The Governance Board, Advisory Board and Operations Team already provide guidance to the regulatory sandbox, advise on business aspects and manage day-to-day affairs.
Posted Date – 11:20 PM, Sunday – 1/8/23
Hyderabad: In a few weeks, the Web 3.0 regulatory sandbox proposed by the Telangana government in December will be ready. The state’s Emerging Technologies Division proposes a sandbox to provide stakeholders in the Web 3.0 ecosystem with a platform to test their products and gain validation from regulators.
The Governance Board, Advisory Board and Operations Team already provide guidance to the regulatory sandbox, advise on business aspects and manage day-to-day affairs.
“We have now received about 20 applications from different stakeholders. They are from fintech, healthcare, etc. The focus is on using artificial intelligence to solve problems at the societal level,” said L Rama Devi, Emerging Technologies Director.
These units will have representatives from government, industry, investor groups, and will guide the company in solving problems and scaling up. Upon request, representatives from the various regulators will assess use cases, she said.
For example, if it is a fintech idea, then the effort will be from RBI participation.
“We will also have experts from the field. We hope to officially launch the first cohort in February,” she said. Startups or participating companies will have six months to work on their ideas.
“We will also assess whether the submitted use cases really require a regulatory sandbox approach. There will also be members from the user community for testing. They can provide feedback to the startup on features, functionality and ease of use,” she said.
Web3 ecosystem partners have pointed out that regulatory ambiguity prevents them from coming up with new creative solutions and developing new products. The government will use the Web 3.0 regulatory sandbox to allow companies to test and learn in a real-time environment, she said. The aim is to accelerate innovation in the Web 3.0 industry by promoting a robust testing mechanism and the support companies need. Innovations that can be tested include new products, services, solutions, business models, and even policies.
The state government had earlier organized a massive Web 3.0 event in Hyderabad in partnership with Devfolio. One of these events, called EthforAll, is planned for February and focuses on “public goods.”
Telangana’s efforts ensure that more doors are opened for start-ups, domain experts and others at the national level and beyond. While players can navigate the regulatory space, sandboxes can also help regulators understand barriers to beneficial innovation. The sandbox will run in a continuous fashion.
Comments on the regulatory policy will be conveyed to the regulator. A state-level policy will be drafted to implement the sandbox’s findings, if necessary, she said.
Rama Devi was recently identified by Google as one of three “Women in AI” at Google India’s annual event. “I am delighted to be recognized. I think it will inspire some women to choose technology as a tool to improve the lives of ordinary people. Recognition is a responsibility. I will continue to focus on identifying technology use cases and working to provide solutions for people. This is also our approach followed,” she said.