Devcon 8 India Community Hub Proposal [TEMPLATE]

Community Hubs
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Note: Please use this template when applying to RFP-13: Devcon 8 India Community Hubs :india:

Summary of Proposal

  • A simple 50-word summary on the idea for your Devcon Community Hub.

Below are some useful prompts for each section of the proposal:

Motivation and Rationale

  • How would this Community Hub enhance the attendee experience?

  • How would it complement Devcon 8 India? In what ways does it add a unique piece to the overall experience?

  • Why is this topic significant, and why is a Community Hub the best format to address it instead of a one-time talk or workshop?

  • Devcon is the global Ethereum gathering for builders of a free, open, private, and verifiable future. How would this Devcon Community Hub support builders and their journey?

  • Have you organized a Community Hub at a past Devcon edition? What have you learned? What would you carry forward or change?

Implementation

  • In addition to what Devcon can provide, do you have any special production requirements for your space? What other equipment do you plan to source for your Community Hub?

    :writing_hand:t2: Note: Special production requirements are subject to confirmation.

Programming

  • Please provide a list of possible speakers and topics.

  • Please provide a sample program for the Community Hub’s operating hours. For this exercise, consider from 9 am to 6 pm. The final schedule will be defined closer to the event. This doesn’t need to be the final version, but a draft that can serve as a starting point for discussions.

    :light_bulb: Pro Tip: Devcon runs for 4 full days! Programming is meant to be a collaborative effort across the communities participating in the hub by spreading the work. Hubs are typically active during Devcon’s main hours across all four days, so your sample program should give a sense of how you’d fill that time: structured sessions, open hours, workshops, and more.

    :speech_balloon: The schedule can also consider blocks of time dedicated to: welcoming, onboarding, networking, closing.

    :magnifying_glass_tilted_left: Looking for contributors? Posting and keeping your proposal active on the forum is a great way to connect with new people who can bring value to the topic.

  • How does your proposed topic support Devcon’s focus on Ethereum’s core properties, open-source ethos and community bridge-building?

Audience

  • Who is your hub for, and what kinds of attendees do you hope to reach?

  • Are there specific groups, regions, or kinds of attendees you particularly want to engage?

  • If your team is primarily based outside of India, how do you plan to connect and foster collaborations with India’s growing Ethereum and open-source community?

Team

  • Who are the list of dedicated people that will organize and be fully responsible for the Community Hub?

  • Why are they best-suited to lead this initiative? What expertise, knowledge or perspective do they offer in the proposed topic?

  • How will you ensure that the Community Hub remains a neutral, welcoming space, free from marketing or promotion of specific tokens, projects, or commercial interests? How will you guarantee that any personal or team affiliations do not compromise this neutrality?

  • In what ways are the organizers meaningfully connected to the communities this Hub aims to support?

  • Does the organizing team and its contributors able to provide content in different languages? Devcon is a global gathering and India itself has an incredible number of local languages.

These are suggested prompts to consider when preparing your proposal. Feel free to add any relevant links, information or photos that can support your initiative. See you at Devcon! :sparkles:

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Regen @ Devcon 8 — Community Hub Proposal

Submitted by: Pranav Khanna | linkedin.com/in/khannapranav | pranavlearning@gmail.com

Summary of Proposal

The Regen Hub (“Regen @ Devcon 8”) is a community-driven space at Devcon 8 India for the regenerative finance (ReFi) and regeneration movement. It bridges blockchain builders with real-world climate action through education, onboarding, and networking — centered on India’s fast-growing ReFi and digital-public-infrastructure ecosystems.

Motivation and Rationale

How would this Community Hub enhance the attendee experience?

It offers attendees a chance to connect with nature and the real world. All conversations and projects are centered on regeneration, drawing attention to the fact that the work we do must reflect in — and improve — the quality of life on Earth. It is a grounding, much-needed counterbalance within Devcon.

How would it complement Devcon 8 India, and what unique piece does it add?

It reflects a cross-section of projects and people implementing ReFi/regen initiatives — leveraging blockchain, crypto, and technology for the betterment of people and planet. It surfaces a community that often sits at the fringe of a builder-focused conference and gives it a permanent, welcoming home.

Why is this topic significant, and why a Community Hub over a talk or workshop?

The urgency is non-negotiable: rising temperatures, heatwaves, and forest fires are affecting life globally, and the sooner we fold climate adaptation and mitigation into how we build, the better for everyone. A hub is the right format because it lets us educate continuously, run open Q&A, and cross-pollinate — crypto people learn climate, climate people learn crypto, and the curious discover this intersection. It is a continuous, come-and-go effort in the spirit of giving, not a one-shot lecture.

