press & media
Blockchain Research Institute Receives Important Support from Governments in Canada as well as Thomson Reuters, TMX Group, and Gowling WLG
Thursday June 8th, Toronto, Canada
Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott, founders of the Blockchain Research Institute, are pleased to announce broad public sector support for their initiative. The syndicated research program of over 40 projects on the strategic implications of blockchain is has officially welcomed the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, the City of Toronto, The University Health Network in Toronto, TMX Group, the Bank of Canada, and the Federal Institute on Governance. The Institute is also proud to welcome a number of new private sector members including Thomson Reuters, Gowling WLG – the Institute’s first law firm, and Canadian technology firm TMX Group.
The program is primarily funded by many of the world’s leading corporations such as IBM, Accenture, SAP, Pepsico, Liberty Global, Centrica, NASDAQ, Digital Asset, blockchain pioneers Nuco, Paycase, Cosmos, and many more – but is now inviting governments, initially in Canada and now around the world to join. The list of Founding Members is below and over the next month it will be announcing over a dozen additional private sector members.
“We’re delighted to welcome this spectacular group of public sector organizations to our initiative” said Don Tapscott. “Blockchain will have profound implications for the operations of government, the nature of democracy and the modus operandi of every government agency.”
Based in Toronto – with worldwide membership – the BRI is conducting the definitive investigation into blockchain strategies, market opportunities, and implementation challenges. A global team of dozens of experts will explore financial services, manufacturing, retail, energy and resources, technology/media, healthcare and government; as well as how this new technology changes the way we manage companies. For more info visit www.blockchainresearchinstitute.org.
Comments:
Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development, Government of Canada – “Blockchain is a great example of an emerging technology that Canadians are playing a lead role in developing. This research partnership with the Blockchain Research Institute will give Canada a globally competitive advantage in the development of this transformative technology.”
Charles Sousa: Minister of Finance for Ontario – “Blockchain technology has the potential to help Ontario build an innovation powerhouse and create economic opportunity. The new Institute, based in Ontario, will bring together the leading thinkers, researchers and entrepreneurs in the blockchain space – and we’re proud and enthusiastic to support it.”
John Lee, Vice-President, Innovation and Enterprise Delivery, TMX Group – “TMX Group is proud to be a founding member of the Blockchain Research Institute program and to join other industry leaders in seeking out progressive, collaborative ways to deploy new technologies. We look to BRI as a powerful, inclusive enabler as we work to build our in-house expertise, increase our efficacy in serving our clients and elevate TMX’s role in modern capital markets.”
Mike Williams, GM of Economic Development and Culture, Rob Meikle, Chief Information Officer City of Toronto – “This landmark partnership reinforces Toronto and Canada’s rising status as a platform for innovation and new technologies in North America. The City of Toronto is pleased to participate in this program as it clearly and definitively demonstrates Toronto’s leadership in global commerce – which will help strengthen our region’s overall economy and further extend our reach globally.”
Peter Lukasiewicz, CEO, Gowling WLG Canada – “Gowling WLG is honoured to be the first international law firm to support BRI’s landmark initiative and be among an innovative group of partners who are investigating the strategic application of blockchain technology. With this commitment to blockchain research and implementation, our message is simple: we’re with our clients, step by step, as they explore distributed ledger technology. We look forward to providing the advanced legal guidance clients will need as they navigate this largely uncharted territory and uncover new and more effective ways to do business.”
Stewart Beaumont, CTO, Thomson Reuters – “We are delighted to join the Blockchain Research Institute program as part of our commitment to working with key industry participants to drive innovation in emerging technologies. Thomson Reuters has been collaborating on blockchain and distributed ledger initiatives and powerful proof-of-concepts for some time now. The opportunities these new technologies bring for our customers are really exciting. Joining the Toronto-based Blockchain Research Institute program has additional significance for us, given that Canada is not only our home, it is home to an emerging ecosystem of world-class technology talent and our recently-opened Toronto Technology Centre.”
Founding Members:
Technology Industry – Accenture, IBM, SAP
Financial Industry – Bank of Canada, Digital Asset, NASDAQ, TMX Group, Bloq
Global Corporations – Pepsico, Centrica, Liberty Global, Thomson Reuters, Gowling WLG
Government – Government of Canada, Province of Ontario, City of Toronto, University Health Network, Federal Institute on Governance
Blockchain Pioneers – Nuco Inc., Paycase, Artlery, Votem, Cosmos, Youbase, Wisekey
Affiliate Organizations – The Hyperledger Project, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, Coala.io, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance
Contact:
The Blockchain Research Institute was founded in March 2017 by Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott, co-authors of the book Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business, and the World. For more information, or to subscribe to updates on this landmark program, please contact:
Jenna Pilgrim, Project Director
Blockchain Research Institute
Jenna@tapscott.com, +1 416-863-8810
Multi-Million Dollar Research Institute Launched to Explore Blockchain Use Cases, Opportunities and Challenges
The newly formed Blockchain Research Institute to conduct 30 projects across 8 industries
Thursday, March 16th, 2017, Washington, DC, at the DC Blockchain Summit – Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott, co-authors of the best-selling book Blockchain Revolution are pleased to announce the formation of the Blockchain Research Institute (BRI). Based in Toronto, Canada and funded by companies and governments from several countries, the BRI will conduct the definitive exploration of blockchain use cases, opportunities and implementation challenges. A global team of dozens of experts will explore financial services, manufacturing, retail, energy and resources, technology/media, healthcare and government; as well as how this new technology changes the way we manage companies.
