Blue Room Innovation views technology as a fundamental enabler to achieve the sustainability goals of the Green Deal.
As part of their journey on BlockStart’s Acceleration Programme, as a startup developer of blockchain technology, they were looking to further develop their solution and for new opportunities for collaboration with end-user SMEs that could validate and help them improve their “Blockchain of Things Devices” blockchain solution.
We spoke with CEO DENISA GIBOVIC to know more about Blue Room Innovation and their participation in BlockStart.
In one paragraph, what is Blue Room Innovation?
We are an innovative company with a prepared, versatile and multifaceted team with experience in the implementation of innovative projects that respond to current social challenges. At the same time, we work with companies across Europe and understand their challenge to create, implement and finance an innovation project.
We are a young start-up focused on new technologies; our core team are high skilled developers specialized in blockchain. We have a proven track record on developing solutions using blockchain. We also have a strong relationship with the research Centre Easy of the University of Girona, leaders in Artificial Intelligence and blockchain’s research, drafting and developing solutions for these technologies. Their inputs and feedback allow us to expand our knowledge exponentially achieving our development goals earlier than expected.
Can you tell us how the idea for your startup began?
The company was founded in 2015, when me (Denisa) and another colleague from the University of Girona started to carry out our first innovation and research projects for the European Union. Step by step, thanks to the effort and dedication of the 14 people who make up the team, we have managed to make Blue Room Innovation a company recognised for the application of new technologies in innovation projects, and we have built a multidisciplinary and committed team that allows us to increase our business in a solid way and guarantee good results.
What is Blue Room Innovation passionate about achieving?
At the end of 2018 we were selected in an open innovation call by TheCircularLab, Ecoembes’ innovation centre, to carry out the first pilot tests of RECICLOS. This digital recycling project has continued to advance and has already expanded to all communities in Spain. We are the co-creators, and we continue to be the technology and innovation partner for the evolutions of the product, and we will soon have great challenges ahead of us.
Our strategic objective is to join the platform economy and connect relevant actors with circular economy processes, promoting sustainable consumption with the aim of ensuring that the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible. We view technology as a fundamental enabler to achieve the sustainability goals of the Green Deal.
Who are the team members and what backgrounds do you have?
We are a multidisciplinary team of 13 people and numerous external collaborators due to our DNA of open innovation. Several team members have already collaborated since 2008 at the time as members of a university research group in various R&D&I projects and start-ups. Finally, 2015 we decided to unite our strengths and launch Blue Room with CEO Denisa Gibovic, entrepreneur and business consultant with an MBA from La Salle BES, Barcelona, CMO Laia Perez, specialized in Advertising and Public Relations together with Paula Vilatje, specialized in communication and social networks and CTO Xavi Tarrés, computer engineer specialized in Blockchain & AI together with a team of 5 computer engineers. COO Victor Torres (PhD), innovation consultant, leads a team of external consultants specialized in technological innovation and coordinates collaborations with third parties within the BlueRoom ecosystem. We complete the team with 2 economists specialized in finance and company management with international experience, Estel Guillaumes and Marc Melús.
Can you tell us about the prototype you have developed with the support of BlockStart Acceleration Programme?
Our extension of the NFT ERC 721 – SCENTS – will solve some of this problems by providing an unique self-sovereign identity to each piece of art based on its real track record in expositions and its relevance for the audience which with SCENTS have the permanent bound with its favourite peace of arts and stays connected to them independently of the property ensuring collectors are paying for the quality of the art which with its followers and lovers a part of the quality proof based on the fame of the artist. SCENTS fine tracks the exposure of pieces of art as a proof of value and as a ground for measuring exposure shares for creators and owners.
What were you most excited about in taking part of BlockStart Acceleration Programme?
Participating in BlockStart has been a great experience since we have related to several companies focused in blockchain whether they were adopters or DLT providers. In addition, through mentoring sessions, our own development and tests performed in our adopter Hardddiskmuseum we have developed a MVP which will turn out in a new strategic business line for our company. Finally, it has to be highlighted this programme is ideal for those companies which are aiming to start a new project since BlockStart will provide not only funding for ideate and prototype the solution but will provide relevant training sessions and a rich ecosystem to increase exponentially your network.
Which were the major challenges you have faced during the development and market/fit validation of your prototype?
The first approach for solving the problem stated in this document was the creation of a standard for digital artist community in order to track their pieces of art during their lifetime. Due the feedback received from our engaged companies and the developments carried out by our engineers, we realized our first draft of the solution was not well designed.
Our first design was based on creating a complete ecosystem only with Smart Contracts integrated within our new standard. Unfortunately, nowadays – in terms of scalability and transactions – costs are too high to track artwork interactions in real time.
Therefore, we modified our approached to certify artwork interactions in a sustainable way, hence creating a Self-Sovereign Identity standard which will allow us to perform interactions with minimum costs and letting us to maintain technical innovation and revenue model (fee-based).
What unique aspects does your company and the prototype you have developed have to offer to the market sectors/type of companies you wish to enter/sell and to the blockchain ecosystem in Europe, as a whole?
Our extension of the NFT ERC 721 – SCENTS – will solve some of this problems by providing an unique self-sovereign identity to each piece of art based on its real track record in expositions and its relevance for the audience which with SCENTS have the permanent bound with its favourite peace of arts and stays connected to them independently of the property ensuring collectors are paying for the quality of the art which with its followers and lovers a part of the quality proof based on the fame of the artist. SCENTS fine tracks the exposure of pieces of art as a proof of value and as a ground for measuring exposure shares for creators and owners.
Benefits for using our SCENTS platform:
So if you are an artist who creates an NFT, you can:
- Prove that you’re the original creator
- Determine how many are available
- Earn royalties every time it’s sold
- Sell it on any NFT market, or even off-platform in a peer-to-peer fashion.
- Receive validated credentials for each exhibitior who has shown your NFT.
- Track all interactions performed to the piece of art
If you purchase and claim ownership of an NFT, you can:
- Prove ownership
- Securely retain your asset
- Receive validated credentials for each exhibitior who has shown the NFT you are willing to buy.
- Track all interactions performed to the piece of art
Is collaboration with SME adopters important for piloting your solution?
We have tested our solution internally; we will proceed with a prior integration in our engaged SMEs during the pilot phase. Nevertheless, we have gathered reliable information and feedback from our meetings with them we have to validate our prototype in their ecosystem to validate SCENTS platform and update those features which would made more suitable for digital art ecosystem. In this sense, our two companies willing to pilot will bring us two approaches: Art.Army as a NFT marketplace and HDM as a digital museum.
Where do you see your company in 5 years?
recycling and waste management sector and right now we are in the initial stages of a recycling project in ports, Portnet, as a technological partner of the Port Authority of the Port of Palma de Mallorca. In addition, BlockStart has provided us the opportunity of exploring a new use case for our technology.
For us the most important thing is to offer a close and quality service to our customers, and we are sure of the path we want to build and the way we want to continue growing. As we continue to explain the advantages of adopting blockchain technology, I am sure that new opportunities will arise and we will study them, always guaranteeing the stability of the company and the wellbeing of our clients.