MISSION

With our event we want to give all students and interested visitors in Freiburg the opportunity to deal with the possibilities and limitations of blockchain technology. Get to know the basics of blockchain. Network with experts and learn about real applications.

ECONOMY
SOCIETY
SCIENCE

The alumni association Freiburger Wirtschaftswissenschaftler, the student initiatives Foundersclub Freiburg and Börsenverein Freiburg with the support of Freiburg city administration (here "digital.freiburg") want to explore the impacts of the blockchain technology on our economy, society, technical progress and the scientific perspectives. In this line and with the aim of providing insights for many different student subjects we designed the thematical process. Among the participants of this event are company representatives of one of the world's most famous blockchain platforms from asia, of a large Crypto-Exchange from Silicon Valley as well as various startups from Tbilisi, Vienna, Zug, Essen, Karlsruhe and Freiburg. It is therefore an international event, which also serves as a bridge between research and practice, as well as a platform for networking and exchange between students, entrepreneurs and scientists.

BLOCKCHAIN SYMPOSIUM IN FREIBURG

Saturday, 1st December 2018, in HS 1010, Platz der Universität 3, 79098 Freiburg

PROGRAMM

 

12:00 | Registration
12:30 | Welcome

Bernd Mutter from the city administration Freiburg will make the welcome speech.
Lecture in German language

  12:40 | Technical Basics of Blockchain, Peter Thiemann (University Freiburg)
What is a blockchain?
How is it generated?
What does it have to do with money?
How does it maintain its integrity?The lecture gives a generally understandable introduction into the basic concepts of blockchain technology, so that every listener can answer questions of this kind subsequently.
We start with the blockchain itself and break it down step by step to its cryptographic components.
We concentrate on the general construction principles and regard the cryptographic operations as black boxes.
We only deal marginally with applications as well as with potential problems such as economic and ecological effects.
Lecture in German language
13:05 | Blockchain and its relevance for academic research, Professor Schär (Universität Basel)

Due to the high topicality of the project, you will unfortunately have to wait until the event to receive further information about the lecture.
Lecture in German language

  13:30 | E-Mobility and Blockchain, Christopher Burgahn (Share&Charge)

Over the last decade electric vehicles experienced a steady growth of adoption. Last year (2017) however could be considered a tipping point, as 1.2 million cars were added to the world-wide electric vehicles in use. This 60% growth led to approximately 3.2 million cars currently on the streets, which showcases that wide-spread adoption of e-mobility is just around the corner.Closely linked to the expansion of electric vehicles is the need for sufficient publicly available charging infrastructure. This remains a crucial challenge until today as we see different charging technologies for interconnectivity trying to outdo each other in concentrating as many customers as possible to their services. This rather wild development currently leads to a highly fragmented market (e.g. in Germany exist over 400 Charging Pole Operators) and thus to tremendous inefficiencies.

In parallel to the growth of electric mobility we see the rise of the distributed ledger technology (“blockchain”) in the last few years. A technology which is said to have the potential to disrupt value chains for its nature of enabling direct transfer of value and data between entities without a central institution. These traits and its benefits (e.g. decentralization, “trustless” cooperation, Peer2Peer payment, etc.) are a potential solution for reducing inefficiencies in the system. Especially the necessary cooperation is a major challenge in the field, as the number of different Charging Pole Operators (CPOs) remarkably displays. Charging processes are highly dependent on immediate communication, seamless exchange of user data as well as digital transfer of value. Blockchain can provide exactly that on a “trustless” basis and thereby enable urgently needed cooperation between players that due to market rivalry don’t trust each other too much.
Lecture in German language

  13:55 | Media and Blockchain, Titusz Pan (Craft AG)

The Content Blockchain Project develops open standards and open source software, to support the use of decentralized blockchain technologies in the media industry.The project, supported by Google, is a interdisciplinary initiative, which has set itself the goal of a triple challenge to master the administration and the trade of content in the technical, legal and economic dimension.

In his lecture, Titusz Pan will report on the insights gained by the team in the course of the project and will state the results achieved so far.
Lecture in German language

13:55 -14:45 | [parallel] Practice Workshop: Trading on Kraken!, Josip Begic (Kraken)

The workshop gives a comprehensive overview of what is possible with regard to trading on the Kraken platform.
First of all, you will learn how to deposit money into your Kraken account. This will be demonstrated by a live demo with the FIAT currency Euro and the crypto currency Bitcoin.
The other direction, i.e. the disbursement of one's own credit, will of course also be discussed and demonstrated.
Then it will be advanced: Josip will present tips and tricks around the topic of hedging. In particular he will talk about cold storage and trading capital.
In addition, there will be lots of insider tips on how to use the platform efficiently and which functions are particularly helpful.
If there's enough time, Josip will end by discussing the special position of crypto exchanges within the crypto ecosystem.

Lecture in German language

  14:20 | Public Administration and Blockchain, Michael Kolain (FÖV)

Can blockchain technology bring innovation potential to public administration - and if so, how much? The lecture is dedicated to the question from a law and legal tech point of view. He will not only examine the challenge of designing blockchain applications in compliance with the German Data Protection Act (DSGVO), but will also examine the question of what role the public sector should play in the digital transformation. The focus here is in particular on the concept of privacy by design and the unresolved question of how the control of complex systems changes under the maxim "Code is Law".

