The Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition has officially launched their second annual Decentralized Impact Incubator, a 6-week online program to help project teams ideate and prototype blockchain solutions focusing on four pressing global challenges: reliable hardware, mechanisms for democracy, sustainable agriculture, and support for refugees.

“The goal is to activate a global community of developers, entrepreneurs, humanitarians, students, and marketers, and support them as they build social enterprises using innovative solutions to address some of the world’s most pressing issues,” said Valeria Kholostenko, Head of Growth and Global Community for ConsenSys Social Impact.

Last year’s Incubator attracted over 600 participants from more than 120 locations and focused on solutions for financial inclusion, supply chains, identity and vulnerable populations, and energy and environment. Winning projects, many of which are still active, included a medical data management platform, a global giving and crowdfunding platform, immutable evidence management, and a carbon removal marketplace.

Winning teams of this year’s Impact Incubator will split up $50,000 total cash prizes to accelerate their solutions beyond the proof of concept stage. Participants from around the world are already gathering to form teams, target use cases, design business models, define impact metrics, and code their solutions within the scope of the four challenges.

Hardware

As social impact teams have started working on more and more blockchain solutions in the developing world, a pattern of problems has arisen concerning implementing blockchain in regions with low smartphone penetration and unreliable and oftentimes nonexistent infrastructure. Key questions for impact teams in this year’s incubator include: How do we reduce the need for human verification? How do we allow for localized blockchain access in low infrastructure areas? How do we create trusted automated interactions between IoT devices? There is an increasing need for reliable hardware architectures to support blockchain solutions. Without them, blockchain remains out of reach for the majority.

Democracy

Secure voting, protected privacy, free flow of information — these mechanisms ensure an distributed future of equal opportunity and the right for citizens across the world to become self-sovereign and live the best possible life. These mechanisms, however, are increasingly vulnerable. Blockchain is both a “political” and “human” technology. The central ethos of blockchain is about fostering inclusion and equality by removing intermediaries that are often prone to corruption and collusion. Incubator participants that focus on supporting democracy, autonomy, and self-sovereignty will survey the global landscape to expose problems and target opportunities for blockchain to benefit politically vulnerable populations around the world.

Agriculture

Poor agricultural practices are damaging the Earth’s land and environment. Overgrazing and overdrafting lead to soil erosion. Slash and burn farming devastates our forests. Pollutants and harmful chemicals get recycled into aquatic ecosystems, endangering various species that rely on delicate natural habitats. Blockchain technology presents an opportunity to make agricultural practices dramatically more sustainable, from securing the supply chain to reducing waste to incentivizing environmental-consciousness.

Refugees

From Myanmar to Syria, geopolitical instability has created the largest humanitarian crisis since WWII. 65.6 million people are forcibly displaced, and lack of identity, opaqueness of process, insufficient aid, and political obstructions are adding to their undue burden. Blockchain technology is often touted as a solution to uplift refugees, providing services ranging from self-agency and educational credentialing to crisis response and evidence collection in dangerous regions. As the technology matures, it has become more durable, reliable, and appropriate to deploy in many of these use cases.

The Incubator: Resources, Prizes, and Beyond

The Ethereum blockchain has a robust set of tools and infrastructure that allow decentralized applications (dApps) to be quickly built and iterated on. This makes it a perfect fit for a rapidly paced hackathon that explores new and emerging applications.

Ethereum Developer Resources

Truffle : a development environment, testing framework, and asset pipeline for Ethereum.

: a development environment, testing framework, and asset pipeline for Ethereum. MetaMask : a Chrome browser extension that manages keys and enables web applications to interact with any Ethereum blockchain network.

: a Chrome browser extension that manages keys and enables web applications to interact with any Ethereum blockchain network. INFURA : a provider of remote Ethereum and IPFS nodes.

: a provider of remote Ethereum and IPFS nodes. Solidity : a popular high-level language used to write smart contracts.

: a popular high-level language used to write smart contracts. Ethereum JavaScript API : the API used by web applications to access the Ethereum blockchain.

: the API used by web applications to access the Ethereum blockchain. IPFS : a P2P system that implements a filesystem.

: a P2P system that implements a filesystem. Lightwallet : one implementation of an Ethereum JavaScript wallet.

: one implementation of an Ethereum JavaScript wallet. Ethereumjs-wallet : another alternate implementation of an Ethereum wallet.

: another alternate implementation of an Ethereum wallet. TestRPC: a simulated blockchain for fast testing and iteration.

As incubator teams pursue weekly checkpoints, they will have the support and guidance of mentors who are industry experts in both the impact scene and blockchain space. Topcoder, a leader in hackathons and competitive programming competitions, will host the incubator on their platform and lend technical expertise to participants.

Prizes

Capital: $10,000 to the winning team for each target challenge, and $2,500 to the runner-up — a total cash prize pool of $50,000.

$10,000 to the winning team for each target challenge, and $2,500 to the runner-up — a total cash prize pool of $50,000. Mentorship and training: We will provide business development training for all four winning teams to accelerate their solutions beyond PoC stage.

We will provide business development training for all four winning teams to accelerate their solutions beyond PoC stage. Visibility: Winning teams will gain exposure through BSIC channels, coalition members’ networks, and more.

Winning teams will gain exposure through BSIC channels, coalition members’ networks, and more. Pitch opportunity: Winning teams will have the opportunity to showcase their solutions in front of impact investors, NGO’s, philanthropists, and charities at the Blockchain for Social Impact Conference in Washington DC on June 1, 2018.

Sign up here to participate in our Decentralized Impact Incubator. We are also accepting submissions for individuals and organizations to sign up as mentors and sponsors. We look forward to working together to bring blockchain to the people who need it most.