R/GA Ventures partners with leading Oregon organizations to create Venture Studio focused on Enterprise Blockchain solutions

PORTLAND, Ore., April 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, R/GA Ventures, Moda, Umpqua Bank, Portland State University, Oregon Health & Science University, Business Oregon, ConsenSys and blockchain research firm Smith + Crown, are pleased to announce the launch of the Oregon Enterprise Blockchain Venture Studio (OEBVS): the first program of its kind designed to build a blockchain-based ecosystem, and position Oregon's businesses and institutions to further compete globally.

Bringing together private enterprise, education institutions, and the public and nonprofit sectors with commercial interests in agriculture, manufactured products, healthcare, finance, energy, transportation, technology, sports, and global trade, creates an ideal environment to test and launch blockchain applications with viable use cases. The intersection of the state's technology workforce and commercial interests provides an opportunity for Oregon to be one of the first state sponsors of a public-private partnership to embrace blockchain technologies, potentially transforming how we live, work, play, learn, and govern.  

Designed as an initiative to drive blockchain-led innovation across multiple verticals and industry sectors, the OEBVS will focus on leveraging emerging startup products, services, and tools to solve targeted business objectives for the Studio Partners and amplify these successes across the state and globally. The Studio will be structured to identify strategic opportunities for startups, and provide the selected Program Companies with the market opportunities, guidance, and partnerships to achieve momentum for sustainable growth.

Blockchain technology is an emerging technology with a robust and rapidly evolving developer ecosystem. Blockchain technology provides a secure way to encode transactions between parties, creating irreversible, immutable chains of information. This technology has implications for any organization that keeps records, tracks supply chains, creates intellectual property, or deals with sensitive data. It has the potential to enable new decentralized organizational constructs that could disrupt existing data-driven businesses. With use cases ranging from health care and logistics to data security and financial infrastructure, Blockchain technology presents a new frontier of exploration and innovation for forward-thinking enterprises.

The Oregon Blockchain Venture Studio areas of interest include:

• Retail and Commerce
• Insurance, Digital Health, and Wellness
• Finance
• Sports
• Manufacturing, Shipping, and Supply Chain
• Energy and Sustainability
• Civic and Institutional Solutions
• Transportation, IoT, and Smart Cities
• Food and Agriculture
• Advertising and Marketing

R/GA's award-winning strategists, technologists, designers, and consultants will advise the startups to develop their businesses and prepare them for future milestones. The startups will receive mentorship from industry executives and access to our world-class Studio Partners.

The Studio program will take place out of R/GA's Portland Pearl District office, launching on July 29, 2019. The program will conclude in October with a demo event at which each startup will present to industry leaders, partners, investors, and customers from the technology and innovation community. If you are interested in attending the demo event, please email us at ventures@rga.com for more information. 

Startup applications open on April 24th, 2019 and admissions will roll throughout the year. Global startups working on all aspects of enterprise blockchain technologies, products, and services are encouraged to apply at www.oebvs.com. 

About R/GA Ventures
R/GA Ventures helps industry leaders embrace disruption, connecting them with emerging startups, technologies and consumer behaviors to drive their businesses forward. Since 2013, the R/GA Ventures portfolio has grown to include more than 90 companies across a variety of verticals. R/GA Ventures and R/GA are part of the Interpublic Group of Companies (NYSE: IPG), one of the world's largest advertising and marketing services organizations. Learn more at ventures.rga.com and by following @rgaventures.

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SOURCE R/GA Ventures