On May 2nd and 3rd, the Smart Economy Expo visited European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. The goal of the Smart Economy Expo is to promote technical education for law makers and regulators so they can establish “innovation friendly laws and regulations by 2020.” The expo focuses on the potential of blockchain technology and its use in economic, humanitarian, social and political fields.
The Smart Economy Expo is a virtual organization created by Neon Exchange marketing and backed by NEX and City of Zion. Additional organizations that participated in the Brussels event included Ontology, Moonlight and NEO.
Fabio Canesin, City of Zion and Neon Exchange co-founder, and Da Hongfei, co-founder of NEO, Onchain and Ontology, were introduced to the Parliament by MEP Ivan Catalin. They were joined on a panel by Peter Kerstens and Carl-Christian Buhr.
Peter is the advisor on financial technology and cybersecurity to the DG FISMA (Director-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union at the European Commission), which is the Commission department responsible for EU policy on banking and finance. He also co-chairs the European Commission’s Taskforce on FinTech.
Dr. Buhr is the Deputy Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel for Digital Economy and Society. He is an economist and computer scientist by training and has advised on developing European cloud computing strategy, data protection, standardization and interoperability policies as well as ICT research policy.
Fabio gave a speech to the Parliament titled “Fair Non-Custodial Exchanges”, and spoke about trade, custody and compliance of cryptocurrency exchanges. Hongfei gave an introduction to blockchain technology, explaining the benefits and describing some of the properties of NEO that will allow it to move forward with compliance.
Afterwards, a 2 hour cocktail was held to allow attendees time to interact with the participating projects, ask questions and learn more about their roles in the smart economy.
On May 3rd, a number of private meetings were held with public officers such as Pierre Chastanet, Acting Head of Unit, Cloud & Software at European Commission, Witte Wijsmuller, Policy Officer at European Commission DG Connect, Cloud & Software and Chiara Mazzone, EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum.
In addition, a Smart Economy Expo booth was installed so that people passing through the Parliament would be able to receive information on blockchain technology and the bourgeoning new economy. The booth was manned by representatives of NEO, Moonlight, NEX, CoZ, nOS and Ontology.
Over the two days, many topics were discussed as participants sought to understand the fundamental elements of the smart economy and how it differs from current solutions. Some re-occuring questions and themes included: opportunities to use blockchain to further economic growth and increase efficiency in both the public and private sectors; applications of law and regulations for blockchain based applications and digital tokens; digital identity and the enforcement of AML and data protection standards; and the establishment of communication channels between all parties to clarify interpretations, provide supporting studies and additional resources.
More information on the Smart Economy Expo can be found at –
http://smarteconomyexpo.org/
About The Author: Dean Jeffs
Dean is a digital project manager who has worked extensively with start ups and agencies in the marketing space. Fascinated by the potential applications of blockchain technology, Dean has a passion for realising the new smart economy.
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