Helping SMEs take the first steps into the Blockchain

Project Information

BlockStart

Grant agreement ID: 828853

DOI

10.3030/828853

Project closed

EC signature date 21 August 2019

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 30 April 2022

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 1 498 725,00

EU contribution

€ 1 498 725,00

Coordinated by

SONAE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE AND TECHNOLOGY SGPS SA
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - BlockStart (Helping SMEs take the first steps into the Blockchain)

Reporting period: 2021-05-01 to 2022-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The intrinsic complexity of DLTs will translate into years of pioneering experimentation, so if Europe wants to become a leader, it has to start spurring its industry now. SMEs face several general challenges towards blockchain technology adoption at this scale, with the main ones being: no capacity for the infrastructural investment needed; no department or in-house capacity to adopt and test new technologies. This is why SMEs regularly take advantage of intermediaries that make the link to know-how that is not directly related to their expertise. However, even most intermediaries are as stumped at DLTs as SMEs in distinguishing potential from hype, showing:
- Lack of understanding of how the DLT works and could be applied to SMEs internal or external processes;
- Lack of awareness on what concrete processes or components could be changed to DLT;
- Lack of knowledge related to existing DLT applications and the market as a whole;
- Lack of information about the benefits, advantages and risks associated with the adoption of DLT.
From the supply-side, we have an increasingly large community of developers and startups creating the future of DLTs - and struggling to find a market for their results. These technological pioneers frequently lack sales skills and the ability to respond to clients’ needs and questions on implementation, functionality, compliance with legal aspects and sustainability.
This was where BlockStart came in: provide clarity and know-how for SMEs and intermediaries to be the first clients for the DLT pioneers in Europe. To achieve this, BlockStart launched 3 sector-specific Open Calls to attract developers. Using a Company Builder approach, BlockStart ran an “acceleration” programme - Prototype - to stimulate the elusive product/market fit. Then, the selected tech providers were matched with pioneering SMEs who tested their solutions in live conditions in the Pilot phase. Funding was granted to both SMEs and DLT developers for business development, technological adaptation and cross-border collaboration.
All along the programme, BlockStart engaged SMEs, intermediaries and policy makers in understanding the framework conditions for the adoption of DLT.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

An overview of the main activities, results and impacts of BlockStart is available in its final summary video (https://youtu.be/JyYFeyPcRLk) and wrap-up article (https://www.blockstart.eu/3-years-of-blockstart/).
Here is a retrospective about the contribution of each work package, throughout the duration of the programme (32 months):
WP1 Coordination – Planning and monitoring of the main project activities, including the administrative and financial coordination of the consortium, funds and sub-grantees management, data management and initiatives toward the programme’s sustainability. 51 consortium meetings where held, 48 deliverables submitted, 5 interim instalment payments made to the consortium partners, as well as the subcontracting payments to 8 external evaluators and sub-grant transfers to 60 DLT developers and 67 SME adopters. Moreover, BlockStart has fostered partnerships with 27 reference partners (https://www.blockstart.eu/partnerships/) and dynamised a digital platform (Slack workspace, with 419 members) that aims to promote the sharing of relevant information and interaction between DLT technology providers, SME adopters, mentors, investors, other intermediaries and consortium partners.
WP2 Engage – Planning and management of relevant open calls, together with the development of a tool to help determine the DLT potential for individual SMEs. The 3 open calls targeting DLT developers from fintech, ICT and retail sectors gathered 317 applications, with the SME adopters’ open calls receiving 173 applications, with all combined calls raising interest from 55 countries. The “Do you need blockchain” tool developed by the consortium (available here: https://www.blockstart.eu/dlt/) was used in 281 occasions.
WP3 Prototype – Acceleration of DLT projects towards market-ready status, through dedicated mentoring and matchmaking with potential SME adopters. The 3 Ideation Kick-off online events combined gathered over 250 participants and facilitated 150+ matchmaking meetings between blockchain solution providers and end-user SMEs. The 3 acceleration stages resulted in the development of 30 promising MVPs, supported by 200+ mentoring sessions with the consortium and a pool of external mentors (https://www.blockstart.eu/mentors/).
WP4 Pilot – Bring the developed DLT solutions closer to the market, by matching them with pioneering SME adopters, supporting the pilot implementations and promoting their public launch in a Demo Day event. All 3 Pilot stages resulted in high satisfaction rates from both solution providers and end-user SMEs (NPS over 90%), culminating in 3 Demo Day events which, combined, attracted more than 500 participants (https://www.blockstart.eu/demo-day-1/ | https://www.blockstart.eu/demo-day-2/ | https://www.blockstart.eu/demo-day-3/).
WP5 Impact – Activities related to intermediary capacity building, policy work, dissemination and multiplying the results of the project. The consortium organized and participated in several blockchain-related events, including webinars for intermediaries and policy makers, pitch sessions and conferences, all showcased on https://www.blockstart.eu/events/. Reports (https://www.blockstart.eu/deliverables/) were made available to the community, as well as 140+ articles (https://www.blockstart.eu/newsroom/). Dissemination of BlockStart and its beneficiary startups (https://www.blockstart.eu/our-startups/) and SMEs (https://www.blockstart.eu/our-adopters/) was boosted by social media, newsletters, press releases and over 200 articles in reference media (https://www.blockstart.eu/press/).
WP6 Ethics requirements – Planning and actions to ensure the project complied with all ethics requirements requested by the European Commission.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The main results of BlockStart programme were the achievement of the following 3 impacts and respective KPIs:
1) More SMEs take advantage of the opportunities offered by DLTs:
- Engaged 55 SMEs to test BlockStart DLT solutions.
- 34 SMEs using BlockStart DLT solutions or spin-offs after the project.
- Reached 3423 SMEs with BlockStart’s DLT introductory materials via intermediaries.
2) More intermediaries are familiar with DLTs and equipped to assist SMEs in this field:
- BlockStart provided DLT assessment in collaboration with 10 intermediaries.
- 65 intermediaries took part in BlockStart programmes as mentors, evaluators or disseminators.
- 12 intermediaries incorporated DLT innovation services in their portfolio.
- 33 intermediaries used the DLT Assessment Tool on our website.
3) Improved framework conditions for the uptake of DLTs and the mitigation of related risks:
- Engaged 9 policy makers, 12 industry leaders and 16 DLT experts in workshops to resolve obstacles to DLT adoption.
- Collected contributions from 121 stakeholders (SMEs, intermediaries, sector representatives, DLT experts, policy makers, etc.) for the development of Policy Recommendations.
- Produced 3 sector-specific reports of Policy Recommendations providing a roadmap for DLT adoption.
- Brought together for a policy conference 180 industry representatives, policy makers, DLT experts, intermediaries and any other relevant stakeholders.

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