Web 3.0 Regulatory Sandbox: Telangana launches application process

Local and international firms or innovators wishing to test their products in a ‘live’ environment can apply to participate in the Sandbox

Hyderabad: Telangana on Sunday set in motion the process to launch a Web 3.0 Regulatory Sandbox. Local and international firms or innovators wishing to test their products in a ‘live’ environment can apply to participate in the Sandbox.

Principal Secretary (IT) Jayesh Ranjan and Director of Emerging Technologies Wing Rama Devi Lanka officially launched the start of the application process for the State’s Web 3.0 Regulatory Sandbox at the closing ceremony of EthIndia in Bengaluru.

Through this initiative, the Government will enable firms to test and learn in a live environment, an official release said, stating that the aim was to enable accelerated innovation in the Web 3.0 industry by facilitating robust testing mechanisms and support required by firms. Innovations that can be tested include new products, services, solutions, business models, and even policies.

The State government was also partnering with Devfolio to conduct large scale Web 3.0 events in Hyderabad. The first one would be India’s first ever EthforAll in February with focus on ‘Public Goods’, the release said.

IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said Telangana was always in the forefront of enabling and driving the use of frontier technologies in different several sectors.

“We have set up, a first-of-its-kind initiative, a dedicated vertical- Emerging Technologies Wing. I am proud to say that the journey of ET Wing has been rather incredible. It has played a very crucial role in the acceleration and adoption of emerging technologies, especially, blockchain in the State. We have identified use cases that improve or enhance the lives of the common man. The solutions, developed by startups, were implemented in various domains ranging from microfinance, traceability, supplychain to voting,” he said, pointing out that now, it was time to move to Web3 as these technologies had rapidly scaled up over the last few years.

“The Web3 ecosystem now boasts thousands of startups and innovators worldwide. A very important initiative taken up by the government is the Web 3.0 Regulatory Sandbox that we are launching today at EthIndia. We believe that the sandbox will help startups navigate the regulatory landscape in India,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Jayesh Ranjan said many Web3 ecosystem partners had expressed that the regulatory ambiguity prevailing in the country prevented them from bringing out more creative solutions and developing new products.

“To tackle this issue and to retain the best companies and startups in the Web 3.0 ecosystem in India, Government of Telangana is starting the Web 3.0 Sandbox. Some of the national regulatory bodies also have chosen to join hands with this regulatory sandbox. This gives an extra level of assurance to startups, domain experts that this regulatory sandbox experience of Hyderabad would hopefully open many more doors for them at national level and even beyond,” he said.

Emerging Technologies director Rama Devi said the Sandbox initiative would provide benefits to all stakeholders in the web 3.0 ecosystem, by providing them with a platform to test their product and get it validated by regulators.

What the Regulatory Sandbox will do:

• Help firms in navigating regulatory space and provide definite structure to product testing process

• Help regulators identify regulatory barriers to beneficial innovation

• The Sandbox will operate in a continuous format

• Participants can exit sandbox when through with testing process

• Testing period for a participant will not exceed 6 months

• Application to be a participant in the sandbox will open twice a year

• Active participants in Sandbox to initially be about 10-15

• Observations on regulatory policies will be passed on to regulatory bodies

• Wherever necessary, State-level policies will be drafted to implement findings from sandbox