BOC Chronicles: Climate Pulse!

Greetings, co-travelers!

March has been a month of deep groundwork as we prepare to take Energy and Agriculture to the next level with Beckn. With momentum building across key initiatives, here’s what’s been keeping us busy this month:

 

Highlights of the month:

🌏 Insights from Beckn Node Zero 2024

🌾 UKI beta testing is complete!

⚒️ Beckn Tech Open Office Hours this Tuesday

. . .

🔍 Latest Developments

🌏 BNZ Insights Report is officially HERE!

With these expert insights from the first-ever Beckn Node Zero Summit held last October, we'd like you to direct your attention to Beckn's transformative potential for climate action and co-ordination. Dive into the key takeaways, discussions, and potential pathways for climate action in our latest report 

Download Report

What resonates with you? Which ideas would you like to explore further? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Write to community@becknprotocol.io

As we continue to build momentum, stay tuned for the next edition of BNZ!

💡 Learn more at bnz.becknprotocol.io

As the conversation around open, sustainable ecosystems continues to evolve, the Digital Energy Grid is a momentous step towards just that.

💡 Learn more at energy.becknprotocol.io

📜 Haven’t read the DEG vision yet? Download now 👇🏻

 

DEG Vision Paper

🌾 Unified Krishi Interface (UKI): Expanding Digital Empowerment for Farmers

Beta testing is officially complete, and the UKI team is gearing up for the next big leap… Going LIVE! We're thrilled to welcome new participants Plantix, Agriwatch, and Fyllo, bringing the total to eight! 

UKI is a step toward accessible, open digital ecosystems in Agriculture, truly putting farmers at the center.

💡 Learn more about UKI ➡ uki.becknprotocol.io

📨 Want to join the UKI mission? Reach out to venkyr@hey.com and kathirvel@becknprotocol.io.

./Community Corner

📞✨ March Community Call

Join us for our monthly community call! Share updates, exchange ideas, and connect with fellow Beckn enthusiasts.

Register now

📅 Date: Tuesday, April 2nd

🕧 Time: 18:00 hrs IST (6 pm)

🔗 Registration: https://lu.ma/i3m5ptw4

See you there! 🙌🏻

⚒️✨Tech Open Office Hours

Got Beckn-related queries? Our Tech Open Office Hours are here to help! Get insights and guidance on reference apps, Beckn-ONIX, and protocol implementation.

Register now

📅Date: Tuesday, April 2nd

⏰ Time: 16:00 hrs IST (4:00 pm)

🔗Register: https://lu.ma/eo4qlsde

See you there! 🙌🏻

./That's a wrap!

And with that, we march on into April. Until next time, stay charged and keep building! 👋🏻

 

BOC Chronicles: Powering up!

Greetings, Builders!

February's been a power-packed month! From future-forward vision papers to real-world demos, the community has been powering up for some exciting innovations in the energy and agriculture space.

 

Ready to plug in? Let’s start with the highlights.

⚡ Digital Energy Grid Vision Paper launched in Paris!

🔋 UEI Alliance demos new energy use cases

🌾 UKI gears up for beta expansion

. . .

🔍 Latest Developments

⚡ Digital Energy Grid (DEG) Vision Paper is officially HERE!

We kicked off February with a biiig one. February 12th marked a pivotal moment on the path towards a unified and sustainable energy future, with the successful launch of the Digital Energy Grid (DEG) Vision Paper at the IEA headquarters in Paris.

The DEG Paper provides the blueprint for a universal, interoperable, and resilient digital energy infrastructure, consolidating all the efforts in energy in a seamless way and moving towards efficiency, transparency, and adaptability across the sector.

⚡If you haven’t read the paper yet, download it here.

We’ve been getting tons of great feedback and ideas. Don’t forget to share yours with the DEG team through the form on the website!

🔋 UEI Alliance transforming DEG vision to real-world solutions

For those actively shaping the energy landscape, the UEI Alliance is where ideas meet action. Demonstrating the DEG vision in practice, the alliance members have been developing cutting-edge use cases in energy storage, peer-to-peer transactions, demand flexibility, EV, and solar energy. These live demos, recently showcased to Tata Motors Chairman N. Chandrasekaran, prove the power of open networks for energy transformation.

UEI Alliance members with Tata Motors Chairman N. Chandrasekaran

🔋 Got game-changing ideas for energy? Join the UEI Alliance today https://ueialliance.org/.

Trillectric co-founders Arshi Chadha and Kushal Likhi exploring peer-to-peer energy trading at ./zero, the new Beckn community space and office!

