The Chinese Ethereum Classic Consortium (ECC), an organization representing the Ethereum Classic (ETC) community in China, is organizing the first ETC hackathon, an event taking place between March 24 and 26, 2017, in Shanghai. Formally titled the Fintech Connect ETC Hackathon, the event aims to encourage the development of applications on the ETC blockchain and build solutions to real-world business problems.

Hosted at the China Financial Information Center, the hackathon has already registered over 20 developer teams and is expected to bring together more than 100 attendees. Judges will include industry participants, academia, fintech entrepreneurs and corporate executives.

Sponsors and supporters of the event include prominent figures and firms in the blockchain and fintech space, including Digital Currency Group, a venture capital company focusing on the digital currency market, ether.camp, CHBTC, Dianrong, Gingkoo, as well as Chinese cryptocurrency exchange platforms BTC38 and 33.cn, and the Center for Citizenship, Enterprise and Governance (CCEG), a think tank which operates through the UN Innovation Centre.

Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, said that supporting the developer community and fostering the creation of new applications on top of the ETC blockchain was an important milestone. “We are excited to support this hackathon to promote blockchain-focused entrepreneurship and innovation in China,” he said.

Commenting on the event, Olinga Ta’eed, director of the CCEG, told CoinJournal:

“The CCEG Blockchain UN Lab is pleased to partner the ETC community both in China and internationally to launch the Seratio Blockchain in 2017, and to participate in the Shanghai ETCathon to develop the platform guaranteeing financial impact with integrated social impact. “We are excited to be working on a global ETC proposition – the SDG Coin family – to eradicate 17 social, environmental and other inequalities in the world by 2030.”

CCEG will reward one of the winners with a 10-day trip to the UK to work with their teams with flight tickets, accommodation, and partial subsistence paid for.

In January, CCEG launched the CCEG Blockchain Lab, a fintech development lab focusing on environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes. It aims to “promote a currency of non-financial value to achieve parity with financial currency and thereby articulate total value.”

Another related initiative by CCGE is the Internet-of-Value (IoV) Blockchain Alliance for Good, a free membership organization launched in October 2016, aimed at boosting the usage of blockchain technology to generate good social and environmental solutions.

According to Roy Zou, one of the key organizers and the chairman of the ECC: