With the aim of strengthening the Next Generation Internet (NGI) community, at NGI Sargasso, we have recently signed an agreement to collaborate with NGI Local for Local, one of our sibling projects creating economic ecosystems through NGI deployment.
NGI Local for Local helps cities strengthen regional economies with digital tools for local currencies, fostering social cohesion and simplifying administration. They integrate open source NGI building blocks into the Local for Local open-source software stack. They nurture a software ecosystem through open calls for NGI innovators, which they finance, supervise, mentor, and support in standardization. The selected top teams collaboratively create the envisioned software stack consisting of blockchain-based infrastructure, a modular platform, and one application called Locasus-B. The application is then tested in three pilots across five regions throughout Europe, to then measure both the economic impact and the technical performance of the software stack.
Why is NGI Local for Local doing this? Local regions throughout Europe face shrinking economies, which threaten their ability to sustain small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Strong technological intervention aimed at strengthening local ties can revitalize these regions. At the same time, the European Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative proposes a new Internet of Humans. It brings European values and norms to all citizens.
“We hold that NGI is the technological intervention needed to revitalize our regions” – NGI Local for Local consortium.
The direct outcomes of this project are economic validation and technical performance measurement of the software stack. These outcomes contribute to the adoption of the Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade. They distribute building blocks that can create sustainable circular economies that give better control for users on their digital life. This has rapid scaling potential throughout Europe, and the consortium, coordinated by Paul van Vulpen from Centric Netherlands BV, and partnered by Kauno Technologijos Universitetas, Université d’Aix Marseille and Technische Universiteit Delft, will act to realize this adoption.
NGI Sargasso: Building Bridges Across Continents for the Future of the Internet
In the case of NGI Sargasso, we are also aiming to create an Internet of Humans, but going beyond the European region by fostering Transatlantic collaboration across continents matching teams of European innovators with USA and/or Canadian. In fact, we have funded +50 projects of NGI Sargasso Innovators in the following topics:
- Trust.
- Data sovereignty.
- Digital identity.
- Internet architecture & renovation.
- Decentralized technology.
- Interoperability & standardization.
- New internet technology.
Besides our collaboration with NGI Local for Local, we are also cooperating with NGI Search in order to create a strong Next Generation Internet in Europe and beyond!