The Unicef Innovation Fund will finance, with 100,000 dollars, six companies that develop blockchain technology projects in emerging countries.
According to the information published on the official website of the organization this December 10, it is the companies Atix Labs (Argentina), Onesmart (Mexico), Prescrypto (Mexico), Statwig (India), Utopixar (Tunisia) and W3 Engineers (Bangladesh), which must deliver open source prototypes for applications in the block chain within a period of 12 months.
Working for the community
The note adds that these six companies will attend, through their projects, problems related to the provision of health services and access to telecommunications, finance and resources in various social impact plans of their respective countries.
In this sense, the three companies that operate in the Latin American area will work specifically in the fields of health and in the use of blockchain technology for monitoring the administration of resources.
In this way, the Mexican Onesmart will address the misappropriation of funds, seeking to guarantee the provision of social services provided by the state to children and youth.
One by one: the startups getting financed
The startup Prescrypto, also from Mexico, offers an application to create a network of clinics, doctors and pharmacies. To this end, it will develop a platform that will allow medical service providers to review patient records and improve the level of care.
Atix Labs, meanwhile, will develop a platform for small and medium enterprises to obtain access to resources, with the possibility of monitoring their management. The Argentine company specializes in offering its clients the design and development of solutions in the blockchain networks of Ethereum Classic and Cardano, and is currently searching for new developers.
In this line of action, Statwig will take care of creating prototypes to streamline the supply chain for the delivery of vaccines in India. This company is responsible for carrying out projects based on blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT), tracking the journey of products from the manufacturer to the customer.
While W3 Engineers, an innovation laboratory based in Bangladesh, will create a mobile network (without SIM cards or Internet connection) to facilitate connectivity within refugee and migrant communities.
Unicef, a huge investor
On the fact of having been selected by Unicef, the startup says that with the application in development, based on the Smart Mesh Networking protocol, refugees will be able to send direct messages and even spread emergency messages among non-governmental organizations, humanitarian workers and refugees.
Finally, the Utopixar company will offer a social collaboration tool for communities and organizations to facilitate participatory decision-making and value transfer in Tunisia (Africa).
Also…
These six companies will collaborate with the chain of blocks created by the charity, called UNICEF Ventures. They will also join 20 new technology companies currently managed by Unicef’s Innovation Fund, with projects in various areas ranging from information science and machine learning to virtual reality and drones.
The goal is to invest in all kinds of open source technologies in favor of children, said Christopher Fabian, co-director of the innovation section of Unicef, who highlighted the reasons why the international body is interested in distributed accounting technology (DLT).
Also published on Medium.