Two dozen companies and governments (listed below) are the Founding Members, and the Institute will be inviting another large coporations and govenments to join. The Institute has also engaged with several multi-stakeholder organizations in the blockchain space, to ensure they are providing collaborative and execution-based deliverables for their members. Affiliate Organizations include Hyperledger, The Chamber of Digital Commerce, COALA.io, and the newly created Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.
Executives from some of the world’s most important companies that are funding the initiative commented:
· Simon Whitehouse, Senior Managing Director, Global Blockchain Technologies Lead at Accenture: “Accenture and The Tapscott Group have a long history of successful collaboration. Being a founding member of the BRI underscores Accenture’s commitment to making blockchain real for clients, and we are pleased to be part of this important initiative.”
· Ross Mauri, General Manager z Systems, IBM. “Blockchain has the potential to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges — from streamlining trade, to establishing trust in transactions, to tracing provenance for food safety. By working with top experts from around the world, we’ll be able to take full advantage of blockchain’s inherent strengths — an openly-governed, collaborative approach – to make global business more efficient and transparent for consumers.”
· Juergen Mueller, SAP Chief Innovation Officer: “We believe blockchain is a transformative technology for businesses. The Blockchain Research Institute with its brilliant team will deepen and enrich the knowledge about blockchain. We highly appreciate and fully support this effort and will contribute our deep expertise in business processes as the global leader in enterprise software.”
· Iain Conn, Group Chief Executive Centrica plc “We believe blockchain has far-reaching implications for our businesses and the energy industry and we’re delighted to partner with the Blockchain Research Institute to fully understand this new technology and its applications.”
· Mike Fries, CEO Liberty Global. Don Tapscott has a long history of figuring out the next big thing and with his son Alex literally wrote the book on blockchain. We’re to happy to be support their new initiative and look forward to great things that will help Liberty Global for this next stage of the Internet.
· Charles Sousa, Minister of Finance, Ontario “Blockchain technology has the potential to help Ontario build an innovation powerhouse, and significantly improve government services too. The new Institute, based in Ontario will bring together the leading thinkers, researchers and entrepreneurs in the blockchain space and we’re proud and enthusiastic to support it.”
The group has also engaged with several multi-stakeholder organizations in the blockchain space, to ensure they are providing collaborative and execution-based deliverables for their members. Affiliate Organizations include Hyperledger, The Chamber of Digital Commerce, COALA.io, and The newly created Enterprise Ethereum Alliance
Founding Members:
Technology Industry – Accenture, IBM, SAP
Financial Industry – Digital Asset, NASDAQ
Global Corporations – Pepsico, Centrica, Liberty Global
Government – Province of Ontario, University Health Network
Blockchain Pioneers – Nuco Inc., Paycase, Artlery, Votem, Cosmos, Youbase, Wisekey
Affiliate Organizations – The Hyperledger Project, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, Coala.io, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance
Contact
The Blockchain Research Institute is founded by Don Tapscott and Alex Tapscott, co-authors of the book Blockchain Revolution.
For more information, or to subscribe to updates on this landmark program, please contact:
Jenna Pilgrim, Director of Communications
The Blockchain Research Institute
Jenna@tapscott.com +1 416-863-8810
Background
Blockchain Transformations Identifying Opportunities and Challenges in Business and Government
A Syndicated Investigation
The technology that will enable, secure and formalize the digital relationships shaping the future of enterprise, government and the global economy has arrived — blockchain. The first generation of the digital revolution brought us the Internet of Information. The second generation—powered by blockchain technology—is bringing us the Internet of Value: a new, distributed platform that can help us create the digital relationships that will reshape the world of business and transform the old order of human affairs for the better.
It’s now time to take the next step and conduct deep research into use cases and killer applications — identifying the most important opportunities for blockchain in business and government and drawing the roadmap for how to get there.
The Blockchain Research Institute is pleased to announce a new, landmark initiative on the potential of blockchain across industries and also within the functions of organizations. Through a series of major research projects led by global experts, we will identify and explain key application opportunities, issues, strategies and approaches that enable companies and governments to capitalize on this emerging technology. We will be studying 8 target Vertical Opportunities and 7 Horizontal Opportunities, as well as several overarching issues such as Regulation and Societal Change.
Schedule
The program will begin April 3, 2017 and will be completed December 20, 2017. The final Program Summit will be held in the Spring of 2018.