Recap: VeChain’s 2nd Bootcamp and Jur’s 2nd Webinar go live at the same time

Recap: VeChain’s 2nd Bootcamp and Jur’s 2nd Webinar go live at the same time

On 12th May 2020, Jur and VeChain delivered their second webinars, with both starting at 10pm (UTC+8). We didn’t want you to miss out so here are the recaps. Don’t forget to watch the third instalment of the VeChain Bootcamp on May 13th at 8pm (UTC+8).

Philosophy and Technology come together to measure the risk towards the future

The Jur webinar series has been a refreshing touch to the blockchain webinar circuit – with speakers focusing on the practical application of the technology. Episode 2 was no different. Jur’s team once again introduced some elements of smart contracts and online dispute resolution to an active audience of lawyers and people with an interest in the legal field. The questions streaming in were generally about how the technology could be applied in practice, with issues such as regulation, jurisdictions, and enforcement as key concerns.

Mantalena Kaili speaks about her interest and concerns with technology

Mantalena Kaili of the European Law Observatory on New Technology was the special guest, giving an interesting talk about the issues facing global societies and the threats that technology may pose. 5G, blockchain, and AI were all big issues, particularly with the legality & ethical considerations of using them. Kaili noted that data was the “gold of our generation” and remained the biggest topic for discussion among regulators, researchers, and watchdog groups. She conceded that technology had a dark side, and that there are many questions remaining to be answered while regulators sit in uncharted territory.

Kaili was highly focused on technology in the justice system, even recalling the teachings of Plato and remarking that justice is a very serious system to be left to humans.

“We need the tools to make work better and fairer, replace inflexible bureaucratic structures with fragile parts. We need to replace what isn’t working correctly, but not humans.”

She closed by stressing that human intelligence combined with technology is key to addressing many of the issues facing society.

A New Era of Sustainable Fashion – My Story Enabled Sustainability Practice

VeChain’s second webinar covered the importance of sustainability and the value of blockchain for socially responsible companies.

Hosted by Jérôme Grillères, VeChain’s GM of Europe, and Gabriele Manno, DNV GL’s Head of Blockchain Solutions, it was a unique opportunity to understand how VeChain’s blockchain expertise and DNV GL’s domain know-how complement each other and enables them to define and map the data collection and processes required to build the right interfaces.

Gabriele started by explaining five key challenges faced by sustainable brands:

  • Customer engagement: building meaningful interactions with an increasingly connected, tech savvy and better informed consumer profile
  • Information sharing: providing relevant data to customers and stakeholders in the supply chain
  • Brand credibility: developing products customers can trust and using them to build customer confidence and loyalty for the brand
  • Technology adoption: leveraging new technologies such as IoT, blockchain or VR to increase process efficiencies
  • End-of-life solutions: designing disposal mechanisms such as recycling or upcycling to minimise a product’s impact at the end of its useful life

The presentation followed with an overview of My Story, the benefits of building it on ToolChain and how it creates value for businesses.

The benefits of using My Story

From a marketing perspective, My Story enables brands to interact with consumers in an interactive way. By scanning a tag or QR code, customers are forwarded to a landing page where information specific to the product of interest (such as design concepts, raw materials or sustainability certifications) can be reviewed. It gives brands an additional touchpoint through which to tell a story and showcase the company’s core values and what it stands for.

Simon Sinek: “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe”

With plans to grow My Story into a more comprehensive service, additional functionalities and the option to create landing apps will be introduced. Companies will be able to gamify the purchasing process and design new programs to engage with customers. Loyalty and social schemes, for instance, could be developed to incentivise consumers who buy sustainable products or recycle and donate unused items.

From an operational standpoint, My Story provides the benefits of digital authentication, monitoring and traceability; increasing assurance efficiencies, tackling anti-counterfeiting challenges and improving product quality and channel control procedures.

Jérôme and Gabriele shared how My Story has helped brands optimise their data measurement, auditing and verification process and how it enables brands to convert data into actionable insights. Gabriele proceeded by explaining VeChain’s role in My Story and how ToolChain’s customisable interface, compatibility with different types of data sources and flexibility to build tailored verification and certification checklist templates makes it the best blockchain available to power the service.

The webinar concluded with a brief discussion on what may happen as more fashion brands adopt My Story how the ecosystem will continue to expand.

What a future sustainable fashion ecosystem could involve

VeChain101 Analysis:

The webinars show that VeChain, DNV GL, and Jur both have a clear idea of where they need to be and how they can provide value to the business world. It’s impressive to see professionals like Gabrielle Manno and Mantalena Kaili taking the time to remark on this technology. However, it’s clear that these significant industry shifts towards fashion sustainability and decentralized justice will be a gradual transition. For My Story, the results are already starting to show up in our retail outlets. On Jur’s side, their CTO Luca Daniel offered a timeline of 2-3 months before the release of their next prototype, so interested users will need to be patient. One thing is for sure, with the role these solutions will play in society, the results will be worth waiting for.

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All you need to know about VeChain’s Bootcamp series

All you need to know about VeChain’s Bootcamp series

Whenever there are challenges, there are opportunities.

