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Pre-Information Notice for the EU Blockchain Observatory / Forum
It will consist of both an Observatory and a Forum to gather opinions and to voice concerns around Blockchain and DLT. It will have the ambition to become an EU expertise hub to discuss forward-looking topics on blockchain and develop use cases of interest at EU level.
The purpose will be to inform and assist the European Commission in understanding what role – if any - European public authorities should play to encourage the development and up-take of these technologies and to formulate related policy recommendations.
To that end, the Observatory is expected to
- provide an up to date overview of relevant initiatives relying on Blockchain or Distributed Ledger Technologies around the world and
- follow-up closely the developments of this technology and the related challenges and opportunities for European industry, citizens and governments.
- develop expertise on transversal topics such as infrastructure, governance and validation mechanisms, smart contracts, regulatory and legal challenges, interoperability and standards,
- build and animate a platform for the European blockchain community
- explore possible use cases with a value added at EU level.
The estimated budget is 500.000€ over a period of 2 years. The call for tender will be published during Q2 2017 in TED eTendering.
Observation is an interesting first step, especially if it leads to exploration and then action ! There is an estimated need for €500 M in R&D across continental EU within the next 2-3 years, and a similar amount in Venture funding over the same time span.