🌾 Unified Krishi Interface (UKI): Expanding Digital Empowerment for Farmers

March 10th is the next big milestone for UKI! The team is expanding the beta to 2,000 farmers, introducing crucial new services: equipment rental, government scheme applications, and equipment sales. These join the existing services for weather advisory, spray schedule advisory, market prices, and scheme discovery. The network is also welcoming three new participants Plantix, Agriwatch, and Fyllo, bringing the total to eight! 

 

This expansion is a stride towards building accessible, open digital ecosystems for agriculture, truly empowering farmers.

 Interested in contributing to UKI? Reach out to venkyr@hey.com and kathirvel@becknprotocol.io.

  To learn about UKI, head to https://uki.becknprotocol.io/.

./Community Corner

📞 February Community Call

Join us for our monthly community call! Share updates, exchange ideas, and connect with fellow Beckn enthusiasts.

📅 Date: March 4th, 2025

🕧 Time: 18:00 hrs IST (6 pm)

🔗 Registration: https://lu.ma/i3m5ptw4

See you there! 🙌🏻

⚒️✨Tech Open Office Hours

Got Beckn-related queries? Our Tech Open Office Hours are here to help! Get insights and guidance on reference apps, Beckn-ONIX, and protocol implementation.

Next Session

📅Date: Thursday, February 27th

⏰ Time: 20:30 hrs IST (8:30 pm)

🔗Register: https://lu.ma/eo4qlsde

See you there! 🙌🏻

👋🏻 And that's a wrap!

This has been your monthly update from your friendly neighborhood protocol. See you next month, stay charged and keep building!

BOC Chronicles: New Year, New Digs!

Dear builders, greetings for the new year!

We’re kicking off the big 2-0-2-5 with a HUGE milestone for Beckn and the Beckn Open Collective. This one’s extra special ‘cuz it’s all about you, our incredible community, and the future we’re building together—one open network at a time.

 

Jam-packed and jazzed up, it’s been a joyful January! We’ve got a new address, a killer new look and a whole lot more in store for 2025.

Highlights of the month:

 Live Event: Digital Energy Grid Vision Paper Launch

 Home Sweet Home: Welcome to ./zero!

 New Year, New Vibes: Beckn’s Brand Evolves

Let’s get into all the exciting updates! 

. . .

🔍 Latest Developments

⚡ Upcoming Event: Digital Energy Grid Vision Paper Launch

We are gearing up for the launch of the ‘Digital Energy Grid Vision Paper’ on February 12th, 2025 at the International Energy Agency (IEA) headquarters in Paris. Its release marks a huge step towards a shared, sustainable future.

 

A collaborative effort by IEA and FIDE, the paper outlines the Digital Energy Grid (DEG)’s vision for a globally unified energy ecosystem.

 

If you’re interested in attending the event in person, please reach out to anirban@becknprotocol.io. Stay tuned for the paper!

. . .

🏠 Home Sweet Home: Welcome to ./zero!

On January 20th, we threw open the doors to our brand new office space, ./zero! Beyond just an office, ./zero is a home for the community to call its own, a reflection of our vision and values.

 

'Zero' symbolizes both a starting point and infinite potential. Together, it captures what this space means to us: ground zero for restless invention and boundless creativity, where protocol meets purpose and individual brilliance meets collective co-creation.

📽️ Take a virtual tour of ./zero!

https://youtu.be/JbsWoFKTRdk?si=v9sY0Z2ZkDqPtYkJ

The ceremonial opening of ./zero by Nandan Nilekani and Dr. Pramod Varma

A big shoutout to everyone who joined us for this memorable occasion, from our esteemed guests to the incredible artists, designers, and our passionate community! Thank you for making this such a special day.

🎨 Behind the Scenes: The Art & Aesthetics of ./zero

Thank you to the incredible teams who brought ./zero to life! Era Chaturvedi and SaySpace, Ashish Arora and Small Town Folk, Madhu Chandrika from Earthen Symphony, Sudin KP and all the talented individuals who poured their creativity into this beautiful space.

🎨 New Year, New Vibes: Beckn’s Brand Evolves

A new space, a new look, but same values. We're thrilled to unveil Beckn's new visual identity! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQAs17ox5c0

Bold and bright, this fresh coat of paint and pixels re-invokes our philosophy as the core of our visual language and design system. A major glow-up ✨

 

Here's what's new:

A brighter blue and more white, symbolizing adaptability and openness. The rhizomatic network motif, inspired by the non-linear structure of open networks and the internet itself. A red thread weaves through elements and text, representing interoperability at the heart of Beckn. A new typeface—Noto Serif–a truly global font that supports 1000 languages and 150+ writing systems, symbolizing inclusivity, reliability and resilience.

Explore the new look on our revamped website → www.becknprotocol.io

./Community Corner

📞 New Year Community Connect

Our first community call of the year is right around the corner! Catch up on the latest updates, exchange ideas, or simply say hello to fellow community members.

