On the 7th of December, the second DAO Symposium offered a platform to meet the representatives from the most experienced DAOs in the Swiss Ecosystem. An active audience again filled up the venue provided by CV Lab. DAO Suisse together with Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and the UZH Blockchain Center hosted the Symposium.
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are innovative entities, regarded as native organisations of web3 communities. DAOs operate across a wide variety of fields, pooling diverse individual resources (e.g., financial, human, cultural), coordinated through smart contracts on the blockchain.
The event began with the presentation of Isla Munro-Hochmayr, council member of DAO Suisse. Isla introduced the umbrella organization´s activities and its new DAO Launchpad. DAO Suisse has set an ambitious goal, to make Switzerland the leading global hub for DAOs. Their Launchpad aims to support founders on the challenging journey of establishing a DAO.
Andy Pavia, co-founder of Palmera steered the attendees through the intricacies of decentralization. Andy not only presented a comprehensive review of existing DAO tools and methods but also pinpointed their limitations and introduced promising new tools for a more reliable decentralized governance framework.
The third presenter, Ugo Pecoraio from HEK DAO captivated the audience with a stimulating art project from Basel. The House of Electronic Arts (HEK) – dedicated to digital culture and new art forms – offers a decentralized museum membership (FRIENDS OF HEK) for the global art community, utilizing the organisational structure of DAOs. Ugo explained the concept and live experiment of an institutional DAO.
A profound overview from Jan Albers rounded off the series of presentations. SAFE a well-known infrastructure provider, not only offers products for DAOs but also operates as one themselves. Jan explained SAFE´s governance structure, the key considerations in developing an authentic yet compliant solution, and learnings drawn from a myriad of existing models.
The evening´s final highlight was a panel discussion led by Romedi Ganzoni from MME. Izabela Kuprasz (Web 3.0 Technology Foundation), Rik Krieger (HOPR) and Ronald Kogans (Aragon/MME) joined the discussion focusing on the organizational challenges of established DAOs from a legal perspective.
The Symposium concluded with a concise and humorous wrap-up by Malik El Bay, co-founder of Dezentrum and council member of DAO Suisse, followed by an apéro and further lively discussions.