Lecture in German language

  14:45 | Crypto-Banking, Urs Bernegger (SEBA Crypto AG)

Urs Bernegger, Head of Trading & Liquidity at SEBA Crypto AG, will explain the importance of a fully licensed and supervised bank in order to legitimize the budding crypto economy and progress crypto to mainstream adoption. He will break down the various services offered by traditional financial institutions and explain how SEBA sees these services being provided or re-formulated for crypto, including custodial storage of crypto assets, trading and liquidity, crypto asset management and crypto corporate finance.

Lecture in English language

  15:10 | Break
  15:40 | Smart Economy, Lili Zhao (NEO)

1. What is NEO blockchain? What is its vision of Smart Economy?
Digitized Economy - currencies, assets, identities
Programmable Economy – transparent & objective smart contracts
Trustless Economy – Peer to peer and no intermediary

2. Transition to Smart Economy
Bartering (inefficiency due to lack of medium of exchange)
Money Economy (Intermediating role by government and financial institutions)
Digital Economy (Intermediating role by Tech giants)
Smart Economy (Digital ID + Digital Asset + Smart Contract )
Lecture in English language

15:40 - 16:30 | [parallel] Practice Workshop: Get your first Bitcoin!, Benjamin Levit & Georg Sahling (BitByBit)

This workshop explains step by step how to buy your first Bitcoins with your PC or Smartphone. At the same time, important knowledge and basic knowledge will be conveyed.

Among other things, the handling of an Exchange, the execution of transactions on the blockchain, as well as the creation of your personal wallet and why security is particularly important in the crypto world will be shown - keyword private key.

In addition, the workshop deals with the basic characteristics of our money, including the question which advantages crypto currencies really bring with them. Therefore it is necessary to illustrate the blockchain technology and how consensus is created in a decentralized network - apart from falling or rising exchange rates.

Workshop in German language

16:05 | Crypto-Mining, Vakhtang Gogokhia (Golden Fleece)

Presentation will cover basics of crypto mining and Proof of Work algorithms and how they make bitcoin the most secure network in the world. We will tell how small country like Georgia became the forefront of crypto mining and attracted hundreds of millions in investments. We will compare pros and cons of Georgia to other most attractive mining locations around the globe. Finally presentation will touch current and probable future trends in crypto mining.

Lecture in English language

  16:30 | Football and Blockchain & Trust Square (KACO)

Blockchain Technology is disrupting traditional value chains and operational processes. Various strong use cases across industries have been developed – also in Sports.
But how exactly does blockchain matches football? KACO develops and delivers innovative solutions that bring transparency, security and efficiency into the world of football.
Fan Engagement and Tokenization are two of our focus areas. Learn more how fans can be identified, be rewarded, vote and can invest with the support of blockchain.

Lecture in English language

16:30 - 17:20 | [parallel] Practice Workshop: Establish your first Smart Contract! (Timon Rapp)
This workshop will give you an introduction to the development of Smart Contracts on the Ethereum Blockchain.After a short presentation of the basics of Ethereum and the Blockchain technology itself, a Smart Contract will be developed live and published on the Ethereum Blockchain.

Step by step we will explain what you have to pay attention to.
If you like, you can take part in the steps live on your laptop.

In German or English depending on the preference of the participants

  16:55 | Innovative Financing Methods for Startups, Markus Hartmann (Athlena)

Confronted with a steadily increasing number of ICOs and a lack of transparency, a team of four people started creating their own due diligence methodology. After countless iterations and refinements, a methodology was created which allowed for an efficient risk assessment of such start-up projects from an investor’s perspective. As a next step, Markus and his co-founders decided to walk the talk and create a proof of concept of a properly set up ICO. Alethena was founded. With the recent rise of utility tokens, a first era of ICOs seems to have become more mature while the next chapter belongs to tokenized securities.

Lecture in English language

17:20 | Value-based Healthcare, Girisha Fernando (LYFEGEN)

FinTech, Logistics, Gaming – blockchain has made big impacts on various industries. All these industries have seen major business model innovations as technology advances, but when it comes to healthcare, business model innovation has been relatively low. Since years, healthcare professionals, thought leaders and whole countries have been struggling to cope with rising healthcare costs and finding a sustainable healthcare model. With the concept of value-based healthcare, these challenges can be addressed and blockchain can play a major part.

Lecture in English language

17:45 | Farewell & Acknowledgements
18:00 | Get-Together (H&S Brothers Meal)

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

WORKSHOP MASTER

Partner

ORGANIZERS

David Gelantia

Freiburger Wirtschaftswissenschaftler e.V. , Alumni Association of the Faculty of Economic Sciences david.gelantia@fww-ev.de david@blockchain-freiburg.de

Marcel Müller

Börsenverein Freiburg e.V. , student initiative for finance and stock exchanges m.mueller@boersenverein-freiburg.de marcel@blockchain-freiburg.de

Giorgi Gelantia

Speaker Representative
giorgi@blockchain-freiburg.de

ACADEMIC SUPPORTERS

As we want to influence university teaching and research with the Blockchain Symposium and encourage researchers and students to deal with the subject, we also seek contact and cooperation with professors from the University of Freiburg.

Partner