📅 Date: February 4th, 2025

🕧 Time: 18:00 hrs IST (6 pm)

🔗 Registration: https://lu.ma/i3m5ptw4

See you there! 🙌🏻

👋🏻 And that's a wrap!

As we step into this exciting new chapter, we’re reminded that it isn’t just about where we are, or where we came from—it’s about where we can go together. New ways to do old things, and new ways to do new things.

 

We’re so grateful to have you on this journey with us. Here’s to many more milestones, memories, and magical moments. ./zero is our home to collaborate, connect, create, and catalyze change. And like our tech, our doors are always open.

 

The collective chronicles: goodbye 2024!

Season's Greetings! 🌟

As we deck the halls and ring in the new year, ‘tis be the season to celebrate! Let’s take a moment to revel in the milestones crossed and the paths we’ve paved together these last 12 months.

2024 has been a year of firsts, with bold moves and creativity sparking innovation in everything from climate action and agriculture to local tourism. We’ve shown the world the potential, possibilities and opportunities with open networks.

Before the season’s festivities whisk us away, let’s close out this year with a couple updates from December, and look back on what made 2024 one for the books!

December’s deeds and deals:

🧳 Incredible India joins the OneTAC grid

🤖  Unified Krishi Interface (UKI) takes root in Nashik

. . .

🔍 Latest Developments

🧳 Incredible India joins the OneTAC grid

At the OneTAC Roundtable in Bangalore on December 18th, the Indian Ministry of Tourism made a landmark announcement: Incredible India will join hands with the OneTAC grid! The partnership marks a major milestone for this Beckn-enabled, pan-India open network for travel, arts, and culture (TAC).

The OneTAC Roundtable brought together a vibrant community of practitioners and enablers from across the TAC ecosystem. Gracing the event was the Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Ms. Vidyavathi Vaidyanathan, who emphasized OneTAC’s potential to foster growth and empower local tourism.

Whether a local artisan, service provider or cultural curator, OneTAC invites India’s enterprising TAC sector to leverage the power of open networks and co-create experiences that transcend traditional tourism and champions our rich heritage. 

🌐 To get involved or learn more, visit www.onetac.org

. . .

🌾 Unified Krishi Interface (UKI) takes root in Nashik

On December 15th, the Unified Krishi Interface (UKI) completed its first-ever transaction during the launch of its beta trials in Nashik, a pivotal milestone for the Beckn-powered open agriculture network.

Built on the transformative power of open networks, UKI empowers farmers by enabling seamless access to essential agricultural products and services.

Inspired by global movements like Kenya's Kuza One and the OpenAgriNet Alliance, this groundbreaking community-led workshop brought together over 60 farmer volunteer organizations representing over 5,00,000 farmers across India. 

Agriculture has been a big focus for the community in 2024. Just as strong roots nourish a growing plant, UKI nurtures a robust and sustainable agricultural ecosystem for India. Earlier this year, the OpenAgriNet Alliance hosted its inaugural meet-up, bringing together 30 organizations from five continents.

 

We look forward to another year of innovation and collaboration, where we collaborate with farmers, strengthen local communities, and drive transformative change in agriculture through open networks.

🎞️ Flashback 2024

🎂 A Year of Bold Beginnings

2024 has been a defining year for open networks, with serious innovation and collaboration in energy, climate action and agriculture sectors, as well as digital consumer experiences. Here’s our top three milestones for the year—

💫 March: Beckn-ONIX debuted as an open-source innovation that enables the rapid deployment of Beckn-enabled networks in mere minutes. Check out the demo here. 

💫 October:At its first-ever flagship event in Bengaluru, Beckn Node Zero 2024 rallied together global sustainability stakeholders building climate action solutions.

💫 Year-End: Beckn Xplor set new benchmarks for seamless digital consumer journeys, ending the year with a much-awaited masterclass. Watch the Beckn Xplor movie here.

. . .

🔥 2025, it's time to go live!

Before we bid adieu to 2024, here’s a toast to YOU, our extraordinary community of doers, dreamers and disruptors! You’ve made this year an unforgettable experience, and we’re thrilled to journey with you on to the next leg of our adventure.

Here’s to another year of breaking barriers, rewriting playbooks, and building an even better future. See you in January—brighter, bigger and bolder than ever!

Happy Holidays! 🌟

Leveling the Playing Field to Drive Climate and Biodiversity Action

- Sheeba Sen (Co-Founder, Hasten Regeneration)

An uneven playing field

In Hasten’s work to address climate change and biodiversity loss in India, smallholder farmers tell us a consistent and bleak story – once-fertile lands are barely able to feed their families, soils are depleted, water has disappeared, the forests surrounding the farmlands are gone, and the changing weather patterns make for smaller, unpredictable harvests. 

