Berlin-based startup Jolocom (jolocom.com) has announced it is in talks with several major companies to bring blockchain data sharing into the mainstream.
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Jolocom: Blockchain is ‘First Step’ to Decentralizing the Internet
Jolocom, while still at the planning stage with a prototype set for release at the end of the year, wants to combine blockchain with internet of things (IoT) style consumer interconnectivity.
“It’s an extension of hyperlinking,” founder Joachim Lohkamp told Quartz, “But instead of linking documents or webpages, you’re linking data.”
Jolocom, in essence, aims to make everyday consumer data handling processes less bureaucratic and physically tiresome. Users would download an app and attach a “web ID” in order to send and receive packets of data. These could be medical records and test results for a doctor’s appointment, for example.
Much like a cryptocurrency blockchain sends packets of transaction data, so Lohkamp is designing a decentralized network for non-financial data. This is similar in practice to extant operations such as uBITquity and startups using the blockchain for proof of ownership of property and assets.
Lohkamp is one evangelist in a city becoming more and more enthralled by the promise of decentralized technology.
“Blockchain is the first step to decentralizing the internet, to living in a very different world where all the questions about big data and trusted third parties become irrelevant,” he added.
IoT in Good Company
Berlin is becoming home to a range of innovative startups in fintech, while Germany as a whole has been seeing some interesting industry firsts involving disruptor banks and Bitcoin.
In May, the city played host to the GTEC awards, the product of a blockchain-focused consortium of German companies handing out cash prizes to innovative startups.
“If Blockchain startups want to reach the mass market they need to focus on regular marketing, stripping all most of the cool tech buzzwords that most consumers don´t care about,” Christoph Hering, CEO of one startup, which participated in GTEC told Bitcoin.com at the time about the local atmosphere.
Lohkamp looks to be doing just that, playing down complex technical processes in favor of mainstream appeal. Earlier this month, Jolocom’s prototype was in progress at a meeting of AGILE, an internet of things program funded by the European Union.
EXCITING 🙂 we are working on 1st demo at AGILE F2F meeting in Berlin here at @agoracollective #IoT #Horizon2020 pic.twitter.com/zwNZUgp7oK
— Joachim Lohkamp (@JockelLohkamp) July 20, 2016
Lohkamp is also an active participant in Ouishare, a community of commentators describing itself as a “think and be-tank for a collaborative society,” which looks to examine and effect social change, changing social structures in much the same way Jolocom aims to using the blockchain.
[Editor’s note: Jolocom is currently not in talks with Philips and the article has been updated to remove this inaccuracy.]
What do you think about Jolocom’s business pitch and the progress of blockchain tech in Europe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Images courtesy of ouishare.net, iotworm.com, digitaltrends.com
