Last week myself, Alessandra and Dylan headed off to Amsterdam for Blockchain Expo Europe and to attend The Blocks Awards.Alessandra, Dylan and I collecting Sweetbridge’s award for ‘Most Innovative Use of Blockchain in the Supply ChainAs with all events like this it is imperative that you pre plan to maximise your time there, find out who you want to meet with and arrange these for the time that you’re there. Meandering through the exhibitors stands, while still interesting, is not the best way of getting face time with individuals that you want to meet (@BeardOnTheBlock pro tip).The programme was a solid mixture of startups pitching their new ideas and also established organisations discussing what they have achieved so far and also their future plans and aspirations.During the conference I was lucky enough to sit down with some incredibly talented people and talk with them both about their projects and also Sweetbridge, there were plenty of opportunities for future collaboration too — so keep your eyes peeled!One thing that really stood out for me was how much traditional organisations are investing into the growth and development of blockchain technologies, and not just for themselves. One organisation in particular that stood out is Lloyd’s Register, a 200 year old business, who recently donated £10m to the Alan Turing Institute for blockchain research and development. In a world where it seems there is a patent filed on blockchain technology every minute, Lloyd’s Register’s ethos that governance should be open and technology available to all is rather refreshing! (Accenture, take note…)I attended a panel discussion hosted by Jonny Fry of Team Blockchain about the every changing role of VCs in the ICO driven world we all grace with our presence and it was eye opening for sure… A small bit of audience engagement showed that around 90% of the room had invested funds to an ICO, but only 3 people had put their money into a VC fund.What I found rather astonishing was how open to taking tokens, rather than equity, VC firms can be. The panel, comprised of Nic Niedermowwe, Igor Erker and Christoph Heimberger, all unanimously stated that equity in the business is a nice to have but the liquidity offered through a tokenised option is very appealing.The key takeaway, and this is something I have been saying for years (OK, about a year), is that any token you purchase or invest into via an ICO absolutely must have a utility. Purchasing a token that is purely there for fundraising purposes and will have no purpose or value beyond that, other than that someone else might want it, is far from the grounds of a sound investment.Provenance of food and goods was also the topic of the day, with many projects and organisations focusing their efforts on this area. Vincent Doumeizel of Lloyd’s Register gave a fantastic talk on this subject and it was also covered by others, including Marieke de Ruyter de Wildt of The Fork. I met with Ambrosus too, AMAZING project by the way, who are really pushing ahead with their development and I got to hold one of their sensors that will be used to track goods from harvest to the store to ensure their integrity. They are definitely one to keep your eyes on.Oh I nearly forgot… We also WON TWO AWARDS! At the inaugural The Blocks awards we were shortlisted for “Most Innovative Use of Blockchain in Supply Chain” and Sweetbridge came out winners in that category. We thought that was that, and were incredibly pleased with ourselves, but then it came to the “Judges Choice” award and Sweetbridge’s name was called out once again! #WinnerWinnerChickenDinnerIn conclusion, I think blockchain technology is certainly here to stay. While it is not a magical fairy dust that will cure everything, it can empower businesses and individuals to do things they couldn’t before. Take Sweetbridge for example, being able to loan yourself money from assets you already own. Pretty cool, huh? Well the judges from The Blocks certainly thought so!Blockchain Expo Europe — A quick retrospective was originally published in Sweetbridge on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.