Announcing the 2019 NYC BigApps Blockchain Cohort
Get tickets for NYC BigApps Blockchain Demo here!

Blockchain is teeming with use cases for governments all across the world. We’ve seen successful pilots implemented in places from Delaware to Ethiopia. New York City, however, is a whole different ballgame. With a population of over 8.6 million, legacy systems have been kept in place to maintain the reliability and safety of information without interrupting public services. The bigger a company or organization gets, the harder it is to innovate and test emerging technology — large governments are equally affected by this.

This year, NYCEDC and SecondMuse teamed up to explore potential use cases for blockchain in New York City. We first held need-finding workshops with government stakeholders from NYC Economic Development Corporation, NYC Department of Buildings, NYC Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, and more to determine their most pressing challenges and establish where blockchain may help to provide meaningful solutions. From this, three Challenge Areas were selected–– Identity, Energy, and Real Estate Asset Management.

Then, we asked the blockchain community: how would you use blockchain to address these Challenge Areas and improve the efficiency, security, and transparency of public sector services in NYC? This exploration is laying the early groundwork to introduce new technology to city government.

The competition is nearing the end with 10 finalist teams preparing to present their answers to that initial question. These teams have identified and developed practical use cases for blockchain in civic applications and will present their solutions at our upcoming Demo Day. Please join us for an all-day event on October 3rd, 2019, where you will hear all 10 of the following companies pitch for mentorship, services, cash prizes, and more! Tickets are available here.
['Nyc Bigapps']
['Blockchain', 'Government', 'Emerging Technology', 'Civictech']