EY Startup Challenge Looking for Blockchain Solutions

The EY Startup Challenge, the firm’s six-week mentorship-driven startup program, returns with a focus on blockchain solutions for two key industries: digital rights management and energy trading.

This year, the EY Startup Challenge program will focus on building blockchain solutions and prototypes. The firm said it is looking for “blockchain startups with the ambition and drive to take on this challenge, in an area they may not have considered before.”

Most particularly, Ernst & Young is looking for blockchain solutions for the media and entertainment sectors that would allow for the recording and tracking of content rights as it is created and incorporated in works. The firm also said it was interested in a blockchain solution to access and have control over content to ensure that users have rights to view or use the content, as well as a solution for making and receiving payments for use of proprietary content to content owners.

In the energy trading industry, EY seeks solutions that would allow the trading process to become more transparent and less complex. These propositions should help energy trading organizations transform the way trades are created and settled, driving down costs, increasing the speed and reducing the risks in the market.

“We are very excited to be holding a third EY Startup Challenge in London after two successful programs here and one in Berlin,” Jamie Qiu, Founder and Lead of the EY Startup Challenge, said in a statement.

“This time, we are looking for startups using blockchain that have a beta product launched, have some seed funding, and are looking for access to clients and customers in order to continue to grow and develop. If you are one of these startups, we would love to hear from you.”

Applications to the EY Startup Challenge are now open for startups with an August 14th deadline for submissions.

EY will select six startups to move to an innovation hub in London in early September. These startups will access to a selection of mentors and educational workshops. The program will end with a demo day on October 20, during which the teams will demonstrate the solution they have built.

EY, one of the largest accounting and consulting firms in the world, has been actively involved in the blockchain startup ecosystem.

In France, the firm sponsored two blockchain-centric open challenge competitions at the Viva Technology summit in Paris earlier this month. Most particularly, EY sought a blockchain solution to automate financial statement verification and certification, and another solution to certify information of a contract directly between the two parties for tax lawyers.