ComoNExT is an Innovation Hub located within a former cotton mill in Lomazzo, founded to foster the competitive development of the Como province in Italy, and to promote the culture of innovation. The Hub hosts more than 130 companies and start-ups operating in different fields, which are distinguished by the innovative nature of their businesses. ComoNExT offers services in consulting and acceleration of ideas which are globally competitive; provides support for the development of innovative projects and the launching of new entrepreneurial initiatives; and collaborates with companies and research institutions in finance, internationalization and business development. Within DLT4All project, ComoNExT will bring its competence in running multi-stakeholders’ processes to reach an established goal, by leading WP4 on the development of the methodology for the DLT4All courses, also adding practical cases to the formal learning produced in WP3. Moreover, it will also lead Task 3.3 on peer-to-peer database design and Task 5.1 providing content analysis for the online learning material requirements. Lastly, it will work constantly with other partners on all other WPs.
The European Business Angels Network (EBAN) represents the early stage investor community: 30000+ business angels in Europe and the best networks of investors around Europe and globe, gathering over 180 member organizations more than 50 countries today. EBAN represents a sector estimated to invest 8.1 billion Euros a year and playing a vital role in Europe’s future, notably in the funding of SMEs. Within DLT4All, EBAN is responsible for the communication and dissemination activities. It will also provide some essential contact for the online training materials.
GNOMON INFORMATICS SA is European eHealth interoperability leader and developer of the eHealthPass patient centered platform “Get in charge of your data”. Gnomon Informatics S.A. is an Greek SME with a 24-year track record of successful multi domain projects. Gnomon Informatics S.A. has RTD involvement in IoT, eHealth interoperability and Ambient Assisted Living. Gnomon’s customers range from public sector (eHealth Agencies, Central and local government) to private enterprises both nationally and internationally. Gnomon informatics is an active member of organizations such as Hl7, IHE, ECHA Alliance and is ISO certified 9000 and 27001. In DLT4ALL, Gnomon develops content and identifies case studies bringing the SME aspect on the consortium and leads DLT4ALL evaluation work package.
Insomnia is a business accelerator and incubator from Spain with more than 30 years of experience working with innovative SMEs and start-ups to foster their innovation, digitisation and access to finance capacities. Located in Valencia, Spain, in a +4.000 m2 facilities at the heart of the Valencian start-up ecosystem, Insomnia is since 2017 Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) under the Horizon 2020 I4MS Initiative and runs since 2016 Acceleration Programs in different sectors. Insomnia’s main sectors of activity are Fintech, Blockchain, LegalTech, InsurTech, Industry (shoe, metalurgy, ceramics, automotive), Agriculture, Tourism, Logistics. Role within the project: INSOMNIA it´s leading WP6 (DLT4All Training Programme Roll-out) and brings into the project the European incubators’ world and related experience and will facilitate the training programme with its mentoring and coaching know-how based on its innovative acceleration programme of FinTech startups.
The University of Nicosia (UNIC) is the largest university in Cyprus. It is by most measures, the leading university globally in the digital currency and Blockchain field as it has long considered blockchain technology to be a fundamental technological breakthrough with significant financial and societal implications. As the first university to offer a course on cryptocurrency, a free online course Introduction to Digital Currencies, taught by Andreas Antonopoulos and Antonis Polemitis, the MOOC has enrolled over 30,000 students from 80 countries since 2014. UNIC’s MSc in Digital Currency was the first academic degree programme in the world in this field. Adding to its firsts, UNIC is the first university in the world to offer instant, electronic authentication of its certificates via an online verification tool on its website. This leading role in academia has been recognized by Blockchain industry publications in their evaluation of UNIC’s position among universities involved in the field – CoinDesk (#1, 2016), the Merkle (#1, 2017). Moreover, UNIC organized DECENTRALIZED 2017 and 2018, a major conference series in Europe focused on the business and political implications of Blockchain technologies. UNIC has been awarded the title of “Biggest Contributor to the Rise of Blockchain in 2018” at this year’s annual Blockchain Expo, held in RAI, Amsterdam, on 26-27 June 2018. The University of Nicosia (UNIC) as a leading university globally in the Blockchain field coordinates the DLT4ALL project.
The University of Torino (UNITO, https://www.unito.it/) is one of the largest Italian Universities, with about 70.000 students, 1.800 post-graduate and post-doctoral research fellows. Research and training are performed in 27 Departments, encompassing all scientific disciplines. UNITO is ranked among the top 300 universities out of 1200, together with other five Italian universities (ARWU international ranking). The Department of Computer Science of Università degli Studi di Torino is known for its Artificial Intelligence Group, with about 30 Faculty members and 40 researchers. Its Social Computing Group (with 4 permanent members and 10 temporary staff) has carried out research on NLP, knowledge-based systems, legal ontologies, legal informatics and more recently on Geo-Informatics. Regarding research on distributed ledger, UNITO participates in the EU H2020 CO3 (Digital Disruptive Technologies to Co-create, Co-produce and Co-manage Open Public Services along with Citizens), EU UIA Co-city (blockchain for common good, https://co-city.di.unito.it/) and EU ERDF BLINC (blockchain for migrants inclusion) projects. UNITO will lead the WP3, engaging participants into the co-design process of the DLT4ALL curriculum.
The Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC) is a public university located in the city of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain (with a second campus is located in Lugo, Galicia). It is one of the world's oldest universities in continuous operation. It was founded in 1495 and during its more than 500 years of history it has earned a place amongst the most prestigious universities in Spain. Alltogether, it offers 155 degrees, Masters and PhD programs for over 25000 students and it has a long established experience in the management of international cooperation projects through active participation in different projects and networks. USC will bring to DLT4ALL its know-how and experience in the field of project design and implementation, leading WP2. Preparation and task 3.3. “Consensus mechanisms learning content elaboration”.
SEERC is an overseas research centre of the University of Sheffield, established as a non-profit legal entity in Thessaloniki, Greece. The centre was founded by the International Faculty of the University, CITY College in 2004. Though its “Innovation Policy and Support” research cluster, SEERC is focusing on bringing together academic research and entrepreneurship and fostering innovation at the local and regional levels. Through its “Information & Knowledge Management” Research Cluster the Centre engages in interdisciplinary research activities, investigating new approaches, and methods in Information technologies. The Centre currently employees 10 members of staff, has 36 PhD students and cooperates with over 60 external researchers.