How does it support builders of a free, open, private, and verifiable future?

It gives builders real-world use cases, helps center their projects in tangible impact, and offers a space to reconnect with why the work matters. Ground-truth problems become the raw material for verifiable, public-good infrastructure.

Past hubs / what we’ve learned

Pranav helped build The Commons event at ETH Brussels, and convened ReFi India (~3 years ago in Bangalore) — India’s first ReFi event, run parallel to a crypto conference. Key learnings carried forward: activities must be fun, engaging, simple, and educational; the goal is to get people to give and talk, not to hand out brochures; incentivize participation and let people express themselves; the best outcomes are new connections and new use cases.

Implementation

Standard Devcon-provided items: chairs, power outlets, whiteboards, TV screen.

Additional equipment we plan to source (proposed — subject to confirmation)

  • Display table for showcasing regenerative products and initiatives

  • Bean bags / relaxed seating

  • Plants to create an inviting, grounding atmosphere

  • Interactive Regen Map (global + India projects)

  • Community Board (attendees post ideas, questions, offers, needs)

  • Onboarding desk for India-based startups and government initiatives

Note: special production requirements are subject to confirmation with the Devcon production team.

Programming

Buckets of topics

  • What is ReFi/Regen & the current state — especially the state of ReFi in India

  • Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) — India’s emerging theme, and how it maps to ReFi/regen and the broader Ethereum community

  • Startups & problem statements — Indian startups and government initiatives share challenges; the community weighs in on how to build/solve

India-specific activities

  • Showcasing Indian ReFi / climate startups and their real-world deployments

  • Government digital-public-infrastructure initiatives and how they intersect with Ethereum and ReFi

  • Onboarding sessions hosted by featured startups and initiatives

Sample daily program (9:00 – 18:00; repeated across all four days)

Time Session Tone
9:00–10:30 Welcome, icebreaker, interactive Regen Map / opening circle Light, engaging
11:00–13:00 “What is ReFi/Regen & the state of ReFi in India” — talks + Q&A Heavier
13:00–14:30 Post-lunch networking, shared food, onboarding to projects Light
14:30–16:00 Digital Public Infrastructure & Ethereum — talks + discussion Heavier
16:00–18:00 Open hours: community board, problem statements, pitches, networking Light

All-day: Community Board, Interactive Regen Map, onboarding desk. We will also host onboarding-to-projects sessions and invite projects to pitch. The full schedule is a collaborative effort and will be opened to the forum for contributions. (Speaker starter list to be crowdsourced from the forum across the buckets above.)

Audience

  • Crypto natives wanting to learn how blockchain can be a lever for climate action, adaptation, and mitigation

  • Climate practitioners wanting to understand how technology accelerates their agenda

  • India-based projects showcasing real-world work

  • L2s / chains sharing onboarding incentives for regen builders

  • Startups showcasing work

  • Students looking to build / write code on DPI and launch businesses

We are especially focused on bridging India’s climate and crypto communities, and Global South builders.

Team

Lead Organizer

Pranav Khanna — linkedin.com/in/khannapranav

  • Core Team member, Climate Coordination Network (CCN) — which has funded 389 early-stage climate projects across 56 countries, distributing ~$5.5M

  • Active contributor to ReFi DAO and the Gitcoin ecosystem

  • Convened ReFi India (Bangalore, ~3 years ago) — India’s first ReFi event

  • Part of the team that built The Commons at ETH Brussels

  • Deeply active in the startup ecosystem

(Co-organizers and volunteers: to be listed — TBD.)

Neutrality commitment

The hub will remain a neutral, welcoming space free from marketing or promotion of specific tokens, projects, or commercial interests. Our approach is cultural, not policed: we create an environment that naturally attracts real-world builders, maintain a physical organizer presence at all times, and take immediate action on any violation. Explicit community guidelines will be posted in the space.

Community connection

The organizer is embedded in both the ReFi/regen movement and the Indian startup ecosystem, with direct lines to CCN grantees, ReFi DAO, and Indian DPI orgs.

Languages

Content delivered in English, Hindi, and Marathi; AI-assisted support for additional Indian languages as needed.

Logistics

  • Title: Regen @ Devcon 8 (Community Hub)

  • Days: all four days of Devcon 8 India

  • Hours: 9:00 – 18:00 daily

  • Format: open, collaborative, come-and-go

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love it, yes please! :seedling:

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I have posted my proposal on community hub

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would be amazing to have a Regen Hub at Devcon! :crossed_fingers: