By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 5th, 2024
The incubation program will essentially concentrate on real-world use cases of blockchain.
Sony Network Communications, another subsidiary of The Sony Group, has partnered with a multi-chain smart contract network called Astar Network to introduce a Web3 incubation program for projects that target the use of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
In a recent press release, it was said that the web3 incubation program would be managed by Saingapore-based Startale Labs, which is a firm established by Astar Network Chief Executive Officer Sota Watanabe and will run from mid-March to mid-June of this year. Applications for the program begin on February 17th and conclude on March 6th.
The selected applicants for the program will be divided into ten-fifteen cohorts, while the learning session will be hosted by international venture capital companies like Dragonfly, Fenbushi Capital, and Alchemy Venture.
The incubation program will essentially concentrate on real-world use cases of blockchain. It is curated to look deeply at the various methods by which blockchain technology can solve problems in their industry. Moreover, Sony Network can invest capital in ideas discussed in the incubation program.
Astar Network has grabbed attention by launching several innovative features since the beginning of the year. A month ago, Astar Network inaugurated its Cross-Vortual Machine feature on the public test net Shibuya. At the time, Astar Network had enabled projects to be built on its network seamless interoperability between various smart contract ecosystems like Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and WebAssembly (WASM).
In November 2022, the network again introduced Swanky, an all-in-one utility feature that allowed developers to create WebAssembly (WASM) smart contracts conveniently.
The incubation program is a part of Astar Network’s persistent association with firms looking to explore use cases for Web3 technology. Astar Network also came up with the first para chains to come to the Polkadot environment- collaborating with famous automotive company Toyota on a Web3 hackathon.
Astar was able to raise around $22 Million in strategic funding from crypto venture capital companies like Polychain and Alameda Research. At that time, the company said that the incoming capital will be used to sponsor geographical expansion.
Astar Network is a parachain or parallel chain of Polkadot, a framework for several blockchains together. Polkadot’s primal relay chain doesn’t back smart contracts. Astar offers support from smart contract developers. The Astar network enables developers to earn tokens for creating smart contracts or infrastructure.
The most significant aspect of the announcement remains the fact that Sony has started to dig deep into Web3 technology, revealing a motion-tracking metaverse wearable called Mocopi in November 2022.