United Nations case study

Atrium and interagency innovation bootcamp

Industry
Government
Category
Supply chain
Challenge
Developing and deploying blockchain applications across various UN agencies involves duplicated efforts, leading to inefficiencies and resource wastage. The lack of a centralised platform for testing, development, and sharing of blockchain applications hampers collaboration and innovation within the UN ecosystem.
Solution
Recognising the need for a centralised solution, the UN engaged with Applied Blockchain to build Atrium, an interagency blockchain platform. Atrium provides shared repositories, governance structures, and an underlying blockchain network, facilitating collaboration and empowering the development of blockchain use cases across UN agencies. Applied Blockchain played a key role in shaping and developing the platform, leveraging its expertise to ensure its alignment with UN requirements and objectives.
Outcome
Atrium enables UN agencies to streamline blockchain application development, reducing duplication and fostering stakeholder collaboration. Applied Blockchain's involvement in the innovation bootcamp further enhanced the platform's capabilities by adapting existing applications and issuing participation certificates on the Atrium platform. This centralised platform empowers UN agencies to harness blockchain technology to tackle global challenges more effectively.  Leveraging WFP’s Innovation Accelerator, which has hosted 15 innovation bootcamps over the past few years, this interagency bootcamp combines human-centered design, lean start-up methodologies and the expertise of UN practitioners and external mentors to develop impactful solutions. The UN Innovation Network, an informal, collaborative network of innovators from 60+ UN entities jointly chaired by WFP and UNICEF, facilitates this exchange.