For hundreds of years, the Principality of Monaco has transformed its main characteristics – small size and extreme attention to innovation and economic development – into strategic advantages for all of its citizens and those who choose its territory for business. Today, once again Monaco invests in the future, shaping itself on new trends and embracing digital: Extended Monaco is born, the development project dedicated to the future of the Principality that includes blockchain, new laws on digital identity and smart city, a step forward in the path for global innovation.
A few days ago we gave the news that Dazerolab joined the group of companies associated to the MEB, the Monaco Economic Board, the body that acts as an incubator and chamber of commerce for Monegasque businesses both locally and in the rest of the world. As explained in the article, this is an important development both for Dazerolab, which will be able to count on the support of the institutional bodies of the Principality of Monaco to further develop local and international business, and for our partners, who will be at our side benefiting from these incredible new opportunities.
The Monaco Economic Board is only part of the incredible work that the Principality has been carrying out for some years now: there is another project that proves the strategic importance that new business development, especially on the digital side, has today for the Principality: the ambitious Extended Monaco – Smart Principality project.
What is Extended Monaco?
“For over seven hundred years, the Principality of Monaco has been able to develop, reinvent itself and meet the challenges brought by major global developments in order to preserve its independence and prosperity.”
Thus, Prince Albert II of Monaco begins his presentation of the Extended Monaco project: speaking of one of the main forces that made the Principality of Monaco the flourishing country it is today, namely the meticulous attention to new trends and opportunities in the economic panorama. And today, in a landscape where innovation and digital transformation are the masters, this is more important than ever.
Extended Monaco is the digital development project of the Principality of Monaco: a strategic plan that, through the power of the internet, goes beyond geographical and physical boundaries to create and strengthen new business opportunities around the world for monegasque companies. In the innovative program designed for their national digitization, Monaco focuses on the implementation of new digital tools in a harmonious way in the daily operations of all its main organs, effectively becoming the first country to completely embrace digital.
Enhancing life and business through innovation with ICOs fundraising and digital identity
Extended Monaco’s digitization project involves every aspect of the life of the Principality, from enhanced mobility thanks to the transformation into a Smart City to civil service, passing through the digital enhancement of health and education. A further look towards the future is added by developing even more new opportunities connected with digital, through the financing of new projects, in particular by using the innovative ICOs fundraising method.
ICOs, i.e. Initial Coin Offerings, are an innovative method of fundraising based on virtual currencies and cryptocurrency certified by the blockchain. In short, the ICOs fundraising allows investors to invest in a new project by receiving in exchange a cryptocurrency token that attests interest and has value in the circuit. This fundraising method is highly innovative: currently used mainly by startups, it is also excellent for the development of apps, innovative projects and new ventures, and its use in Monaco as an official business tool is a world first. Another big step towards a digital Principality in its whole is the work for a fully recognised official digital identity: a completely new way of identity proof created accordingly with European security standards and fully interoperable with the other European electronic identification services, with a strong focus on privacy.
Towards the Smart Principality
The first data, recorded 9 months after the launch of Extended Monaco, show constant progress toward the set smart goals and a very positive response from citizens and businesses: to date, the Monegasque digital economy has seen a huge boost, the Principality has advanced by about 100 positions in the ranking of digitized countries of the UN, and three new laws have been created to help the diffusion of digital tools in the fields of digital identity and document validity. The Smart City project is well underway thanks to new mobility services and the administration system has already been updated through the creation of a messaging network that reaches all official officials and members of the civil service in real time. By investing in the digital area, the Principality of Monaco sends an impactful message in the global economic panorama, aimed at affirming the commitment in the digital field and towards the tools of the future: a real declaration of intent to become a Smart Principality, the first country in the world widely based on the use of smart and digital tools.
And we are happy to be part of it.