COVID-19 is forcing companies to rethink their daily operations and fast-track digital transformation. This puts pressure on businesses but accelerates the adoption of new technologies like blockchain. With increasing interest, VeChain has introduced VeChain BootCamp; an initiative to educate, grow and engage with potential clients, developers and the community via live stream webinars. The idea is to offer online courses on how to build business applications with VechainThor and ToolChain as well as to share key learning lessons from their partnerships. One thing to keep in mind during these webinars: They aren’t designed for the cryptocurrency community to learn about new partnerships and announcements. They are designed to help people not familiar with VeChain’s core service offering learn more about what digitalization can bring to a business, and why they should select VeChain as the platform to build on. The first one, with CEO Sunny Lu, was designed as an overall intro to the series, with the later ones focusing more on the actual implementation, use cases, and value to businesses.

Episode One: “The Missing Part of Mass adoption”

The BootCamp kicked off with an overview of the blockchain industry that included the value role played by businesses at each stage, and a rundown of VeChain; which included a quick mention of the ToolChain functionalities to be released in the coming months. The session probably didn’t cover new topics to most veterans but would have been particularly relevant for newcomers as it gave a comprehensive introduction to VeChain’s value proposition, its core values, sample partnerships and milestones achieved.  Something I hadn’t previously considered is the concept of data weighting. AI treats all data equally however, by adjusting the data based on their source and trustworthiness, more reliable decisions can potentially be made in the future.

Save & Exit

While Sunny confirmed that some projects have been postponed due to the coronavirus, it was good to hear that deals continue to be signed and that new products are expected from DNV GL. It would have been interesting to know what industries have shown a change in demand and by how much does VeChain expect its adoption forecast to be impacted (positively or negatively) in the coming years.

A video showcasing COS using MyStory to display the product’s sustainability certification was also shared. The landing page is a great opportunity to deliver the item’s unique selling point, suggest complementary goods and maintenance advice or gamify the purchase/shopping experience.

At one point Sunny made an analogy between the early internet days and the current blockchain industry. As he continued to explain ToolChain, I couldn’t avoid drawing similarities between ToolChain and WordPress, the popular CMS that helped take website development to the masses. Like WordPress, ToolChain provides a standardised and user friendly building service where no prior coding knowledge is required. Both simplify an otherwise complicated process and offer:

  • Core features such as ready-to-use templates tailored to your industry
  • Modularised functionality (e.g. plugins)
  • Technical customisation for more complex features (e.g SDKs & APIs for ToolChain)
  • Integration with 3rd party services
  • Minimal development cost and lead time
  • Value to business of all sizes

A quick roadmap showing the dynamic improvements coming to ToolChain

At the same time, while useful in many scenarios, neither is necessarily the best solution for every use case. WordPress however, benefits from a larger community that helps create user guides, tutorials, troubleshooting materials and a support forum; which helped it become the success that it is today. Hence, it was exciting to hear Sunny recognising that VeChain’s technical delivery has outpaced its knowledge base and that more resources will be released down the line. I’m curious to see how VeChain will approach this as companies like Google invest significantly on their educational programs (e.g. Grow with Google), professional certifications (e.g. Google Ads Certification or Google Cloud Certification) and help center catalogs in order to drive demand and onboard new customers.

Up next:

May 12th – Jérôme Grillères (VeChain) and Gabriele Manno (DNV GL)

A New Era of Sustainable Fashion: My Story Enabled Sustainability Practice

Not to heap the pressure on, but this is an event I’m looking forward to for one main reason: Gabriele Manno. As one of the core architects of MyStory, this speaker has a tremendous understanding of what businesses actually need from a technical solution. And unlike the VeChain speakers who have a natural bias to speak highly of their own blockchain, Manno is a third party who isn’t tied down to the platform. For people who have never heard him speak before, he is one of the most technical and business-savvy minds in the blockchain space.

Jérôme Grillères, VeChain’s GM of Europe, is another figure who doesn’t get the exposure some of the other GMs do. He is relatively reserved on social media so there should be a lot of interest in what his projects have been working on. As someone who has been working on ToolChain from the beginning, we are sure his presentation will take a deeper dive than what we saw in the first episode.

May 13th – Sarah Nabaa and David Inderias

Blockchain In Food Provenance: A New Ecosystem Play in Post-Covid World

Like Manno, Inderias is a third-party with a lot of wisdom to bring. His straightforward and blunt approach is great for an industry plagued by overhype and fixations on unrealized potential. Inderias has always been about practical business applications first, exactly the kind of person VeChain needs as a channel partner. His recently announced position as the head of the APAC Provenance Council is another step towards convincing the average goods producer that technology and innovation isn’t just a plaything for Fortune 500 companies to experiment with. On May 13th, David should explain how he plans to use ToolChain, and how it saves his company development effort.

Finally, Sarah Nabaa completes the first group of speakers by bringing the experience she has gained as the leader of VeChain’s Southeast Asia and Australia team. We asked Sarah what to expect, and she explained how excited she was to be working with the APAC Provenance council and suggested viewers tune in to learn more. She’s confident that a number of solid companies will be onboarded thanks to the work her and Inderias are doing in Australia and New Zealand.

Future Episodes

Further sessions are yet to be confirmed but Sunny hinted about a PoA 2.0-SURFACE presentation. The new consensus algorithm was announced earlier this February so it will be interesting to hear directly from Dr Peter Zhou, VeChain’s Chief Scientist. Stay tuned.

Note: VeChain released their own recap, available here.

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