These farmers understand their current practices are unsustainable, but are unable to adopt regenerative practices due to lack of knowhow or resources. Plus, the economics of implementing regeneration doesn’t pencil out. It makes more sense for a family to cut down a tree than to leave it standing; to abandon a barren farm and migrate to the city rather than stay and restore it. 

Meanwhile, a fraction of the billions of dollars invested annually in climate projects and technologies makes its way to rural communities. Global investors consider nature-based investments risky for many reasons and routinely choose “safer” bets like carbon capture machines or solar panels. 

Today’s nature based climate projects are typically designed to maximize carbon capture, compromising on biodiversity outcomes and leaving communities with little income to show for their efforts. In the words of Charlie Monger, “show me the incentive, and I will show you the outcome.” is the crux of the problem; current incentives are not aligned with farmer needs. If we align incentives then we can make nature based investments much less risky than how they are perceived today. By leveling the playing field, we can accelerate humanity’s response to the climate and biodiversity crisis, and work at the required scale.

Climate and biodiversity action for all

Our vision for the Xylo platform is to enable anyone, anywhere, to take climate and biodiversity action, equitably. We give rural communities direct access to global climate markets, unlocking resources to regenerate land assets. We connect global climate capital providers directly to local climate and biodiversity action. Micro actions by millions of smallholders add up to a mega impact on climate change, biodiversity loss and poverty alleviation. 

 

Through our platform (inspired by Societal Thinking, ONDC and through collaboration with Beckn/FIDE), rural small landholders are compensated to regenerate air, soil, water, farms, and forests, leading to increased climate resilience. This benefits local communities while contributing to national and international climate action targets. Farmers are provided with knowhow and resources required to improve their land assets. They decide what and how much to invest, and how to manage the assets they’ve created, including participating directly in the global carbon markets. 

 

The platform enables local enterprises to provide climate- and biodiversity-related products and services. Native saplings, soil amendments, planting and maintenance services, and low-cost financing are transacted; as the marketplace matures and evolves, local entrepreneurs can identify supply gaps and innovation opportunities.

 

An initial offer to test the platform is a “legacy forest,” a small farm forest composed of native species that creates immediate income from payments for ecosystem services, medium term income through produce, and “legacy” income through the sale of carbon credits. Together with AF Ecology Centre, we’re making legacy forests available to drought-stricken farmers in Anantapur.

 

If you’re an NGO, philanthropy, financial institution, agri-tech provider, institutional carbon credit purchaser, or climate action enthusiast, sign up here to stay connected as we launch the platform.

www.hastenregeneration.org

sheeba@hastenregeneration.org 

peter@hastenregeneration.org

Beckn Collective Chronicles: Nov '24

What’s up, BOC fam!👋

Phew! November flew by in a blink of an eye–we’re already sprinting into December and gearing up for the year’s finale. As the season of joy unfolds in full festive spirit, our vibrant community is bubbling with incredible momentum, ready to propel us into a new year!

Whether you’re pausing to reflect on the last 11 months, or perhaps planning a snowy winter getaway in an Airbnb or Aspen, we’ve got exciting news for all you travel bugs–a brand new open tourism network to make your journey smoother and your cultural experiences richer.

November’s news, views and highlights:

🧳 OneTAC: An Open Network for Tourism, Art and Culture

🤖 Beckn Xplor: Your new personal J.A.R.V.I.S.

. . .

🔍 Latest Developments

🧳 ‘OneTAC’ your way to immersive tourism, art and culture

Last week at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2024, we introduced the world to OneTAC—an open network for Tourism, Arts, and Culture—launched in collaboration with Culkey Foundation. 

Powered by Beckn, OneTAC enables a tourism model that hands back control to local communities. Its decentralized foundational grid allows for sustainable travel that promotes and preserves local heritage and livelihoods.

The open network offers a creative digital playground for everyone–travellers, businesses, artists, performers, tech builders and thinkers alike. With cutting-edge digital infrastructure, better discovery tools and trusted transactions, it helps shine light on lesser-known destinations and hidden gems.

 

Bypassing middlemen, travellers curate unique, unforgettable experiences that not only celebrates diverse cultures, but also empowers local businesses, contributing to a more equitable and collaborative tourism ecosystem. 

 

🌐To learn more about OneTAC, visit the website.

📝 Read the concept paper for OneTAC here.

. . .

🤝 Beckn Xplor: Your new personal J.A.R.V.I.S.!

Imagine your own personal J.A.R.V.I.S. helping you integrate identity, payments, wallet, AI-powered recommendations and beckn-enabled transactions, all in one place? Well, imagine no more, ‘cause that’s exactly what we built.

