Canada trialing use of Ethereum blockchain to enhance transparency in govt funding – National | Globalnews.ca

January 22, 2018

Every time the NRC gives a grant to a company or individual, it shares that information with Bitaccess, which stores the data on the secure and tamper-proof Ethereum blockchain. Individual grant information is then posted online.

Canadians can peruse grant information by monetary value, date, recipient and region. They can also verify grant information by clicking on the Transaction ID link, which takes them to the unique transaction listing on the online Ethereum transaction database Etherscan.io.

As of Saturday, Jan. 20, the biggest grant listed on the database was an $11,849,901 contribution to an industry R&D project at Ryerson University.

In November, Buterin tweeted out a poll asking his half a million followers to vote on which institutions they would most like to see adopt blockchain storage.

With 44 per cent of the vote, the “government” option easily won out.

Source: Canada trialing use of Ethereum blockchain to enhance transparency in govt funding – National | Globalnews.ca, Rahul Kalvapalle, January 20, 2018

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Blockchain in the Boardroom: Toward Enterprise Deployment – CoinDesk

January 17, 2018

For many enterprises, the journey starts with blockchain education and strategic thinking, and will certainly also result in new business models and collaborations. When it comes to blockchain, we will not know with certainty how the future state of the technology will look.

The best recommendation is to keep moving, learning, and testing out business models. In the midst of this technology paradigm shift, it’s ok to think really big – in fact, it’s imperative.

Source: Blockchain in the Boardroom: Toward Enterprise Deployment – CoinDesk, Iliana Oris Valiente, January 15, 2018

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Blockchain reinvents the consumer experience | IBM

January 16, 2018

Executive summary

The IBM Institute for Business Value surveyed executives from 203 organizations in the consumer industry – which includes both retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) organizations – from 16 countries. We found that 7 percent expect to have a commercial blockchain solution at scale in 2018. Even more are working with and investing in blockchain now – a total of 18 percent.

These “First Movers” expect blockchains to take down the frictions that hold them back. Three-quarters of them have their eyes on new markets, while 69 percent expect to strip away information risks and 64 percent to better navigate the regulatory environment.

First Movers see broad benefits from blockchains across six areas: product safety and authenticity, supply chain optimization, finance, operational processes, promotional strategy management, and customer engagement and co-creation. In each case, they don’t just expect targeted business benefits, such as time and cost savings or risk reduction, but the opportunity to create new business models or disrupt the industry. Ultimately, no matter where they start, they aim to expand new blockchain solutions to cover virtually every aspect of their value chains.

First Movers recognize that the opportunity introduced by blockchain covers both the supply side of their businesses and customer-facing interactions. They can use blockchain to dynamically reconfigure networks for real-time optimization or, in collaboration with other institutions, to gain deeper insights into their consumers. They can better assure the safety and quality of goods and also establish new markets, enabling them to transform the way they see and do business.

Source: Blockchain reinvents the consumer experience | IBM

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Canadian Spy Agency CSIS Labels Blockchain a ‘Mega Trend’

January 16, 2018

CSIS expressed a view that, if approached correctly, blockchain could become the “plumbing” for all transaction-based systems. This would include government services, healthcare records, and real estate.

This presents a huge opportunity for blockchain, as it shows that government agencies want to engage with its underlying mechanisms. We’ve grown accustomed to companies having perspectives on the blockchain, but adding more government agencies into the mix is a strong signal.

CSIS expects technology-minded millennials to play a key part in the upcoming social, political and technological disruption in society. Further, the agency expects that millennials could be the conductors for the next industrial revolution and a major economic boom.

