Lugano, 10 September 2020 – The Ticino Blockchain Technologies Association aims to promote research and support innovative companies active in the Blockchain sector, as well as to promote academic studies of this new technology, thanks to the participation of USI (University of Southern Switzerland) and SUPSI (The University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland).

Blockchain is today a much-discussed technology. It is often said, as with the advent of the Internet, that this technology could change many things with a direct impact on a variety of sectors through improvements in supply chains, financial and payment systems, notary businesses, business processes and governments. These are time-consuming processes that require research, new skills, training, investment, experimentation, and a change of mindset.

As in the rest of the world, also in Ticino, Blockchain is gradually gaining considerable interest, as evidenced by the establishment of several international companies. This trend has led academia and private enterprises to establish a dialogue aimed at creating a competence center whose goal is to promote research and training and thus encourage the creation of new companies and new skilled jobs.

TBTA’s founding partners are Bitcoin.com, Copernicus Holding SA, Eligma Ltd. (GoCrypto), Euronovate SA, Eventboost SA, Pangea Blockchain Fund, Poseidon Group, Quadrans Foundation, StrongBlock.io, Superflat SA and Swiss Blockchain Consortium. In addition, there are two academic partners: the University of Southern Switzerland (offering the expertise of its Computer Systems Institute and the Master of Science in Financial Technology and Computing) and the Innovative Technologies Department of the Information Systems and Networking Institute (SUPSI) that offers Certificates of Advanced Studies in Blockchain and Fintech.

The non-profit association aims to foster organic growth of the blockchain ecosystem at the Swiss and international levels. “We are very pleased to have prestigious international companies among the members of the association able to drive innovation in this region together with partners already active in Ticino,” said Ing. Giacomo Poretti, President of the Association and Senior Lecturer-researcher in SUPSI’s DTI Innovative Technologies Department. “This platform is important not only for Ticino, but for the whole of Switzerland, companies and academic institutions join forces to achieve innovative solutions together, driving digital change with creative ideas.” Giacomo Poretti is joined by William Duplessie, Brunello Pianca, Maggie Rokkum-Testi and Lars Schlichting in the executive committee.

Stefano Rizzi, Director of the Economics Division of the Department of Finance and Economics (DFE) and Vice President of the Agire Foundation, says: “This choice is consistent with the economic development strategy adopted by the Canton, which focuses on key concepts such as innovation and networking of skills in Ticino. Through synergies between state-of-the-art companies and research institutes, Ticino can also play an important role in promising blockchain-related technologies, with positive impacts in terms of employment and economic growth. The Canton of Ticino was an early promoter through the establishment of the “Swiss Blockchain Federation” of which it is a founding member. Thanks to this step at the federal level, we have been able to contribute to the definition of the legal basis aimed at increasing the attractiveness and competitiveness of our economy.”

Boas Erez, Rector of the USI, also adheres with great interest to this collaboration: “I believe very much in the value of partnership-based research initiatives for the University and for Ticino: today knowledge is not only found in research institutes, it is distributed more widely. These structured cooperations with companies allow us to expand our multidisciplinary expertise – in this case in Economics and Computer Science – and our impact on the territory.”

Emanuele Carpanzano, Director of SUPSI’s Department of Innovative Technologies (DTI), said: “We strongly believe in working with the different players in our territory and we support initiatives that foster new synergies between academia and the industrial world. DTI works daily to develop innovative IT skills and solutions in the IT industry and related enabling technologies including the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain. We find these skills in the numerous interdisciplinary projects carried out by our research institutes with local companies active in a variety of sectors, as well as in training, as demonstrated by the soon to be launched Bachelor in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. We consider Blockchain technology to be of significant interest going forward, in light of the many application areas associated with it, and we therefore welcome the birth of a new association that brings togetherinterdisciplinary actors and skills present in Ticino.”

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