Don Tapscott, Carlos Moreira and Wang Wei to present “Trust Protocol Initiative connecting cities of Toronto, Beijing and Geneva as a Trust Triangle” at the Geneva Blockchain Congress

Don Tapscott, Carlos Moreira and Wang Wei to present “Trust Protocol Initiative connecting cities of Toronto, Beijing and Geneva as a Trust Triangle” at the Geneva Blockchain Congress

Geneva – January 16, 2020 – WISeKey International Holding Ltd (“WISeKey”, SIX: WIHN, NASDAQ: WKEY), a leading global cybersecurity and IoT company, today announced that once again will be a Presenting Partner at the Geneva Blockchain Congress, which will take place on January 20, 2020 at the Palexpo Geneva.  Following the remarkable success of its 2019 inaugural edition, this year’s theme is “From Laboratory to Market via Ethics, Regulation and Governance” with a focus on sustainability.

The Geneva Blockchain Congress has a rich program with world-renowned speakers and is appropriately being held in Geneva. Dedicated to advancing the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the city of Geneva promotes high-quality education, decent work conditions, economic growth, responsible consumption and healthy and robust institutions – all goals profoundly affected by the next generation of technology.

During the event, WISeKey’s CEO Carlos Moreira, will provide a progress report on the partnership with the Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) for the creation of a number of interconnected Blockchain Centers of Excellence around the world, including the Blockchain Center of Excellence in Geneva. These centers will be interconnected via 3 Hubs: Geneva, Toronto and Beijing, a Trust Triangle operating under a Common Trust Protocol, using WISeKey’s PKI hardened Blockchain technology, bringing trust and security, while maintaining the core Blockchain values of transparency, auditability, and traceability.  WISeKey’s implemented and integrated PKI solution is complementary to any Blockchain platform, where it can assist with developing a better trust model for use within a distributed system and create a universal Trust Protocol for the Internet 2.

The Geneva Blockchain Center of Excellence will provide important research to local entrepreneurs;  help them promote their technologies internationally;  facilitate the rapid adaptation and on-boarding of Blockchain-based solutions; foster stronger collaboration between the public, private and academic sectors and cooperate to ensure that the latest technological standards are made available in a safe and trusted manner.

Globally, the initiative will promote the effective use of blockchain technologies internationally, facilitate the rapid adaptation and on-boarding of blockchain-based solutions, foster stronger collaboration between the public, private and academic sectors and cooperate to ensure that the latest technological standards are made available in a safe and trusted manner. The Blockchain Centers of Excellence will help companies and governments prototyping use cases and IP creation on blockchain technology and platforms. They will also become a channel to engage companies and governments globally in the work of BRI, as well as a distribution channel for BRI’s research.

During the event, WISeKey will also officially launch the Trust Protocol Association, headquartered in Geneva. The Trust Protocol Association will create a new Trust Protocol for the Internet combining traditional Cryptographic Trust Models with distributed blockchain ledgers creating a new Global Trust Platform and will put together an ecosystem of governmental, technology and business partners, each representing a node with the possibility to have multiple nodes per country.

Blockchain-based solutions aim to reduce the need for a central authority by distributing information and digital assets, previously held in a centralized repository across a network of participating nodes. While Blockchain is not owned by one individual or organization, anyone with an internet connection (and access, in the case of private Blockchains) can make use of it, help maintain and verify it. When a transaction is made on a Blockchain, it is added to a group of transactions, known as ‘blocks”. Each block of transactions is added to the database in a chronological, immutable chain. Each block is stamped with a unique cryptographic code, which ensures that records are not counterfeited or changed. The Blockchain approach lacks legal validity in most jurisdictions, which only recognize the digital signatures as equally valid that manuscript signatures when generated using traditional PKI technology.

Carlos Moreira said: “The Blockchain Centers of Excellence can help overcome the dangerous trust deficiency facing our economies and societies.  In coordination with the centers, the Trust Protocol Association will foster stronger collaboration between the public, private and academic sectors for the adoption of latest deeptech standards in a safe and trusted manner.”

