The Next Web: How can organisations create real value with Web3?

On 13 June 2023, the Web3 conference took place at Swiss Re Institute's Centre for Global Dialogue. This annual conference always focuses on technology, and is always co-organized by Swiss Re Institute, IBM Research and the GDI (Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute) - and every time I've attended in previous years, it proved to be an eye-opening and mind-expanding experience. It was no different this time around!

One hundred and fifty participants joined us at the Centre to learn from a host of experts about the next web and the decentralized technology that, once scaled, will become hugely beneficial in numerous, pervasive, democratizing and privacy-enhancing ways - and yes, let's be clear, it will also mean very big business. It was a stunning day, with Lake Zurich below glowing in the sun, beckoning for one and all to forget about everything for a while and to just hop in. It's definitely testament to the importance of the topic and the quality of insight presented that - despite Mother Nature's best efforts - we had a full and very engaged house.

For decades, Benedict Evans has been focused on analyzing media and technology, and has worked in equity research, strategy, consulting, and venture capital. He is now an independent analyst, whose newsletter reaches over 175,000 subscribers. His insights into macro and strategic trends in the tech industry are well known and always expertly curated.

"Web3 is the dream of the next version of the internet - it is about control, networks and money." (Benedict Evans)

In his opening keynote, he talked about the ‘new gate keepers’ - a presentation he's similarly shared as his annual macro view - you'll find it among his many presentations on his website. A great deal has been said, and is being said, about blockchain, crypto and web3 - a lot of it, if you just go google the terms, still feels all over the place. Evans talked about the massive energy surrounding all things Web3 right now, but also about the huge amount of uncertainty – but no one doubts the potential of decentralized technology.

The next speaker, Anthony Day, was perfectly placed to take it from the macro views straight into the world of business. He helps enterprises and start-ups to evaluate the benefits of decentralized technologies and to create commercially viable communities, businesses, consortia and digital transformations.

"Decentralization can drive growth and democratize innovation. There is so much capability and capital in Web3 today, and a lot of value for enterprises, governments and individuals." (Anthony Day)

Anthony is the well-known host of the Blockchain Won’t Save the World podcast, and has twice received the 'Top Voice’ award for Innovation and Technology from LinkedIn. The podcast's latest episode focuses on privacy in Web3 and is definitely worth taking the time for.

After the first two luminaries, we were treated to a panel entitled 'The future of business models in a highly volatile world' with Elli Androulaki (IBM Research), Connie Kuang (World Economic Forum) and Jiten Varu (Amazon Web Services). They discussed technical infrastructures, social and economic implications of metaverse technology, equity in adoption, NFTs and more.

The panel was followed by four sessions that squarely focused on business opportunities for companies in the next web, with excellent input from Dr. Daniel Diemers (SNGLR Group), Nino Bergfeld (Salesforce), Marc Stampfli (NVIDIA) and Nicola Plain (Aktionariat).

"Metaverse = Business" (Daniel Diemers)

The next web, Web3 technologies, the metaverse, will mean business in the trillions. While a great deal is still in early stages and start-up modes – with things that may feel more like wishful thinking than business at the moment – the best iterations of these technologies will no doubt fall into place and scale. There are examples out there already, and we were shown some of them.

As one example, Nino Bergfeld told us about Scotch & Soda and their metaverse venture called Club Soda 3.0. By acquiring a token, these token holders then get exclusive benefits (something that is essentially akin to loyalty rewards - but with a fully immersive experience that crosses from the physical world into the virtual world and back). Over time, we can expect that this type of crossover engagement between the physical and the virtual worlds will become truly ubiquitous.

The morning's presentations were, I found, entirely positive about what's inevitably coming our way: a next level pervasive engagement experience for humanity. The great thing about these conferences is always that they're not here to sell this or that, but that they are here to illuminate, to show what's coming and to offer perspectives. As such, I've enjoyed hearing from a great many speakers in past years - and many of them are very much upfront about their concerns about what's in the best interests of humanity.

At last year's conference we heard from Evgeny Morozov, who has been studying, and writing about, and challenging technology hypes and assumptions for years. He talked about imagination, in particular about his concern that AI advances will bypass human imagination for the sake of efficiency. At this year's conference we would also be getting different perspectives - in particular by the event's final speaker, Johann Hari (author of Stolen Focus) - but more on him later.

There is no doubt that these new technologies affect our psyche. And if you think of immersive web technologies that have become embedded in the daily lives of billions of people, then you know that we are talking about the psyche of humanity overall. Businesses will always do what businesses have always done - and technologists will always want to push the boundaries and go beyond to explore the next and the next and the next – and philosophers will never seize to ask, "Just because we can, should we?"

After a wonderful lunch, where many also took the time to engage at the VR experiences stands, it was time for the breakout sessions. I can't tell you about the undoubtedly stellar sessions hosted by IBM and GDI, because I was moderating the Swiss Re Institute session. Well, there wasn't much moderating that needed doing – I just had to get out of the way and make room for three excellent speakers and their presentations.

Evangelos Avramakis (Swiss Re Institute), Christoph Mussenbrock (Etherisc) and Sergio Beer (Zurich Insurance) talked about Web3 insurance use cases and the opportunities and challenges of combining physical and digital assets in insurance policies. Sergio told about the innovate Web3 work with Swiss watch maker Moser and their exclusive Genesis project, while Christoph shared insights into their parametric crop insurance solution for African farmers.

Following the mid-afternoon break, we had three more sessions to go. Carmen De la Cruz is a Partner at LEXcellence AG, a law firm based in the Canton of Zug, Switzerland, specialized in technology, crypto and commercial law. She highlighted the legal and regulatory challenges of Web3, while Ursula Sury (Vice-Director of the School of Computer Science and Information Technology at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Rotkreuz since 2016 and is Head of Continuing Education and practicing attorney) shared her insights into online identification and verification with Web3 and distributed ledger technology.

The final keynote, by the aforementioned Johann Hari, sparked quite a few thoughts and so I put them into a separate article - he offered lots of important insights into humanity's increasing lack of attention, the myth of multi-tasking - and how we can get our stolen focus back. Find my article here.

What a conference - what scope. I'm sure most participants felt the way I did - exhausted and enriched in equal measure. 

We were given more than a few glimpses into the Web3 world that's already arrived in some ways, and just beyond the horizon in others. Again, there's no doubt that all of this will happen - the best innovations will scale, will become massive businesses, and will generate billions with opportunities to spare for many. Our final speaker did a great job in reminding us that all of this potential should come with an abundance of caution. We've seen, and have been living with, the tremendous powers of Web 2.0 - the next iterations will be not less, but even more powerful.

That's it for this year's conference and I'm already looking forward to the next iteration of this always enlightening annual gathering!

This conference will connect networks of technology research and practice with thought leaders and decision makers from society, business and government. Attendees include representatives from financial services, healthcare, retail, industry, and government.

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