Test flight in Berlin: Broad industrial alliance demonstrates how blockchain technology enables business cases for drone logistics

2024-05-22

  • Elvina Kulinicenko

    Elvina Kulinicenko 
    Customer Success & Project Manager
    Staex

Yesterday, Dr. Severin Fischer, Secretary of State for the Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises, inaugurated the Web3 Drone Corridor event. The launch, held at Marienpark, featured a drone flight demonstration where the audience could interact in real-time with the machine, obtaining data and conducting secure payments.

Dr. Severin Fischer at Marienpark.

At the event, the project partners demonstrated one of the first applications of Web3 tools in industry and marked the beginning of the era of the machine-to-machine economy. In order to make new digital applications commercially viable, business partners are often dependent on secure data exchange, which is associated with high technical and legal hurdles. Web3 technologies such as blockchain can now guarantee this. In this way, data can be securely exchanged between different systems in the future while maintaining privacy and without having to be completely disclosed. This will enable cross-sector and cross-industry collaborations and open up new business models.

The NEXA consortium comprises powerful and leading companies like Vantage Towers, Staex, REWE Group's paymenttools, Lisk, Chirp Wireless, Germandrones, and Berlin Partner for Business and Technology. The dynamic public-private partnership aims to revolutionize complex industrial digitalization and related data management through asset sharing, data collection, permit and contract management, and automated payment processes.

Staex: Connecting Web2 and Web3 ecosystems to drive innovation and unlock new business models for numerous industries

NEXA panel.

Driven by Staex, this initiative stands for unmatched reliability and security, creating the foundation for autonomous business ecosystems. In such ecosystems, machines perform tasks and transactions autonomously, minimizing the need for human intervention. This capability is accompanied by an unprecedented scale and level of automation, enabling complex cross-sector partnerships and industry collaborations. The NEXA consortium leverages Web3 tools, including Lisk, Chirp and ICP, to test neutral platforms, integrated trust mechanisms, smart contracts, verified immutable data and automated machine-to-machine transactions.

We are transforming Berlin into the number one innovation hub in Europe. The NEXA project of the Web3 drone corridor is forward-thinking and ‘Made in Berlin’: technologies such as drones, Web3 infrastructure, mobile communications and mobile payment services are combined in the project and have enormous economic potential for the coming years. The NEXA project is an excellent example of Berlin's role as a deep tech location and future lab.
Dr. Severin Fischer

Dr. Severin Fischer
Secretary of State
Berlin Senate

Delivery drones will change the way we think about logistics and play an essential role in future smart city concepts, where Vantage Towers’ infrastructure will be a key enabler. I am pleased that Vantage Towers will be at the forefront of shaping this exciting sector through the NEXA consortium. At Vantage Towers, we are always open to new business models that can share our infrastructure.
Juan de Miguel

Juan de Miguel 
Head of Technology Strategy and Innovation
Vantage Towers

Together with our partners, we are pioneering an innovation that promotes inclusive industrialization. Our decentralized data logistics ecosystem is designed to facilitate economic growth across various applications. In the near future, we envision widespread adoption of such use cases, where drones will monitor and maintain critical infrastructure, including telecommunications towers, wind farms, and more. By leveraging Web3 logistics, we are setting a new standard for sustainable industry. With our secure and reliable communication network, we are redefining the future of data logistics and driving global adoption of resilient industrial practices.
Prof. Dr. Alexandra Mikityuk

Prof. Dr. Alexandra Mikityuk 
CEO & co-founder
Staex

At paymenttools, we are innovating the future of payments. With our extensive background in retail and a thorough understanding of evolving consumer behaviors, we are well-equipped to adapt to the shifting landscape of commerce. In partnership with Staex, we are developing a system that integrates various manual and automated processes smoothly. Our infrastructure is robust, secure, and designed to support transactions across both established and emerging markets, including machine-to-machine payments. Our aim is to deliver more than just a payment solution; we are creating a seamless, secure transaction environment that is integral to the next generation of digital advancements.
Salah Zayakh

