Polygon Selected to Participate in Disney’s 2022 Accelerator Program

Polygon Selected to Participate in Disney’s 2022 Accelerator Program

The blockchain company Polygon has been chosen to participate in Disney’s Accelerator Program, according to a Walt Disney Company blog post published on Wednesday. The 2022 Disney Accelerator initiative is a business development program to "accelerate the growth of innovative companies from around the world."

Disney’s 2022 Accelerator Is Focused on AI, NFTs, and AR

The Walt Disney Company published an announcement on Wednesday that the Disney Accelerator Program has selected six companies to participate in the 2022 class initiative, with plans to target a few different technologies. "This year’s Disney Accelerator class is focused on building the future of immersive experiences and technologies such as augmented reality (AR), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and artificial intelligence (AI) characters," the entertainment company’s blog post details.

Disney had explained on April 22, 2022, that the mass media and entertainment company was accepting applications for the program. 82 days later, Disney has revealed that it has chosen Flickplay, Inworld, Lockerverse, Obsess, Polygon, and Red 6. Disney’s blog post describes Polygon as a "scalable blockchain network that allows developers and enterprises to build Web3 experiences." The firm has said that it selected the companies because of the current focus on Disney’s "next-generation storytelling efforts."

Participating Companies Will ‘Receive Guidance From Disney’s Team’

Polygon tweeted about getting accepted into the 2022 Disney Accelerator program on Wednesday, following Disney’s announcement.  "We are excited to announce that Polygon has been chosen to be a part of the Disney Accelerator program," Polygon wrote while sharing Disney’s blog post. "It kicks off this week, connecting the 2022 class [with] the creativity, imagination, and expertise of Disney," Polygon added. "Throughout the program, each participating company will receive guidance from Disney’s senior leadership team, as well as a dedicated executive mentor."

A few of the other companies chosen by Disney also focus on technologies like AR, Web3, NFTs, and three-dimensional (3D) environments. Disney reveals the startup "Flickplay is a Web3 social app that enables users to discover NFTs tied to real-world locations that they can experience and share via AR." 

Two weeks before the Walt Disney Company’s first annual Disney+ Day in 2021, the firm announced it would drop the ‘Golden Moments’ NFT collection via the digital collectibles app Veve to celebrate the event. In January, the entertainment company indicated entering the metaverse world when the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) approved Disney’s "virtual-world simulator" patent.

Bonnie Rosen, the General Manager of the Disney Accelerator program, explained on Wednesday that "for nearly a century, Disney has been at the forefront of leveraging technology to build the entertainment experiences of the future." Polygon remarked that the company planned to share more Disney Accelerator updates in the firm’s Twitter thread published on Wednesday. It also added that the team’s imaginations were "already on fire."