 

With Beckn Xplor, we enter a new age of personalized, seamless and secure digital interactions, a.k.a your very own J.A.R.V.I.S.!

 

As the next-gen super-engine redefining digital consumer experiences, Beckn Xplor brings together your profile and preferences in a unified, intuitive experience that supercharges your daily digital interactions with all kinds of neat stuff!

 

Explore what Beckn Xplor means for you with this cute film featuring a particularly fussy furry feline!

https://youtu.be/SJWDLTlDVzw?si=4yfKsbaYqXR7dfgu

Beckn Xplor is a DPG ensemble powered by Beckn, AI and more.

Ready to dive in? Click here to sign up for an upcoming Beckn Xplor masterclass with Yukti Sharma and Marcelo Sa.

🌐 Community Corner

📞 November Community Connect

Our monthly community call is right around the corner! Catch up on the latest updates, exchange ideas, or simply say hello to fellow community members.

. . .

📅 Date: November 29th, 2024
🕕 Time: 18:00 hrs IST (6 pm)
🔗 Registration Link: https://lu.ma/sz2rys0w

­
­ ­ ­
See you there! 🙌🏻

That wraps up the November edition of the BOC newsletter, with a sprinkle of holiday cheer. Have yourself a delightful December, and until next time, stay open and inspired! 👋🏻

Beckn Newsletter October‘24

What’s up, changemakers!👋

Hope you enjoyed a long weekend! November started with a whirlwind of worldwide celebrations! While India lit up for Diwali, families and loved ones in America came together for Thanksgiving dinner. These traditions also brought an opportunity to think about sustainability—how can we celebrate with a lighter environmental footprint?

As global festivities reminded us of the need for mindful living, global conversations focused on action became a vehicle to unite the community for a sustainable future—one with both a thriving planet and enough reasons to celebrate. Here's what happened!

October’s news, views and highlights:

🌍 Beckn Node Zero 2024 kicks off!
🤝 Beckn Protocol and Google join forces
🚀 Beckn-ONIX Demo Day

. . .

🌍 Beckn Node Zero 2024 kicks off!

Last month, we kicked off our very first flagship event, Beckn Node Zero 2024! Beckn Node Zero aims to accelerate the global transition to a sustainable future, by building open networks that create unified, co-ordinated, collaborative actions. 

At the first-ever inaugural edition hosted by FIDE in partnership with the Sattva Knowledge Institute, we explored different ways open networks can tackle the global climate crisis, implement large-scale solutions, and achieve net-zero goals.

The two-day event featured a dynamic lineup of thought leaders and industry experts, including the likes of Nandan Nilekani, Dr. Pramod Varma, Sujith Nair, Anjali Bansal, Sanjay Purohit, Akshima Ghate, Rathish Balakrishnan, Srikrishna S. Murthy, and over 250 Beckn champions.

The event agenda saw keynote addresses, workshops, and discussions on diverse facets of sustainable living–everything from water management and urban electric mobility, circular economy practices, integrated EV charging solutions, and sustainable farming techniques.

To learn more about Beckn Node Zero and see the pictures, visit the website here.

. . .

🤝 Beckn Protocol and Google join forces

We're so excited to have participated in Google for India 2024! The 10th edition of the initiative focuses on Artificial Intelligence for the individual, businesses and society at large.

Exciting things are underway, but we can't reveal everything just yet 🤫 For now, here's a little sneak peek of what's in store– 👀👇

https://youtu.be/p14z5KRqSqQ?t=3782

. . .

🚀 Beckn-ONIX Demo Day

A session on Beckn-ONIX brought together tech enablers and network participants to share ideas and showcase real-world implementations.

It was great to hear valuable insights from Dr. Pramod Varma, Binu Raj, Sujith Nair, and Ravi Prakash. We were thrilled to see passionate teams building production-grade Beckn-ONIX and gearing up for what’s next. Still much ground to cover, but the future looks bright! 🙌🔥

. . .

✨ Beckn Starter Kit

Taking your first step into open networks just got easier!

Introducing the Beckn Starter Kit, your guide to everything Beckn. Whether you’re a developer or just curious about open networks, the Beckn Starter Kit has everything you need to begin your open network journey!

In this comprehensive kit, you’ll find detailed explainers that cover:

🧑🏻‍💻 Implementation Guides
🧑🏻‍💻 Core APIs
🧑🏻‍💻 Network Roles
🧑🏻‍💻 Platform Journeys, and more! 

Start building with Beckn today → Beckn Starter Kit on GitHub

. . .

