BETH: Blockchain School for Sustainability
One of the root causes for non-sustainable practices in the world seems to be the misalignment of incentives in daily life. The promise of tackling global sustainability challenges lies at the heart of the BETH course.
The challenge. One of the root causes for non-sustainable practices in the world seems to be the misalignment of incentives in daily life: there are no immediate benefits for doing positive action and there are many incentives to act short-sighted. Blockchain technology in combination with the Internet of Things is interesting because it allows to create new incentive systems to address the shortcomings of the financial system we have today.
The promise. The promise of tackling global sustainability challenges lies at the heart of the BETH course. We bring together an international group of students from ETHZ and other universities, researchers, experts, and state-of-the-art technology providers. One week with expert talks, hands-on classes, culminating in a hackathon to tackle real-world challenges makes the BETH experience.
The Hackathon. Participants create prototypes in a hackathon while working on a proof-of-concept or building a minimal viable product. In 2019, a collaboration with the ETHZ Student Project House ensures that students can continue working on their project after completion of BETH. We also provide a limited number of travel grants for international students (see below).
The commitment. The Chair for Computational Social Science at ETHZ (COSS) carries on the spirit and goals of what started as “BIOTS” in 2016 to provide a profound technical education program with a clear societal ambition – working together on important sustainability challenges.
The core topics we want to address during BETH 2019 are:
- Energy efficiency & energy saving
- Sustainable production & farming
- Waste reduction & recycling
- Human collaboration & e-democracy
Become part of the BETH family and help us create BETHer tools for a BETHer world!