BATON ROUGE — Iconic Moments, a non-fungible token marketplace for museums and archives, has won a World Summit Award from the United Nations.
The company uses NFTs — non-interchangeable units of data that can be sold and traded— to help museums engage new visitors and develop revenue streams outside of foot traffic.
Iconic Moments is one of 40 organizations worldwide to be recognized for using technology to help achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
“Our mission is to enable museums and cultural institutions to engage a new generation of visitors digitally, to evolve the museum experience, and to create a more sustainable economic model for museums through eco-friendly NFTs and the metaverse,” said Chris Cummings, company founder and CEO, in a press release. “Iconic allows museums to drive much-needed revenue through limited-edition NFTs without giving up ownership or governance of the world’s historical assets.”
The awards were founded in 2003 as part of the U.N. World Summit on Information Society. The United Nations received 800 nominations from over 129 countries around the globe for this year’s competition. An international jury chose winners based on their ability to use content-driven digital solutions to solve societal challenges.
“The 40 World Summit Awards winners have been evaluated for sustainability, aim, technical and strategic finesse. This year’s challenges show more than ever how much digital means can offer progress and solutions,” said World Summit Awards chairman Peter A. Bruck. “This year’s winners present a wonderful showcase of purpose-driven innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Iconic Moments was created by Baton Rouge-based “digital storytelling” company Pass It Down Inc. Cummings said the startup — which also has offices in Austin and Chattanooga, Tenn. — has grown 73% since the start of the pandemic and it is one 12 companies currently in participating in the Idea Village accelerator program.
