Hyperledger Italian Chapter

Introduction: potential insights from dlt applications in Italian economy

The large, diversified and export oriented Italian economy offers a conducive environment for the development, test and adoption of blockchain solutions in a variety of sectors. A large number of Italian SMEs are very active on international markets, accounting for 40% of the country’s total export with USD 153 billion out of the total USD 379 billion in 2017. This peculiarity of the Italian business structure opens several opportunities, as international trade is one of the most interesting areas of development of solutions based on Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT).

Italian sectors in which the origin of products (“Made in Italy”) carries an important market value can strongly benefit from the features of transparency, security and traceability offered by blockchain. SMEs compose the core of Italian industrial clusters (e.g. textiles, furniture, white goods, footwear) and other important export sectors as mechanics and agri-food. Blockchain systems are inherently strong in ensuring optimal management of data provided by traditional quality assurance providers on provenance and quality of products, which could add significant value to production processes embedding this technology.

Innovative Italian SMEs are testing DLT solutions to serve these sectors, and some are starting to commercialize them. In this document, we do not dwell on explaining the technical features of DLTs. It is enough to note that the technology derives from decades of evolution of cryptographic research and that created a decentralized, distributed system where information can be stored securely, transparently, and immutably. While the first known applications were in the area of crypto asset, new industrial applications are constantly emerging.

In Italy for example, there is experimentation of the technology in ensuring that food products are cultivated in fields that are not overusing chemicals, or that meat is not sourced from intensive animal farming facilities, to ensure the quality of the final product.

Interesting innovations are being proposed as well in the financial, insurance and utility sectors.

Large state-participated companies, financial institutions, associations and large Italian tech players are experimenting on distributed registries. Highly innovative experimentation are being carried out in Italy, for example by SIA (i.e. “SIAChain”) or by the Italian Banking Association (ABI), which is building applications specific for the Italian market that are based on blockchain infrastructure offered by international market players (i.e. “Spunta Project”). In the utility sector, Enel has been experimenting different systems leveraging blockchain since 2016, although those results have not yet been convincing enough for large-scale implementation.

The Italian economy is characterized by a very large number of Small and Medium-sized enterprises in export-oriented industrial sectors that could benefit from DLT solutions.

There are multiple DLT applications that are being developed but widespread applications in the business economy are still somewhat elusive, with many projects still in experimental phase.

At the international level, there are projects to develop solutions in a multitude of functional areas from supply chain management to privacy and security, from certification to identity management, from intellectual property to human resources management. In turn, these applications target clients in sectors spanning from healthcare to finance, from energy to education, from high-end manufacturing to public administrations.

The proposal suggests the setting up of Hyperledger Italian Chapter responsible for growing the Hyperledger community in Italy, promoting contributions to Hyperledger projects and providing a platform for collaboration, mentoring and support. The chapter aims to showcase the broad range of Hyperledger projects and initiatives to the Mediterranean and South European audience. 

(The content source has been taken from " Blockchain for SME and Entepreneurs in Italy" by OECD).

Goals

The goals of the Chapter are:

• Identify region-specific contribution barriers and work with Hyperledger staff to overcome them, e.g. Tools, time zones or language
• Overlooking organization of meetups in the region
• Support local events and organize regional events
• Providing guidance and support to people who want to learn more about Hyperledger
• Collecting Hyperledger use cases, educate the community on ways they can promote their work within Hyperledger (blog, blockchain showcase, etc.)
• Handling the translation of any Hyperledger resources to local languages

Work Products and activities

The anticipated initial work products will include (but are not limited to):

• A platform for promoting communications through email-list, Chat, Forums etc.
• Organize technical events, meetups, education and training.
• Organize business and industry meetups and exchanges to promote cross-pollination of ideas and best practices.
• Setup a robust network of ambassadors and mentors.
• If required, proxy meetings of Hyperledger Technical WGs and SIGs in a Geo Friendly time.

Founders

• Eugenio Reggianini - Community Lead
• Andrea Frosinini - Chair Hyperledger TFSIG
• Carlo Ferrarini - IBM Italia
• Alberto Bonadonna - Accenture Italia
• Michele Forbicioni - Director HYP meetups Rome

Participation in this group is open to anyone who is interested in this topic.  To get involved with the Hyperledger India Chapter, please feel free to join the discussion on these channels and meetings:

• Mailing list: 
• Web Conference

Members

Events:

Materials:

DLT solutions in Italy OECD pdf.pdf

Hyperledger Italian Chapter ppt.pptx

Proposte_registri_condivisi_e_Blockchain_-_Sintesi_per_consultazione_pubblica-1.pdf