That’s all we have for October. As the autumn leaves turn and the winter air cools, we're excited for a noteworthy November! Until then, stay connected and keep innovating. See you in ~4 weeks! 👋

This newsletter is a work of collective creation and we love hearing from readers. Drop us an email at community@fide.org with your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you for being part of our community! 💟

Beckn Newsletter September‘24

Hola, readers! 👋

As we enter the second ‘ber of the year, something about these months has the whole world feeling festive!

 

Perhaps you’ll light lamps at India’s Diwali festivities, float water lanterns at Thailand’s Loy Krathong, or carve up a plump pumpkin for Halloween. Maybe we’ll find you at the Día de los Muertos parade in Mexico, sipping a hot cup of café at France’s Nuit Blanche, or perchance downing a mug of cold bier at Germany’s Oktoberfest? Wherever you are in this open world, we hope you have an outstanding October!

 

And now, a roundup of September’s top stories.

In this Month’s edition: 

⚡ India’s Ministry of Power recommends UEI Protocol
🍕 ONDC welcomes India’s first zero-commission food delivery app
🎧 Nandan Nilekani talks shop: The India Stack

. . .

⚡ MoP recommends Unified Energy Interface (UEI) Protocol

In its Guidelines for Installation and Operation of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure notice, the Indian Ministry of Power officially recommends Unified Energy Interface (UEI) protocol for data sharing and open communication. The MoP is the second government ministry to back UEI, with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) endorsing it earlier this year.

Celebrating the move, co-founder of Pulse Energy Akhil JP adds, “Getting MoP to recommend UEI alongside existing interoperability protocols is a testament to all the hard work everyone at Unified Energy Interface Alliance has done over the past two years.”

💡You Should Know: UEI Alliance is a collaborative group and think tank that promotes the adoption of Beckn Protocol and open network concepts for energy transactions.

UEI has opened doors for diverse players of all shapes and sizes. Whether you’re a small solar energy producer, an EV fleet operator, a large distribution company, or just a regular ‘ol citizen, UEI provides the opportunity to trade, sell and even buy energy on the open network.

Build with Beckn: UEI Source Code on GitHub

. . .

🍕 India’s first zero-commission food delivery app joins ONDC

Open network solutions continue to impress and inspire. We all know and love how Namma Yatri’s zero-commission model has taken the mobility sector by storm. Now we meetWAAYU, India’s first zero commission food delivery app, who just went live on the ONDC Network! Welcome, WAAYU! 👋🏻

 

WAAYU aims to create a sustainable and profitable ecosystem for everyone, just like its mobility counterpart Namma Yatri, beloved by both passengers and drivers alike.

Besides delivery, WAAYU also helps restaurants offer better prices to customers, teaming up with buyer apps like TATA Neu and OLA to increase order volumes. With over 3000 restaurants onboarded across Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, WAAYU is determined to reshape food delivery experiences in India.

💭 How are open networks impacting quick commerce and hyper delivery? Share your thoughts with the community on our Discord!

. . .

🎧 Nandan Nilekani talks shop: India’s digital journey

Nandan Nilekani joins Nikhil Kamath on the WTF Podcast for an authentic and exciting discussion on India’s digital journey-the past, the present and the future.

 

In under an hour, the intimate one-on-one interview touches on everything from Aadhaar to BHIM, UPI and FasTAGs, Beckn Protocol and FIDE, to a broader discourse on building population-scale Digital Public Infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL2yPiDjTfY

An absolute must-listen, prepare yourself for engaging stories, valuable industry insights, a couple of history lessons and golden nuggets of career wisdom from the IT legend himself.

Check out the full episode here.

. . .

🌾 Building Global Agriculture Grids with OpenAgriNet (OAN)

The OpenAgriNet Alliance officially kicked off their journey with the first-ever OAN meet-up on August 12th, 2024!

 

Over 30 organizations from 5 continents came together to discuss how DPI-enablement and AI augmentation is helping them transform global agriculture and food security. On behalf of the open network community, congratulations to OAN for this exciting step. Collaboration unlocks innovation, and we hope you have many more meet-ups! 

Is your organization interested in contributing to or collaborating with the OpenAgriNet (OAN) Alliance? Fill out this form to get started.

. . .

📚 Brazil’s Rede Belém Aberta Network launches new phase

The Rede Belém Aberta Network in Brazil remains committed to shaping an open future by empowering students with real-world skills, and collaborating with network partners to create opportunities for growth and learning.

 

In this new phase, the network offers training programs for advanced open transactional network technology powered by Beckn Protocol, and a decentralized cloud for both education and work.

This special milestone was led by Jambu Technologia in partnership with FIDE, Universidade Federal do Pará, Prefeitura Municipal de Belém, Wits Innovation Lab, and Pupilfirst.

We can’t wait to see the ideas brewing in these young Brazilian minds!

. . .

🗒️ Contribution Board

Calling all innovators, hackers and part-time slackers!

