MEDIA SUMMARY
PressMulti-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.