Business & Money | Tuesday 1 May, 2018 2:53 am |

In line with the newly announced UAE Blockchain Strategy 2021 and the Dubai Blockchain Strategy 2020, the Future Blockchain Summit, officially hosted by Smart Dubai and organised by Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), and emerging as the world’s largest and most influential and creative blockchain festival, today announced a prestigious, all-star speaker line-up of global and regional influencers and leaders. The inaugural event, set to welcome chiefs of industry and visionary technologists from around the world, will take place from May 2-3, 2018 at Dubai World Trade Centre.

 

Future Blockchain Summit will showcase top UAE blockchain leaders including His Excellency Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, who will deliver a keynote address, and Her Excellency Dr Aisha Bint Butti Bin Bishr, Director General, Smart Dubai, who is driving the Dubai Blockchain Strategy.

 

With over 100 hours of content across five stages, in-depth workshops, the region’s largest blockchain exhibition and more, Future Blockchain Summit will demystify blockchain and spotlight how the technology is transforming business and daily lives.

 

Global blockchain influencers head to Dubai

The Future Blockchain Summit will host over 100 speakers, including blockchain entrepreneurs and tech world headliners Imogen Heap, a two-time Grammy winner and founder of Mycelia, an experimental music distribution platform using blockchain-based technology; Perianne Boring, founder of the world’s first trade association for digital assets and blockchain industry, Chamber of Digital Commerce USA; Dr Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia and CIO of Everipedia, a Wikipedia 2.0 built on the blockchain; and Michael Owen, former England and Manchester United footballer, who has teamed up with Global Crypto Offering Exchange (GCOX) to release his “Owen Coin” crypto-currency.

 

Dr Sanger, in advance of his address at Future Blockchain Summit, said: “Blockchain has immense untapped potential. Through Everipedia, we offer the world's largest English encyclopaedia by content and we’re excited to showcase how we’re leveraging blockchain to offer the next-generation of Wikipedia. UAE is a global first-mover in embracing this transformation technology, while empowering innovators and visionaries to jointly influence and shape the future of the blockchain industry. At the Future Blockchain Summit, I look forward to connecting with like-minded technologists and fellow blockchain influencers.”

 

Other blockchain game-changers include Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director of Hyperledger, the biggest network of blockchain developers and programmers and primary developer of the Apache Web server, the world’s most popular web server software; as well as Brock Pierce, Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, co-founder of Blockchain Capital, co-founder and Head of Strategy at Block.one and founding board member of Mastercoin (inventor of the ICO).

 

With the aim to fuel UAE’s ambition to become a world leader in the adoption of the nascent blockchain technology, the Future Blockchain Summit will also feature the world’s first Global Leaders Exchange program, in partnership with PwC. This program will include exclusive invitation-only closed-door sessions, gathering senior government blockchain champions and C-Level industry enablers. The white paper developed through these sessions will advance worldwide progress in resolving legislation and regulations issues of the industry.

 

UAE leading the charge for blockchain adoption

The first city-hosted blockchain event, Future Blockchain Summit comes at a strategic time in the region’s blockchain adoption as the UAE leads the charge for innovation and application of the technology. The UAE Blockchain Strategy 2021 is poised to help the government prepare for future challenges and contribute to saving AED11 billion spent annually on document transactions and physical documents.

 

Blockchain technology is now being implemented by Dubai government entities at a rapid pace as evidenced by the numerous pilot projects announced by key department and authorities including Dubai Land Department, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), Dubai Municipality and Dubai Health Authority. These government pioneers will be showcasing their progress during Future Blockchain Summit. The event will function as the critical focal point for the latest advancements in blockchain applications for government and business, as well as educating the public about blockchain’s impact on our everyday lives through the free-to-attend exhibition, workshops and free content sessions.

 

“The Future Blockchain Summit is the world’s first gathering of the most influential blockchain thought-leaders and trail-blazing practitioners from public service to private enterprises across all businesses in the world’s future blockchain capital of Dubai. Blockchain protagonists and enthusiasts shall jointly exchange and challenge in a bid to accelerate the global blockchain agenda. The Summit will offer tremendous discovery, collaboration and pioneering opportunities in blockchain for society and businesses in the UAE and worldwide. It’s blockchain for business and social good. Never before has Dubai hosted more blockchain powerhouse influencers at the same time,” remarked Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President, Events Management, DWTC.

 

Future Blockchain Summit will also host the Global Blockchain Startups Marketplace. Global breakthrough startups include: SettleMint, a Belgium-based software company that provides high quality distributed middleware and solutions to companies that want to leverage the blockchain technology; Block Gemini, a Dubai-based blockchain development and consultancy firm; and Medical Chain, a platform that provides personalised healthcare to optimise patient outcomes by improving the visibility of electronic health records for patients and providers. Other notable startups in participation are: Arabian Chain Technology, Alissia, VR 360 Tech, Block Obi, FEGI (Future Edutainment Games Innovator), and Xeru.

 

Strategic Partners include DarkMatter, DEWA, Dubai Land Department / Emirates Real Estate Solutions (ERES), Etisalat Digital, IBM, GCOX (Global Crypto Offering Exchange), Relam Investment, VR All Art and The Blockchain Group. Other partners include Dubai Economy, Dubai Municipality, Duwaya Investment, Microsoft, NEM, Wasl Properties, Apla, Avanza, Block Gemini, Consensys, Oracle, Dubai Health Authority, Airtherium, Evoteq, Hacken, Momentum (Mobilebridge), Nynja and TILL.