, , , ,

Blockchain platform for trading cards – Forward31 launches start-up Fanzone

Blockchain platform for trading cards

Forward31 launches start-up Fanzone

Berlin. Porsche drives its digitization strategy forward: through its company builder Forward31, the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer is launching the start-up Fanzone. The young company develops and operates a platform for digital trading cards. Thus, Porsche is opening a new business area in online gaming and digital entertainment.

The Berlin-based start-up offers an online marketplace for trading cards. Sports fans can collect and exchange digital player cards over Fanzone and use them in different game variants. The special feature of this interactive offering is that the company uses blockchain technology for the platform. This enables the creation of so-called non-fungible tokens (NFTs), i.e., digital objects that cannot be copied. NFTs guarantee the rarity and identity of collectables. Thanks to verifiable ownership, fans can benefit from value increases, for example, for limited editions. Fanzone’s first partner is the German Football Association (DFB).

New marketing channels for sports institutions and managers
“The demand for classic trading cards and albums has been unbroken for decades,” says Christian Knörle, Head of Company Building at Porsche Digital. “With Fanzone, we are now digitizing this promising market. We look forward to strategically supporting Fanzone and the team with Dirk Weyel, Björn Hesse, and Claudio Weck on this journey.” The founders bring along many years of experience in gaming, sports marketing, and blockchain technology.

In addition to the offering for fans, the platform also provides new marketing channels for sports institutions and officials – as the digital collectables are to depict various sports and leagues in the future. Currently, football player cars for the German women’s and men’s national teams, the U21 youth team, and players from the German third league can be collected. Further partnerships are being planned.

“We are convinced that innovative, digital interaction platforms between sports fans and their favourite teams offer huge growth potential,” says Dirk Weyel, Chief Executive Officer of Fanzone. “That’s why we’re excited to be able to build such a platform sustainably with a strong partner like Forward31.”

Porsche’s start-up ecosystem
Porsche is consistently driving the expansion of its start-up ecosystem forward to strategically increase its innovative strength. In addition to creating start-ups through the company builder Forward31, the sports car manufacturer uses various other instruments: the company invests directly in promising young businesses through its investment unit, Porsche Ventures. With the APX accelerator programme, a joint venture between Porsche and the media company Axel Springer, Porsche focuses on further developing companies that are in an earlier start-up phase. Porsche is also a partner of the open innovation platform “Startup Autobahn”.

About Forward31
The company builder Forward31 is a business unit of Porsche Digital. The focus is on building a portfolio of promising start-ups that tap into new target groups and value chains beyond the core automotive business. Jointly with entrepreneurs, these are founded and further developed as independent companies. Further information can be found at: www.forward31.com

/by
, , , , , , ,

Tuna Scope -The Secrets to a Tuna’s Flavor are Hidden in the Tail.

Tuna examination is one of the many vital artisanal skills that supports the culinary culture revolving around this fish. It is a skill that allows master tuna merchants to determine properties such as the flavor and texture of a tuna just by eye without ever tasting it themselves. As the number of practitioners of this craft dwindle, these trade secrets are in danger of disappearing, so we decided to pass the torch to AI. When want to ensure that people around the world could enjoy the same standard of delicious tuna, even into the far future.

Tuna is one of the ocean’s greatest treasures.

Entrusting the Future of Tuna Examination to AI.

High-quality Tuna for All, Sustainably.

The Secrets to a Tuna’s Flavor are Hidden in the Tail.

The cross section of a tuna’s tail is a road map detailing an intricate story about it’s flavor, texture, freshness and overall quality. Master tuna merchants will examine things like the color and sheen, firmness, and the layering of fat, and through a process forged by experience and intuition, instantly determine the quality of a given fish. This examination has been the primary determiner of prices at fish markets for ages.

Inheriting the Disappearing Legacy of Tuna Examiners.

“No matter how talented someone may be, it takes at least ten years to be able to do this by yourself.” Quality examination is a skill that is cultivated from a combination of years of training, experience and individual intuition, and each practitioner has their own unique tried and true methods. The number of craftsmen, who judges the quality of fish with their highly trained eyes, has fallen to less than half of the industry’s golden age. In the near future, it’s feared that there will be no successors to carry on the occupation.

STORY

We created an AI model that instantaneously determines the quality of a given tuna based on a cross sectional tail scan. We took roughly 4,000 tail images, a number equivalent to that an examiner might see on their ten year path to proficiency, and input the data into the AI program, which succeeded in mastering the skill in a mere month through machine learning. This was the birth of a new successor to the tuna examination tradition that could be utilized around-the-clock anywhere in the world.

The Development of TUNA SCOPE

At a fish processing facility in Yaizu, yellowfin tuna data was recorded along with grades given by real examiners on a four-level scale. on a four to five level scale. Using machine learning, we took the data for roughly 4,000 fish and used it to teach AI the unexplainable nuances of the tuna examination craft.

Testing at the Yaizu Fish Processing Facility

The AI quality examination app was introduced to the yellowfin tuna inspection process at the Yaizu fish processing facility. We tested the app’s accuracy by comparing it to the results of real examiners, revealing that the app was already achieving accuracy level 78%85% as high as its human counterparts with 35 years of experience.

The Creation of “AI Tuna”

Promoting it in sushi restaurants. The tuna that was ranked highest by the AI went on to become its own brand, which was labeled “AI Tuna”. This high quality AI-examined tuna was brought to a sushi restaurant in Tokyo where roughly 1,000 plates were served to customers over five days. According to a survey executed at the restaurant, the brand achieved a 90% customer satisfaction rate.

TUNA SCOPE Goes Global

TUNA SCOPE’s next step is to become a real part of the inspection process at factories, and utilize the data to become increasingly skilled. By expanding beyond Japan, and continuing to acquire data from fisheries around the world, TUNA SCOPE aims to create a world standard for tuna quality in the near future.

FUTURE

Artisan Skills in the Hands of AI

The technology developed for TUNA SCOPE has untapped potential for applications across a wide variety of industries. By teaching AI the secrets and nuances required to perform the tasks humans have perfected over the years with the naked eye, we may gain a new ally against a host of problems that humanity faces today. That future might be closer than we think.

www.tuna-scope.com
/by