#CrossCreative Team Toronto 🇨🇦 – Day 1
What an amazing day. If I don’t learn anything else on this trip my brain will still be buzzing for months to come.
First off we had a meeting in a converted bank vault (in the Bullion Room) where Mark Lijour explained the concept of Blockchain to us in a way I finally understand and covered some of the ground-breaking projects already off the ground with his company ConsenSys. ConsenSys is an accelerator/incubator hub for companies working in Blockchain Companies such as UJO Music who are aiming to revolutionise the way we pay for music.
This was followed by a chat with Access Copyright, a company looking into using Blockchain was way to protect artist rights and make sure they get paid fairly.
They gave a great real-life example of how blockchain could work.
You are reading a really good book and recommended it to a friend with a simple share. They don’t need to buy it but can read the start of the book to see if they like it or not. At the point they decide to read the whole book the artist instantly received payment, your friend could also get instant payment for the recommendation as does anyone else involved in the production of the book such as illustrators, editors, agents, photographers, co-writer, etc. This is all done with a ‘smart contract’ built into the original publishing of the book and negates the need for the middleman putting ownership and control back into the hands of the creator.
A quick Subway ride (the subway in Toronto is very good!) and we met Ulrich Dessouassi from French-language channel TFO. TFO is really pushing innovation and is researching how to use blockchain to create, distribute, licence TV shows. In theory, as soon as someone watches a programme that could trigger a payment to all the content creators. Including all the artists involved in the production. Writers, musicians, stock footage. The tech is still a long way off but it’s going to be massive.
We then got a tour of their AMAZING VR studio (I do not use that word lightly). They were filming a kids TV show on a green screen that was essentially a VR world. So we were watching a screen with the whole set placed in 3D in realtime. So the director can see what the final shot will look like.
Jordan Becker gave us a tour of the awesome, world-leading DMZ Accelerator which is part of Ryerson University and where 500px started out.
Stat of the day:
57,000 cups of coffee are served each year in the DMZ building
We then had a great chat with Christa Dickenson, CEO of Interactive Ontario and her colleague Carly Beath. There are so many similarities between Ontario and Scotland I’m sure we can share knowledge and inspiration and foster new relationships in.
The day of meetings was rounded off by speaking to Manual Bauer, founder of Badel Media and Romeo Ware of Three Lefts, who are looking to use the blockchain for social good. The day certainly has got me excited about the potential of the blockchain.
The day finished with a reception in the residence of the British Consul-General who, along with SDI, very kindly hosted a drinks reception for us with some of the people we will be meeting over the next week.
And (bizarrely for me) we watched the latest #ScotlandisNow campaign video which we had helped create and then an infographic we created was left on the TV screen. One of the coolest places I’ve seen my work placed.
