NISG holds stakeholder conference on Blockchain

Bengaluru: The National Institute for Smart Government (NISG), an institution of excellence promoted by the government for e-Governance under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), organised a one-day 'Stakeholder Conference' for bringing academia and industry representatives under one roof to come up with a national strategy on Blockchain for e-governance in the country. The conference was organised on Tuesday at the BEL Academy for Excellence (BAE), Nalanda.

Blockchain technology allows one to carry out online transactions without the need for an intermediate trust authority. The conference was organised at the behest of the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) to discuss and debate a draft strategy, prepared by the NISG, on the application of Blockchain for e-governance. The objective was to refine the strategy document after taking into consideration suggestions and observations offered by Blockchain experts from the academia and industry during the conference.

The conference was attended by Abhishek Singh, CEO & President, NeGD, MeitY, Professor Shivendu Shivendu, University of Florida, USA, Professor Daniel Conway, University of Arkansas, USA,  J Ramakrishna Rao, CEO, NISG, and distinguished members of faculty from IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IISc Bangalore, IIIT Hyderabad and senior representatives from the industry, including IBM, SAP, Oracle, PwC, EY, KPMG, Accenture and R3Corda.

J Ramakrishna Rao welcomed the gathering. The first session of the day was based on the theme, "Thoughts on National Strategy on Blockchain." Addressing the gathering, Professor Shivendu explained the draft strategy and considerations for a national strategy on Blockchain. This was followed by a panel discussion which was steered by Professor Shivendu and had the participation of key members from the academia. The second session, moderated by Professor Daniel Conway, which was based on the theme, "Global Trends in Blockchain and Crypto-Currency."

The post-lunch session included four breakout sessions by four groups drawn from the audience. The four groups deliberated on the topics: "Direct and Indirect Regulations – Laws Governing Blockchain Technology," "Building Blockchain Ecosystem and Application Development," "Federated Architecture and Infrastructure for Blockchain in India" and "Creating Blockchain Human Capital for Sustainable Implementation." Subsequently, each of the four groups presented salient takeaway points with respect to their topics for consideration towards formulating a national strategy on Blockchain.