Making the world safer with Blockchain

More than 60 computer scientists, software developers, engineers and business economists built different business models around the blockchain technology for a whole weekend at the Blackforest Hackathon. The aim: to make relevant and critical information transparent and credible, to expose fakes and thus make the world a bit safer.

Magdalena Applegrün, Julia Bogner (Recruiting HBM), Fabian Seger, Ralf Maier, Melanie Dold (all BurdaSolutions) and Alex Käfer (Valiton) accompanied the Burda-sponsored event on site.

Paying by Iris-Scan

The functionality and real application examples of the technology were explained in lectures at the beginning of the event.

Blockchain technology is already being used in the refugee camp in Jordan: When refugees shop in the camp's central grocery store, their iris is scanned and this unique imprint is linked to a blockchain in a forgery-proof manner. Thus, refugees can shop cashlessly and securely.

Crypto currencies such as Bitcoin & Co, which are based on Blockchain technology, can be used to pay by app and contracts can be concluded. With this Internet payment method, you are independent of traditional banks and their fees and industry risks.

Three winning teams

From Friday to Sunday, six teams devised different business models and competed for prizes in the categories Vision, Business Model and Technology. The teams "Unchained", "One" and "True Way" won the prize money of 1,000 euros each.

• "Unchained" wants to revolutionise the worldwide trade with a digital handshake based on Blockchain and won the first prize in the business model category with this concept.
• The "One" team replaced the countless bonus cards on the market with a blockchain app and convinced in the technology category.
• "True Way" captivated with its customer focus and visionary approach: This team wants to provide products with an unchangeable blockchain at the producer's in order to reliably record their origin and avoid plagiarism. The team also wants to track the supply chain, calculate the resulting emissions and thus determine an ecological footprint for the product. Environmentally conscious people will love this concept.

Target group in mind

"Through our participation in the Hackathon, we maintain our contacts in the tech scene. Here we are in direct contact with coders - a perfect platform to find new talents".

Melanie Dold, Marketing & Communications Manager BurdaSolutions

Hubert Burda Media sponsored the Blackforest Hackathon for the second time.