Last week I attended the Democracy 4 All conference in Barcelona, Spain.

I will bring my learnings and information gathered in form of an article series going through the pannels and talks that I was part off.

This edition will focus on the Opening Session.

Let’s begin!

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The Democracy4all is an international conference held annually since 2019, coming this year to its 4th edition.

The conference focuses on the latest technological advances and their applications in the field of democracy.

The conference is organized by the Democracy4all Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting democracy around the world.

This year’s event was held over two days, 10-11th November 2022, and the location chosen for this occasion was La Llotja de Mar, an impressive historical building in Barcelona, over 750 years old.

Democracy4All is based on the 12 Principles of Good Democratic Governance set by the Council of Europe.

The conference was opened by Mr. Quirze Salomó, CEO of the Blockchain Centre of Catalonia - CBCat) which mentioned that the main driver for this conference was the fact that Barcelona has a powerful industry of digital democracy. D4A is also inspired by the strong democratic values of the city of Barcelona and Catalonia.

The building in which the conference took place was chosen also as a statement of democracy. The building where the conference was held was a building belonging to Consulat del Mar, a mediation company that started 750 years ago.

This event is considered to be a niche event, as most of the blockchain events' focus lies on Defi, NFTs, cryptocurrencies, etc.

With the threats to democracy that we experience in different jurisdictions, the world is moving towards hyper-globalization, because of the Metaverse. As globalization spreads, decentralization is the answer to protect democracy in the future global world.

This year the event also touched on topics like democracy and governance of our physical world but also in the digital world we are building called Metaverse.

The word was then passed to Lluís Juncà, Managing Director for Innovation, Social Economy, and Entrepreneurship at Generalitat de Catalunya. He stated that the government of Catalonia is fully committed to technology and innovation.

Three figures to support the last statement:

• Catalonia accounts for only 1% of Europe’s population, but at the same time delivers almost 2.6% of all European scientific production.

• Strong ICT and digital sector with more than 17,000 companies in Catalonia with a total revenue of 21 billion Euros annually.

• Employment in high-technology jobs stands at 5.3% which is higher than the European average of 4.8%.

Thus, Catalonia’s interest in blockchain is only natural. They want to explore the use and opportunities the blockchain offers in terms of Digital Identity, Property Registry, Electronic Voting, Notary Documents, or Cryptocurrency.

Catalonia wants to empower its citizens and companies to be in control of their digital assets.

Back in 2019, the government of Catalonia already made its Blockchain Strategy with the following goals:

• set Catalonia at the forefront of the use and development of Blockchain technology

• promote the use of blockchain among public authorities

• boost training and talent creation in the field of blockchain technologies

• promote research and innovation in the subject at universities, research groups, and technology centers.

• promote the development of new industries that can take advantage of blockchain technology

• raise awareness among citizens over the possibility of blockchain technologies

Catalonia wants to create a safe environment, nurturing the collaboration between administration, companies, universities & academia, and citizens.

In tomorrow’s post, I will summarize the first key-note speech - Blockchain: On the mission to save democracy by Mr. David Chaum.

🔔 If you would like to be notified when a new article is out of the oven, then Subscribe via the button below.

And if you find the information useful, you could collect this article and use it for future reference. Don’t be shy to share it with a friend!

Last week I attended the Democracy 4 All conference in Barcelona, Spain.

I will bring my learnings and information gathered in form of an article series going through the pannels and talks that I was part off.

This edition will focus on the Opening Session.

Let’s begin!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Democracy4all is an international conference held annually since 2019, coming this year to its 4th edition.

The conference focuses on the latest technological advances and their applications in the field of democracy.

The conference is organized by the Democracy4all Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting democracy around the world.

This year’s event was held over two days, 10-11th November 2022, and the location chosen for this occasion was La Llotja de Mar, an impressive historical building in Barcelona, over 750 years old.

Democracy4All is based on the 12 Principles of Good Democratic Governance set by the Council of Europe.

The conference was opened by Mr. Quirze Salomó, CEO of the Blockchain Centre of Catalonia - CBCat) which mentioned that the main driver for this conference was the fact that Barcelona has a powerful industry of digital democracy. D4A is also inspired by the strong democratic values of the city of Barcelona and Catalonia.

The building in which the conference took place was chosen also as a statement of democracy. The building where the conference was held was a building belonging to Consulat del Mar, a mediation company that started 750 years ago.

This event is considered to be a niche event, as most of the blockchain events' focus lies on Defi, NFTs, cryptocurrencies, etc.

With the threats to democracy that we experience in different jurisdictions, the world is moving towards hyper-globalization, because of the Metaverse. As globalization spreads, decentralization is the answer to protect democracy in the future global world.

This year the event also touched on topics like democracy and governance of our physical world but also in the digital world we are building called Metaverse.

The word was then passed to Lluís Juncà, Managing Director for Innovation, Social Economy, and Entrepreneurship at Generalitat de Catalunya. He stated that the government of Catalonia is fully committed to technology and innovation.

Three figures to support the last statement:

• Catalonia accounts for only 1% of Europe’s population, but at the same time delivers almost 2.6% of all European scientific production.

• Strong ICT and digital sector with more than 17,000 companies in Catalonia with a total revenue of 21 billion Euros annually.

• Employment in high-technology jobs stands at 5.3% which is higher than the European average of 4.8%.

Thus, Catalonia’s interest in blockchain is only natural. They want to explore the use and opportunities the blockchain offers in terms of Digital Identity, Property Registry, Electronic Voting, Notary Documents, or Cryptocurrency.

Catalonia wants to empower its citizens and companies to be in control of their digital assets.

Back in 2019, the government of Catalonia already made its Blockchain Strategy with the following goals:

• set Catalonia at the forefront of the use and development of Blockchain technology

• promote the use of blockchain among public authorities

• boost training and talent creation in the field of blockchain technologies

• promote research and innovation in the subject at universities, research groups, and technology centers.

• promote the development of new industries that can take advantage of blockchain technology

• raise awareness among citizens over the possibility of blockchain technologies

Catalonia wants to create a safe environment, nurturing the collaboration between administration, companies, universities & academia, and citizens.

In tomorrow’s post, I will summarize the first key-note speech - Blockchain: On the mission to save democracy by Mr. David Chaum.

🔔 If you would like to be notified when a new article is out of the oven, then Subscribe via the button below.

And if you find the information useful, you could collect this article and use it for future reference. Don’t be shy to share it with a friend!