With blockchain emerging as a key technology worldwide, France has decided to take all possible steps to become a leader in this area. An impressive task force of national experts from all fields (entrepreneurs, regulators, manufacturers, non-profits and public stakeholders) has been created, coordinated by the Directorate-General for Enterprise (DGE).
France's Ambitions
To determine the new challenges to face, the task force has already taken several initiatives, including a consultation process that has been already launched, and that is open to the whole ecosystem. The result is an inventory of more than 200 use-cases and the establishment of many work lines, with the objective of:
- Strengthening the excellence and the structure of the French industrial sectors. Pilot tests have been already run by several companies both in France and worldwide. Three major industrial sectors have already committed to work together on innovative solutions involving blockchain - construction, food industries, and energy services industry. The initiatives taken in these sectors could eventually receive funding from the Investments for the Future programme (PIA).
- Fostering innovative projects based on distributed ledger technologies. The government will invest a total of €4.5 billion in all measures required to finance disruptive innovation in the next five years, notably via its Deep Tech Plan, for which blockchain projects are considered eligible.
- Being on the cutting edge by tackling major technological challenges. A task force will be set up to identify actions that will potentially improve the consensus methods, in order to underpin governance and sovereignty in the blockchain world and to guarantee interoperability and accessibility in blockchain use.
- Assisting blockchain project initiators answering to their questions, especially on legal and regulatory issues. France has developed a secure legal framework for ecosystem players with the Action Plan for Business Growth and Transformation (PACTE) bill and the 2019 Budget Act. In the other areas of application, France Expérimentation will provide blockchain project initiators with solid priority assistance for the legal challenges. Free workshops will be held to facilitate exchanges between the relevant government departments and the ecosystem’s start-ups and businesses.
DrDATA: A French SME
DrDATA was founded in March 2018 by Dr Nesrine Benyahia, specialised in “Healthcare law and new technologies”. DrDATA's multidisciplinary team is composed mostly of lawyers and developers. Their expertise supports DPO (Data Protection Officer) structures in the health and social sectors, as well as private medical practitioners and industries ensuring that their campaigns comply with the GDPR.
DrDATA's blockchain structure, known as the "isalid", relies on smart contracts and a database that is used to track the value chain, offering data security and sharing information for legal protection and data traceability. The main ambition is to create a trustful ecosystem, founded on ethical values, for data management and exploitation.
Through the Blockstart project, DrDATA is hoping to build up its network of European actors in the blockchain ecosystem and find support when it comes to business model deployment.