Q1 2019
- Marta Piekarska-Geater
- Rose Shuman
Working Group Health
Working Group has been in operation for three quarters now.
Number of participants on calls is holding generally steady at around 12 per call, with variation. Last call had 22 participants. A sub-group has recently formed and is holding its own scheduled calls. The purpose is to draft a White Paper on Public Sector uses and dynamics.
Issues
Chair hopes to continue to improve the balance of group tasks distributed between Chair and membership. This has been shifting positively, but is still evolving.
Overall Activity in the Past Quarter
Regular meetings have been held, no meetings have been missed. The chat channel still has low activity. The mailing list is still primarily used for Agendas as well as call follow up discussions.
- We have a new sub-group formed, which is developing active momentum. Its topic is to write a White Paper on Public Sector uses of blockchain. The group has sought support from Hyperledger Community Architects to add their weekly calls to the Community Calendar.
- The Public Sector SIG continues to attract a diverse range of presenters for each call. This year to date, we have had:
January 18:
The Netherlands is putting serious support behind Blockchain technologies for the Public and social good sectors.
Be among the first to know about this countrywide, national strategy. Koen Lukas Hartog, Program Manager Blockchain Pilots for Governmental Organisations, is going to join us, present, and answer questions about the large public-private cooperations that the DBC is activating.
The mission of the Dutch Blockchain Coalition is to realise fully reliable and socially accepted
blockchain applications, to create the best possible conditions to allow blockchain applications to arise, and to facilitate the use of blockchain as a source of trust, well-being, prosperity and security for citizens, companies, institutions and government bodies. The Dutch Blockchain Coalition acts as a catalyst and facilitator in this process and activates its large public-private network for this purpose.
February 1:
Arjeh van Oijen, CEO of Unchain.io, will be kicking off the call with an overview of Unchain. Unchain allows one to link any application with any blockchain. His presentation is providing us with both a national and individual view of where blockchain is going in the Netherlands and in the region.
- An Italian Vision of the Future of Blockchain
Pietro Marchionni from the Italian Digital Transformation Agency will be joining us to present his paper, Next Generation Government Service Bus - The Blockchain Landscape. Pietro lays out and advocates for next generation government to run on blockchain as the IT solution of choice. Let's hear how Pietro is positioning blockchain to the Italian government!
"The idea behind this paper is that with a decentralized IT solution as Blockchain/DLT we would be more effective in representing and therefore implementing government services....
With the advent of the Blockchain/DLT paradigm we have a clear match between an IT architecture/ecosystem and the interconnected structure of government services.
This paper explains and positions architectural approaches to implement such service integration through blockchain/DL technologies in order to greatly simplify the provisioning of such services between entities....to surface how governments can enhance efficiency, security, transparency and engagement, while allowing each of their entities to run their own processes with their own technology stacks, regardless of the processes and technologies of any other entity."
Feb. 15: White Paper Call
March 1:
CERTH
We are starting off with a fascinating presentation from Sofia Terzi, representing the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH) in Greece.
CERTH is one of the leading R&D centers in Greece, has 5 institutes, and over 800 employees working on more than 1500 research projects.
In the blockchain space, CERTH has been pioneering projects in:
o Blockchain in Healthcare
o Blockchain in Active and Healthy Aging
o Blockchain in IoT
o Blockchain and e-voting
o Blockchain in Energy sector
o Blockchain in Automotive sector
o Blockchain and ICO
On Friday, Sofia will provide:
- Intro for CERTH
- Describe 3 apps in healthcare, healthy aging, IoT sectors
- Reference to other CERTH’s apps and areas of interest and research
March 15:
Alfonso Govela Thomae - Metropolis - Blockchain, a tool for metropolitan governance?
Alfonso attended and presented on the Global South panel at the Hyperledger Global Forum last December, which I moderated. We had a tremendous conversation, and he has kindly agreed to present his research here to the Public Sector Group.
Alfonso's research has identified 254 city level blockchain projects!
This is a key opportunity to learn about the trends and projects he has found, as well as open new pathways for collaboration and discussion.
"Some see blockchain as a factor for change in both the economy and society, with the potential to transform industry, services, and social interactions. In the context of the spatial dispersion and social segregation that characterise large metropolises, blockchain has the potential to improve the coordination between the numerous different authorities in any given metropolitan area, contributing towards social and regional cohesion. But will blockchain only bring about technological changes, or will it spark a social revolution? How can blockchain be used in metropolitan governance and financing? What has already been achieved with this technology? What else can be done? How should the technology be used? What lines of policy could be put in place for urban innovation in our metropolises?
In this document, the fifth Issue Paper published by the Metropolis Observatory, we invite Alfonso Govela, an architect and urban planner specialised in digital technology, to answer these questions and help us understand what blockchain is, what it means on a technological, political and social level, what role it plays in transforming society, and whether it can lead to better models of metropolitan governance."
Links to the paper:
English
https://www.metropolis.org/sites/default/files/metobsip5_en_1.pdf
French
https://www.metropolis.org/sites/default/files/metobsip5_fr_1.pdf
Spanish
https://www.metropolis.org/sites/default/files/metobsip5_es_1.pdf
March 29:
Presentation: Casey Koppelson from SecondMuse
BigApps Blockchain
A program of NYCEDC, BigApps Blockchain is an open innovation challenge that asks teams to design meaningful blockchain applications that will improve the the efficiency, security, and transparency of public sector services in New York City. Casey Koppelson of SecondMuse will speak about the program's goals and invite feedback from others who have worked on similar initiatives.
April 12:
Live Public Sector Blockchain Deployments from Uzbekistan
A great opportunity to hear both from the dev implementer, as well as the government side on how blockchain projects have been deployed. Bring your questions on how they got it to work out.
Lessons learned while implementing blockchain in the public sector. How to build decentralised solutions in a hierarchical centralised government structure. Based on real-life case scenarios: education certificates and Kindergarten admissions. (The Government of Uzbekistan and Blockchain Contractor: Blockchain Industrial Alliance )
Presenter: Sergei Smalkov (Dev).
Joining contributor: Mr. Bahodir Atahanov, Government of Uzebekistan.
Planned Work Products
- White Paper subgroup
- Continued build out of the Public Sector SIG wiki as a resource
- Other projects as suggested by the membership.
The primary driver for participation remains peer learning.
Participant Diversity
The balance of Public Sector representatives, civil society, and private sector representatives is balancing out and improving to a fairly even level. Gender diversity is acceptable, with about a third of participants on a given call being female identified. Participants are joining from all around the world, both as presenters and as membership.
Additional Information
The Public Sector SIG is off to a good start this year. We anticipate a continued diverse range of presentations, and look forward to collaboration around our first work product - the White Paper. The SIG welcomes new members - both with an interest in the Public Sector, as well as looking for generalist members who seek out key community strengthening activities, such as documentation, communication, reporting, etc. Additional suggestions and nominations of presenters and use cases are welcome on an ongoing basis.