Fresh Tickets

#1  United Energy Interface (UEI) X Solana Radar Hackathon

⚠️Do you want to innovate for the energy sector? Do real-world problems get you charged up? Then this one's for you!

 Together with Superteam India, we’re inviting participants for a special Unified Energy Interface (UEI) X Solana Radar Hackathon track.

The Mission: Identify areas where a public blockchain like Solana can help further the mission of UEI. Leverage the network and ledger to build products, prototypes or proofs of concept that showcase the ideal experience for such ideas.

What do you win?
⭐ Top 3 winners bag cash prizes of up to $5k
⭐ All winners receive a member role in Superteam India
⭐ Quality submissions receive a contributor role in Superteam India

Submissions open on September 30th, 2024. Click here for more details, and to submit your entry. For any queries, reach out to Superteam India.

. . .

That’s all we have for now. Now that September’s over, we can finally wake up. Here’s a little something to walk to on your autumn stroll. See you in ~4 weeks! 👋

This newsletter is a work of collective creation and we love hearing from readers. Drop us an email at community@fide.org with your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you for being part of our community! 💟

Beckn Newsletter August‘24

Hello to our August readers! 👑

Welcome to your monthly update from in and around the transformative world of open networks. We’ve got news and views from who’s who, and everything the community’s been up to. Let’s dig in!

In this Month’s edition: 

💰 ONDC introduces seamless, paperless 6-minute loans

🕵️ Beckn Origins: The ‘Impossible’ Aadhaar

👨🏻‍💻 Meet Naman Bajpai, Beckn’s bright AI intern

. . .

ONDC launches seamless, paperless 6-minute loans

A loan in less than six minutes?! This is no marketing ploy, rather ONDC’s move to expand financial inclusion in the same way it’s unlocked digital commerce through open, interoperable building blocks. 

 

The offering provides unsecured credit services and last mile loans to small merchants, retailers, salaried and self-employed, all while simplifying the digital lending experience and increasing access to credit in underserved regions.

✨ How does it work?

 

ONDC achieves a faster, cheaper and paperless service by leveraging four digital public goods, allowing for seamless integration of banks, lenders and fintechs.

1. Account Aggregator for Data
2. Digilocker or Aadhaar for KYC
3. Aadhaar eSign for Agreements
4. eNACH or eMandate for Repayments

💬 “The idea of an open network eventually is that every catalogable product or service should be available on the network using this protocol by itself. It doesn’t have to go through multiple integrations,” - T Koshy, MD and CEO, ONDC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsaHgfb3vog

📽️ Click here to watch the full ONDC Financial Services Launch Event (3 hrs; starts at 23:06).

. . .

🕵️Beckn Origins: The ‘Impossible’ Aadhaar

Tigerfeathers is on the prowl to unearth some insightful gems once again, this time with a tale of particular interest to this community, India’s ’Impossible’ Aadhaar. Perhaps some of us know of the special connection between Aadhaar and Beckn. (Hint: FIDE co-founders).

💬 “When anyone asks me about the origins of Beckn, I say in many ways it goes way back to March 2010 when I stepped into the Aadhaar office. The days that followed rapidly changed my views on scale, complexity, and working on the ‘impossibles’!” - Sujith Nair, CEO and Co-Founder, FIDE and the Co-Author, Beckn Protocol.

 

From biometric gamification to de-duplication, complex costing and dramatic demos to vet vendor allocation… fine tuning algorithms at a scale never attempted before…  it seemed Aadhaar would never take off. But it did, and went on to become the backbone of scalable DPIs and financial inclusion.

 

🔗 Read the full Tigerfeathers article here. (Leave a comment, tell ‘em we sent you 😉)

 

What would our world look like without Aadhaar and the population-scale tech developments we’re witnessing today? Share your thoughts with the community on our Discord!

. . .

 👨🏻‍💻 Meet Naman Bajpai, Beckn’s bright AI Intern

This month we’re celebrating Naman Bajpai! Our young and shiny AI intern, Naman’s journey began as a young aerospace entrepreneur (Dynamic Rocketry). Intrigued by open networks like ONDC, Naman discovered Beckn in 2021, still in 9th grade.

Shortly after, an in-depth conversation with Beckn co-author Ravi Prakash deepened his conviction and understanding of the versatile protocol. This belief is the driving force behind his deep engagement with Beckn, actively exploring and learning with the community. His curious, calm demeanour and zeal for tech make Naman both a passionate teammate and leader. 

Memorable Moment: A serendipitous encounter with Sujith Nair at the Harvard India Conference in November 2023 proved especially influential for Naman’s contributions to Beckn.

Currently working on: Multiple ongoing projects, including an open-source framework to enable LLMs to interact with any open network.

