Luxembourg Blockchain Week, taking place from 3-7 October, promises a rich array of talks and networking opportunities. Emilie Allaert, director of the Luxembourg Blockchain Lab, shares the highlights.
What is the focus of this year’s Blockchain Week?
We’re really focusing on bringing solutions and people to Luxembourg that we don’t usually meet here. So, brand new speakers, like Binance charity, which will explain the SDG work they’re doing or the impact they can have. We have Erin Grover, of the World Economic Forum working group for blockchain and carbon credits, who will explain a little bit more about blockchain and sustainability. We have a masterclass from Yael Rozencwajg, from Blockchain Israel. And there is also Gérard Lopez, a Luxembourgish entrepreneur who recently announced his investment into a blockchain portfolio.
A novelty at this year’s event is the crash courses. Can you tell me more about these?
On Monday, from 1pm, there will be 30-minute crash courses so that anyone attending the conference can get the understanding they need for the whole week. Even if you’re not familiar with blockchain, you can learn about it at the conference. One of Blockchain Lab’s missions is to educate people about blockchain. It is good to help people understand and discover solutions, but we need to give the skills and knowledge about these topics. For example, we have a section dedicated to NFT, Web 3 and blockchain vs DLT. There will be a session on what to look for when investing in digital assets or in blockchain projects and we will have a session on defi, decentralized finance.
Can people follow the talks online?
No. It was a difficult decision but we are a small team. All the money that will be raised for the week will be used towards our costs and to ensure that we can develop new solutions for the industries in Luxembourg.
The week starts on Monday 3 October with the crash courses, opening speeches and a networking dinner. Take us briefly through the highlights of the week.
The Infra chain Summit takes place on Tuesday, and Wednesday is dedicated to the Blockchain Lab, to SDG sustainability and social impact and SDG in its wider form. We often associate SDG only with climate. But we tend to forget that there are 17 SDGs, and blockchain can actually be a technology that helps solve these SDGs. We will go through some SDGs related to health, communities, alleviating poverty and reaching out to refugees. And there will be a discussion and a live demo with EBSILUX, focusing on education. We also have a panel discussing how we can actually compensate for carbon emissions by using some blockchain solutions.
On Wednesday afternoon we will announce the next call for projects from the Luxembourg Blockchain Lab and at 2pm we will have companies linked to SDGs pitching, including Luxembourg company Moniflo.
On Thursday afternoon, we will have a workshop on decarbonisation by LIST, followed by a LHoFT event focused on blockchain in the finance world and a private event from Societé Generale, on the tokenization of financial assets. Then, on Friday, we have Letz Block, an event based on AML and compliance with digital assets.
On Thursday, you will have a section dedicated to art and culture. What was the thinking behind that?
We really want to open the minds of people and show the kinds of people who are normally investing in art or museums, that there are new opportunities with the blockchain or DLTs to access new forms of art. There will be some presentations of the companies we love such as Rubey, from Belgium, artists from Switzerland, and Xavier Buck, who has a digital collection of art.
What is there for startups to see?
Startups have the opportunity to learn more about the technology itself and its possibilities. We tend to have a really restricted view on DLTs and blockchain saying it’s only digital assets. And here we want to show more about the technology-enabling side. It’s also the opportunity to meet international speakers that you will not meet elsewhere who are specific to the domain and bringing new ideas as well.
I think there will be a lot of networking opportunities, especially during the dinner on Monday night.
Day passes from €100. Get 20% off any pass by using the following discount code when booking LBW2022. For a discount on the dinner, use FLASHDINNER until 18:00 on 30 September. Register now on blockchainweek.lu