WISeKey participation at the Geneva Blockchain Congress:

Morning – Plenary:

Moderator: Carlos Moreira

• Keynote – 11.15am: Blockchain Revolution: State of the Union by Don Tapscott;
• Keynote – 11.45am: The Rise of Deeptech IoT on the Blockchain Platform by Carlos Moreira
• Roundtable – 12.05pm: How can Blockchain fight Illicit Trade & Counterfeiting with Don Tapscott, Kavita Gupta (Stanford University), Alvise Giustiniani (Illicit Trade Prevention at Philip Morris International), Wang Wei (CCMY China)

Afternoon – Roundtables: Roundtables on Deep Tech Evolutions held by WISeKey SA – 2.00pm till 3.30pm and 4.30pm to 6:00pm

How Blockchain will impact Global DeepTech in the Future:

Moderator: Carlos Moreira

Participants:

• Mrs. Elli Androulaki, Head Research Hyperledger/Cloud storage – IBM Zurich Research Laboratory
• Mrs. Kavita Gupta, Professor Dusk Foundation Executive Chair Stanford University
• Mr. Wang Wei, Founding Chairman of China Mergers & Acquisitions Association (CCMA)
• Mr. Thomas Giacomo, Managing Partner at WeCan Accelerate
• Mr. Pedro Lopez Belmonte, Blockchain Architect at Richemont Group
• Mr. Pascal Buchner, Chief Information Officer at IATA
• Mr. Felix Buchner, Head Crypto Engineer, Bitcoin Schweiz AG
• Mr. Timothy Iwata Durie, Global Innovation Director, Cartier SA
• Mr. Bilal Idbah, Alliances & Channels Emerging Technology Cloud, Oracle EMEA

Roundtables on Illicit Trade & Counterfeiting held by OISTE

Moderator: Dourgam Kummer

• 2.00pm: Illicit Trade & Counterfeiting impact on the consumer goods industry.  Introduction by Dourgam Kummer; discussions with Alvise Giustiniani (PMI) and Léo Daguet (Richemont), followed by a 15min debate and Q&A 
• 2.45pm: Blockchain & ID technology in the Illicit-Trade & Counterfeiting. Introduction by Dourgam Kummer; discussions with Laurent Audaz (MSC) and Pedro Fuentes (OISTE), followed by a 15min debate and Q&A
• 3.25pm: Blockchain Solution supporting Products/Designs ID protection. Introduction by Dourgam Kummer; discussion with Philippe Lucet (WeCan Protect) and Sébastien Fonti, follow by a 15min debate and Q&A
• 4.00pm – 4.30pm: break
• 4.30pm: Blockchain in the International Legal Framework for the control of Illicit-Trade and Counterfeiting.  Introduction by Dourgam Kummer; discussion with Tobias Freeman (Siracusa International Institute), Graham Mott (UNCTAD) and Jarod Koopman (IRS-Criminal Investigation), followed by a 15min debate and Q&A 
• 5.20pm: Use Cases of Blockchain Application in the Anti-Illicit Trade & Counterfeiting.  Introduction by Dourgam Kummer; other topics/speakers:
  • WISeKey concrete solution for brand protection by Carlos Moreno
  • Blockchain in the Watch Industry by Christine Henke, Digital Program Manager at Vacheron, Constantin and Jean-Yves Adreani, Project Manager at Panerai 
• 5.50pm: Conclusion by Dourgam Kummer

Contact Palexpo SA:

Adeline Beaux, Project manager
+41 22 761 10 95, adeline.beaux@palexpo.ch

Maud Couturier, Press and public relations manager
+41 22 761 10 92, maud.couturier@palexpo.ch

About WISeKey

WISeKey (NASDAQ: WKEY; SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems for people and objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT respecting the Human as the Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey Microprocessors Secures the pervasive computing shaping today’s Internet of Everything. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.5 billion microchips in virtually all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers, mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.).  WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors produce a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the failure of their equipment before it happens.

Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust (“RoT”) provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.

Press and investor contacts:

About The Blockchain Research Institute

The Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) is the world’s largest independent think-tank dedicated to inspiring and preparing private and public sector leaders to be the catalysts for blockchain transformation.  Funded by international corporations and government agencies, the BRI has brought together the world’s top thinkers to undertake ground-breaking research on the strategic implications of blockchain technology, producing practical insights for its member organizations.  The Institute has 100+ research projects underway in the areas of financial services, manufacturing, retail, energy and resources, technology/media, healthcare and government, as well as how this nascent technology is changing the way companies are managed.  The Blockchain Research Institute is based in Toronto, Canada, and was founded in 2017 by Don and Alex Tapscott, the co-authors of the best-selling book, Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World.  Don Tapscott has written 16 widely read books about the digital age dating back to 1982 and is recognized as one of the most influential management thinkers of our time.  To find out more, please visit www.blockchainresearchinstitute.org.

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