem symbol and utopian.io symbol}

These are the giants on whose shoulders we were able to stand. A deep, heartfelt "Thank you!" to @elear and his team, to @jga and @nothingismagick and @outwork and all those who have helped and continue to help us turn the steem blockchain into the unique tool with which we help crafting a European Union, sewing together seamlessly data, and perhaps also capital soon.

The Blockchain Competence Center (BLKCC)