Hi, it's Mike Wise. At the Government Blockchain Association Infrastructure event in DC last week, after detailing my transition from building up the Boston Blockchain Association (BBA) to starting the IoT Sandbox in Cleveland, the #1 question was along the lines of, "Sounds great. Makes sense. Congrats! What's the purpose of the Sandbox?"
My answer:
The purpose of the Sandbox is similar to the BBA - to serve as a convener, connector, and catalyst of all things IoT in Northeast Ohio (NEO). The end game is to establish NEO as a global hub for #IoT manufacturing, across industries and use cases. It will take several years, but here's why. In the context of IoT, the Sandbox can sit at the nexus of four strategic forces:
1. Industry: There is already IoT manufacturing happening in NEO.
2. Academia: With Case Western, Akron, Cleveland State, Youngstown State, and host of smaller private institutions and tech schools, there is ample firepower to train up a workforce skilled in all things IoT.
3. Government: There are existing programs designed for economic development (Team NEO, JumpStart Inc., Bounce Innovation Hub, Greater Cleveland Partnership, Cleveland Foundation, others...). And now with Ohioans JD Vance, Bernie Moreno, and Vivek Ramaswamy in positions of influence nationally, it seems like even greater progress can be made in the next few years.
4. Funding: NEO has a rich history. There are many notable VC, PE, Family Office, and Economic Foundations which would like nothing more than for NEO to rebound from a couple decades of job losses and sub-optimal economic conditions.
So while the Sandbox isn't going to save the world, it can be part of the solution. No doubt, Web3 is what's next - IoT for digitally-native data, AI for data transformation into usable information, and blockchain/DLT for programmatic access, storage, and security. With IoT being the most tangible leg of the 3-legged Web3 stool, devices that need to be physically designed and manufactured, what better place to do that than NEO? The production costs are low. The facilities are centrally located. Major east/west and north/south trade routes go right through. There are existing production facilities waiting to be turned on. There is ample human capital who would love to learn a new trade. And there are investors looking to deploy financial capital.
Lastly, perhaps an even greater prize awaits. If NEO can pull off this initiative - as a community - what's next? Many are saying it's Web5, which will be built on top of Web2.0 plus Web3. Therefore, if NEO builds a Web3-savvy community, heavily invested in IoT, over the next decade, won't the region then be in position to capitalize on Web5? And then we've got a whole new, tech-savvy generation working on critical infrastructure projects across industries.
Who knows for sure? But, Lord-willing, and I say that quite intentionally, as Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) said in "The Sting", "It seems worthwhile, doesn't it?"