Salah Zayakh 
CEO
paymenttools

As the CEO of Germandrones, I’m excited to announce our partnership with NEXA consortium to launch an autonomous drone-based business ecosystem. We’re leveraging Web3 tools to test platforms with smart contracts and automated transactions. This collaboration is fostering industry partnerships and achieving unprecedented automation.
Dr. Klaus Scho

Dr. Klaus Scho 
CEO
Germandrones

By combining drone technology with secure payment systems and data management via Machine-to-Machine Payment (M2M) using blockchain, new, automated and economical solutions can be offered in the future. For example, the Songbird systems can cover large areas and securely share the collected data with various users who only have access to their own data. We look forward to implementing this together within the NEXA consortium.
Cornelius Toussaint

Cornelius Toussaint 
CFO/Investor of Germandrones
Germandrones

Staex and Lisk are both on a mission to help solve real-world problems using blockchain technology. We love the idea of the Nexa initiative, since we are very bullish on what Staex is building and think that showcasing how blockchain technology can be integrated to establish a trusted framework for drone corridors to ensure all data regarding drone operations is transparent and tamper-proof is very valuable for the entire IOT industry to witness.
Dominic Schwenter

Dominic Schwenter 
Chief Project Officer
Lisk

Blockchain technology has the potential to transform every single industry, bringing unparalleled connectivity and efficiency. However, traditionally, Web3 has faced many barriers and challenges on its road to success. Through this consortium, we aim to remove these barriers and foster trust to speed up the development of a truly interconnected industry of the future.
Tim Kravchunovsky

Tim Kravchunovsky 
founder
Chirp Network

Images © Elvina Kulinicenko.

NEXA partners

The NEXA partners comprise leading German public and private organizations.

NEXA partners.
  • Vantage Towers AG: Operator of 84,000+ telco towers across Europe, providing the infrastructure and space for the take-off and landing sites needed for commercial drone operations in the future.
  • Staex GmbH: Originally developed at Deutsche Telekom, now independent, leading the consortium and offering secure, sustainable, and easy-to-use IIoT management.
  • REWE Group's paymenttools: Managing 50,000+ payment terminals across Europe, allowing secure and seamless payment transactions for both humans and machines.
  • Lisk: Open-source web3 application platform designed for interoperability with sidechains.
  • Chirp Wireless: Leading global wireless network provider that offers reliable and extensive IoT connectivity solutions, both outdoors and indoors.
  • Germandrones GmbH: Providing high-performance drones for global surveillance and reconnaissance.
  • Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH: Representing the Berlin State ecosystem and innovation.

NEXA sponsors

Special event sponsors.

NEXA sponsors.
  • Marienpark Berlin, an innovation quarter in the south of Berlin, in which corporates, startups, and players from science and culture are creating an ecosystem.
  • The Drivery, a global innovation ecosystem shaping tomorrow's mobility.
  • ICP Hub Germany, autonomous serverless cloud functionality.
***

For media inquiries and further information, please contact:

Staex GmbH
Paksy Plackis-Cheng, Chief Strategy Officer
E-mail: @staex.io
Website: https://staex.io/

Vantage Towers AG
Robin Hagenmüller, Head of Corporate Communications
E-mail: @vantagetowers.com
Website: https://www.vantagetowers.com/

REWE Group’s paymenttools, (OC Payment GmbH)
Janine Baumert, Marketing Manager
E-mail: @paymenttools.com
Website: https://www.paymenttools.com/

Lisk (lightcurve GmbH)
Andrew Wood, Community Manager
E-mail: @lisk.com
Website: https://lisk.com/

Chirp USA, LLC
Tim Kravchunovsky, Founder & CEO
E-mail: @chirpwireless.io
Website: https://chirptoken.io/

Germandrones GmbH
Oliver Arning, Head of Communications
E-mail: @condor-sicherheit.de
Website: https://www.germandrones.com/de/

Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH
Amira Gutmann-Trieb, Cluster Manager ICT, Media, Creative Industries
E-mail: @berlin-partner.de
Jakob Zwiers, Project Manager Innovation | Information and Communication Technology | Blockchain & IT-Security
E-mail: @berlin-partner.de
Website: https://www.berlin-partner.de/

***

See also