Connect with Naman: Github | LinkedIn | Twitter

Would you like to intern with us, or be part of a tech-enthusiastic community? Join the conversation on Discord. 

. . .

🗒️ Contribution Board

Calling all community contributors, your expertise is needed!

Fresh Tickets

#1 Beckn Onix Issues

⚠️ The community has identified 39 open issues in the "beckn/onix" repository. Can you help us solve them?

#2 Protocol Server Validation

⚠️ Do you speak JavaScript and Node.js? We’re looking for open source contributors to help to fix validation issues with the Protocol Server. More details here. 

#3 beckn/use-case-gen-frontend 

⚠️ The C4GT community has raised 4 PRs for the ‘beckn/use-case-gen-frontend’ repository. Can you make a contribution?

Contribution Updates:

Well done, contributors! With your help, we’ve made serious progress resolving issues, catching bugs and growing the community, one keystroke at a time. 

 

⭐ The Beckn FAQ GitHub setup is officially underway! We’ll soon launch a GitBook with popular questions and answers curated by the Beckn team. 

 

⭐ GitHub Cleanup Drive: We're converting over 12 repositories from public to private, and continuing with more repo audits.

. . .

That’s all we have for this month, here’s a little something to start off your September. See you in ~4 weeks! 👋

 

This newsletter is a work of collective creation and we love hearing from readers. Drop us an email at community@fide.org with your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you for being part of our community! 💟

Beckn Newsletter July‘24

Hello, fam!

As you savour the latest updates from the Paris Olympics, we bring you equally, if not more😤 exciting news from the southern slopes of the Himalayas and the palm-lined Malabar Coast. 🌄

 

These important developments are set to enable digitally empowered students and entrepreneurs globally. Continue reading to explore new developments and opportunities. ✨

In this Month’s edition: 

Nepal gets its first open network!🚀

Pupilfirst to offer an all-in-one Beckn course!📚

Beckn Open Office Hours: Twice a week for tech queries!🕒

. . .

Nepal joins the ranks with first-of-its-kind open network Vriddhi 🏔️

In a peak moment (pun intended😋), Nepal is embracing new heights in DPI thinking with the launch of the Vriddhi Open Network, powered by Beckn. This network is set to unlock a treasure trove of opportunities in e-commerce, mobility, tourism, skilling, and more. 🌐

In its first milestone, the network announced its collaboration with Kathmandu University to establish an Innovation Hub for Open Networks in Nepal. The idea is to turn bright student leaders into trailblazers who can conjure up amazing use cases for the network. 🎓

Follow the Vriddhi page on LinkedIn for more updates!

. . .

Get ready for Pupilfirst's course on Beckn for aspiring engineers📚

Pupilfirst will be rolling out a comprehensive course on Beckn as part of its big plan with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to upskill engineering students with cutting-edge technologies and enable them to build Digital Public Goods (DPG).

The students get a chance to intern and contribute to CARE, a Digital Public Good (DPG) supporting healthcare across nine states under the National Health Mission.

When?... Soon. Keep your eyes peeled!👀

. . .

Join the Tech Office Hours for all your queries on Beckn🕒

Got Beckn tech troubles that are more stubborn than a mule? Well, that’s hmm... Fear not!😤

Adopters, experts, and volunteers are all invited to our semiweekly Tech Office Hours every Tuesday at 3 p.m. IST and Thursday at 8:30 p.m. IST. It's the perfect time to clear up your doubts and get top-notch guidance. We will address issues with Beckn-ONIX, reference apps, and the Experience Centre.📚🔍

Join using the link and squash them bugs! 🐞

 

🔗Link: https://meet.google.com/eep-nppm-xqz

. . .

Let’s talk about small ideas that create big changes. 💡

We are all creatures of habit, mostly old habits. So, how do we make lasting change? Rajeesh Menon, FIDE in this short video shares a gem from the book Think Sustain by Sanjay Purohit: “Change sustains when habits change.” 🌱✨

This nugget of wisdom can transform our lives and in turn, society. Starting with the simple idea that true sustainability begins with altering our daily routines. Check out more impactful quotes from the trilogy: Think Scale, Think Sustain, and Think Speed. 💪

. . .

Let the XPLORation begin!🚊

We’ve caught a whiff of something big. A super engine in the works - powered by Beckn and AI. This DPG ensemble promises to deliver seamless, personalised and secure consumer experiences.

Catch the teaser here. Coming soon! 😋

https://youtu.be/RAnKAaMP5P4?si=oWY5vGRQhVrCKQJv

. . .

This wraps up our July edition of the newsletter. Don’t forget to file your taxes!

 

This newsletter is our collective creation and we would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions to make it even better! Drop us an email at community@fide.org. Thank you for being part of our community.✨