Pioneers Discover is excited to be working with Swisspower, Iberdrola and the Energy Web Foundation to organize and execute a hackathon dedicated to finding use cases for Blockchain in the energy industry in. The Energy Blockchain Hack takes place from December 3rd-5th, at INNOSpace in Bern.
Swisspower is a strategic alliance of Swiss energy utilities, while Iberdrola is a well-known multinational energy utility based in Spain. The Energy Web Foundation is a global non-profit organization focused on accelerating Blockchain technology across the energy sector.
The potential for Blockchain in the energy industry has received relatively little attention from the innovation community thus far, but it’s a sign of the times that such major organizations are making a concerted effort to engage with startups on this subject.
With applications closing on November 9th, a reminder that we’re primarily targeting startups from the DACH region – Germany, Austria and Switzerland. However those from Europe and all over the world are welcome to apply. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered up to a value of €500.
The startups will have the opportunity to show their skills as they hack real-world challenges related to the decentralization and the digitization of the energy sector, coming up with a developed concept and minimum viable product in 48 hours. Each of the three sponsors has issued a specific challenge:
Energy Web Foundation
Design an end-to-end provenance platform for goods to capture the CO2 footprint throughout the lifecycle (extract, process, package, distribute, consume/destroy) based on different criteria such as emission and combustion factors. Offset the CO2 footprint on a marketplace. Provide a mechanism based on common standards/specifications to prove the footprint and offset.
Iberdrola Challenge
Register a device with attributes like OEM, capacity, operating specs, calibration criterion, etc. Provide a reputation score based on the device performance. Provide a mechanism to create a blacklist of rogue devices. A possible approach could be to use machine learning algorithm to detect abnormal behavior.
Swisspower Challenge
Demonstrate/model a photovoltaic electricity production system connected to the Blockchain network. Demonstrate/model aggregated consumption of households, along with forecasting of the individual household load demand (based on real data if possible). Show the ability to trade locally-produced electricity through contracts.
At the same time as working on creative solutions to these challenges, the startups will also be able to show off their own products as they meet international industry players. And there’s potential to work with the hosts or sponsors in follow-on projects.
The winning startup will also receive two tickets to Pioneers ’19. Our flagship event takes place in Vienna on May 9th-10th.
The Energy Blockchain Hack partners believe that decentralized technology has the potential to accelerate the transition towards a cleaner, more resilient, and more cost effective energy system.
“The Energy Blockchain Hack provides relevant answers to the challenges municipal utilities face today,” comments Ronny Kaufmann, CEO of Swisspower. “I’m convinced that this hackathon will further foster the application of blockchain applications within the energy industry.”
Hervé Touati, CEO of the Energy Web Foundation adds: "The Energy Blockchain Hack is an exciting way to see the potential of blockchain in the energy sector being realized: it will produce actual solutions to real challenges faced by utilities and other energy companies globally."
Apply for the hackathon and other opportunities via the Pioneers Discover Open Calls page here!
