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

The title of this article was the title of yesterday's conference Swiss Re Institute's Centre for Global Dialogue in fabulous Ruschlikon, overlooking Lake Zurich. It was a stunning day, with the lake below glowing in the sun, beckoning for one and all to forget about everything for a while and just hop in. It's definitely testament to the importance of the topic and the quality of insight presented yesterday, that - despite Mother Nature's best efforts - we had a full house!

This annual conference is always focused on technology, and always co-organized by Swiss Re Institute, IBM Research ?and the?GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute - and every time I've attended it proved to be an eye-opening and mind-expanding experience. 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, when scaled, will become hugely beneficial in numerous, pervasive, democratizing and privacy-enhancing ways - and yes, let's be clear, it will also mean big business.

The macro view - by Benedict Evans

A great deal has been said, and is being said, about blockchain, crypto and web3 - a lot of it, if you just google the terms, still feels all over the place. But no one doubts the potential of decentralized technology. To start the day, we were treated by a curious opening keynote - as the speaker was neither there, nor seen. Benedict Evans was 'with us' to talk about the new gatekeepers with a recorded audio and a massively packed set of slides - it was fascinating, wide-ranging and rapid-fire insight after insight.

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

For decades, Evans has been focused on analyzing media and technology. He has worked in equity research, strategy, consulting, and venture capital,, and is now an independent analyst, whose newsletter reaches over 175,000 subscribers. Dive into his well-known presentations on his website - he analyzes macro and strategic trends in the tech industry and, I can assure you, this is expertly curated and massively insightful.

The benefits of decentralized technologies

Evans talked about the massive energy surrounding all things Web3 right now, but also the huge amount of uncertainty - and 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)

Lest we forget - 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. Below the link to Google Podcasts - you'll also find it on Apple and Spotify, of course. The last episode focused on privacy in Web3, definitely worth your time.

The rise of metaverse ventures

If you just take a gander at the picture, you'll see that we were blessed with a smorgasbord of experts. 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 (AWS) ). 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 - excellent input from Dr. Daniel Diemers ( SNGLR Group ), Nino Bergfeld ( Salesforce ), Marc Stampfli ( 英伟达 ) and Nicola Plain ( Aktionariat AG ).

"Metaverse = Business" (Daniel Diemers)

That the metaverse equals business was abundantly clear by one and all at the Web3 conference by noon at the very latest! 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 (stuff that feels more like wishful thinking than business at the moment), the best iterations of these technologies will fall into place and scale. There's no doubt on my mind about that.

There are examples out there already, and we were shown some of them. Here's one: Nino Bergfeld told us about Scotch & Soda and their metaverse venture called Club Soda 3.0 . By acquiring a token, these token holders 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, I expect, this type of crossover engagement between the physical and the virtual worlds will become truly ubiquitous.

Not getting blinded by the positives

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. No surprisingly, with new technologies there are always also concerns about 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's no doubt that 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. Philosophers will, on the other hand, never seize to ask, "Just because we can, should we?"

A focus on Web3 insurance cases

Back to the conference! 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, not much moderating to be done, really - all I had to do was to get out of the way and make room for three excellent speakers and their presentations.

Evangelos Avramakis ( Swiss Re ), Christoph Mussenbrock ( Etherisc ) and Sergio Beer ( 苏黎世保险 ) 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 (learn more about it here ), while Christoph shared insights into their parametric crop insurance solution for African farmers (see below).

Of lawyers and caution

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 - check it out here:

Final thoughts

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. 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 more powerful.

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