Source: Canadian Spy Agency CSIS Labels Blockchain a ‘Mega Trend’, Melanie Clay, January 15, 2018

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Enterprises Have Extremely High Hopes For Blockchain Technology

January 10, 2018

This is the key takeaway from a study of 3,000 executives, conducted by IBM’s Institute for Business Value, which looked at the enterprise potential of blockchain, a distributed global ledger or database that facilitates and tracks “smart contracts” between people, systems and organizations. Blockchain has no single owner or centralized hub, and it has potential to enable direct and secure management of engagements with customers and partners over the Internet, without the need for third parties or intermediaries.Overall, the survey finds, 33% of executives are already “actively engaged” or are “considering” using blockchain. A handful, 8%, are among those already working with the technology approach. Among members of the 33% using or considering blockchain, 100% expect it to support their enterprise strategy in some way. The vast majority, 78%, are investing in blockchain in hopes of responding to disruptions in their markets — financial shifts or developing new business model. Close to two-thirds see it as a way to increase the transparency of their transactions.

Source: Enterprises Have Extremely High Hopes For Blockchain Technology, Joe McKendrick, May 22, 2017

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Forging ahead with Blockchain in 2018: My Focus in 2018 for Blockchain Technology and Transforming Industries, Government and Our Lives | LinkedIn

January 6, 2018

The blockchain ecosystem, driven by new business models, promises of disintermediation, and interesting technological innovation, has behaved much like an adolescent by throwing tantrums, challenging the status quo, and defying all odds to make a point.

The permissioned network, which is the realm for regulated, conventional, and enterprise business networks, may also have to embark on a journey of uncovering the right incentive and economic model for enterprises and organizations to join a platform that leverages the notion of creation, distribution, and sharing of rewards benefitting all stakeholders. While not all conventional business and industries can blindly adopt the economic incentives of tokenomics (either due to product catalogues, legacy systems, or regulation, or simply the will of the participants), it is imperative that industries start the journey to explore the right business model that will not only enable value creation but also elevate the modernization efforts that many industries desperately need to combat disruptive forces.

Source: Forging ahead with Blockchain in 2018: My Focus in 2018 for Blockchain Technology and Transforming Industries, Government and Our Lives | LinkedIn, Nitin Gaur, December 31, 2017

Here’s my $0.02 USD or, as of this post’s date, 0.000001 Crypto Comment on the post:

I find the Divide a funny thing. Do you think Enterprise players would be so quick to adopt these technologies if it were not for the whacky ICOs and crypto market capitalizations? Congrats to both sides of the Divide; the decentralist trailblazers and players like IBM and other Linux Foundation members for recognizing they are on to something but need to focus on matters like those posted by Nitin for enterprises to start listening.

Happy Trails to both sides of the divide in 2018!

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What Successful Digital Transformations Have in Common | HBR

December 28, 2017

We found six important and statistically robust factors that predict the probability that an incumbent company will choose the path of being a reinventor. They are, in order of importance:

1. Obsess about turbulence on the horizon
2. Understand all risks, not only those from startups
3. Deliver a dual offensive: core and diversification
4. Fix leadership skills first
5. Prioritize demand-centered business play
6. Experiment with frontier technologies

Source: What Successful Digital Transformations Have in Common | HBR, Jacques Bughin & Tanguy Catlin, December 19, 2017

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The growing power of disruption and technology

December 22, 2017

“Our world is in transition from a model of business we are familiar with to one that is in many instances still undefined,” added Uschi Schreiber, EY’s global vice chair for markets and chair of the firm’s global accounts committee.

“The pace of change is unprecedented. Too many CEOs and boards are still focused on only one thing: short term efficiency and productivity improvements. But what’s needed is also a focus on the medium term and on building the future,” he said. “This requires not just the use of up-to-date technology; it also means investing in innovation and being prepared to take some risks. Thinking and operating in duality can help corporations to seize the upside of disruption by focusing on their current success and growth as well as building the foundations for growth in the future.”

Two-thirds of respondents to Deloitte’s poll for that report associate technology advances with new opportunities and positive outcomes, with “emerging technologies” integral to the playbooks of private companies.

Source: The growing power of disruption and technology, Sean Kilcarr, December 20, 2017

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