The two day Blockchain Conference organized by the West Bengal Governement, wrapped
The two day Blockchain Conference organized by the West Bengal Governement, wrapped up on the 19th of December. It was two days full of intense sessions on blockchain technology and its implementation across various sectors.
Tradition merged seamlessly with technology at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre and saw the congregation of various industry experts under one roof.
Day 2 began on a high note after a very successful first day of the event. There were some crowdpulling sessions lined up throughout the day.
Good morning kolkata. We are very excited for #Day2 of #GBCkolkata.
Stay tuned.📢📣📣#GBC2018 #blockchaintechnology #BlockchainNews #blockchainevent pic.twitter.com/enepZl7YJ8
— BTC Wires (@btc_wires) December 19, 2018
The first session was a keynote address delivered by Kouichi Sakurai from the Kyushu University, Japan. He spoke on ‘Security, Privacy and Trust of Blockchain’. He also discussed how blockchain can be taught in colleges and universities as a single course.
"Though, #blockchain is gaining ground, most all are on a trail project with demonstraion experiments." By Kouichi sakurai in his keynote at #GBCkolkata.#GBC2018 #blockchaintechnology #JPMega #Kolkata #blockchainevent pic.twitter.com/VFdDykE9CV
— BTC Wires (@btc_wires) December 19, 2018
His session was followed by the keynote address of Rajesh Nambiar – General Manager and Global Leader, IBM. He delivered a brilliant lecture on “Towards the economic utopia of a waste-less world’.
He predicted that
‘blockchain will remove the limitations of trust mechanisms enforced through human intervention, which include vulnerabilities to cognitive limitations and possibilities of tampering.’
Speaking on IBM’s contribution to the blockchain sector, he said,
"What does blockchain do to economy, it's business potential, with us at the cusp of something huge, is something we should be focusing on" by Mr. Rajesh Nambiar at #GBCkolkata.#GBC2018 #blockchaintechnology #BlockChainNews #blockchainevent pic.twitter.com/nmOs6S8NZC
— BTC Wires (@btc_wires) December 19, 2018
Next up, the gentlemen from Chaintope, Malaysia, Mr. Junya Yoshizaki and Mr. Saurav Kumar Tomar, spoke on ‘Quantifying social capital with blockchain’ & ‘Blockchain in energy sector’. Yoshizaki said
“The future venture with regards to renewable energy and blockchain technology is about cross border energy trading”
"The future venture with regards to renewable energy and blockchain technology is about cross border energy trading" by Mr. Junya Yoshizaki, COO, Chaintope, Malaysia at #GBCKolkata.#GBC2018 #BTCWires #blockchaintechnology #blockchainevent #blockchain #summit pic.twitter.com/9mYEHTvmZm
— BTC Wires (@btc_wires) December 19, 2018
Surav Kumar Tomar discussed how they are targetting universities and colleges where there is a lot of potential in terms of harnessing the social capital that these students possess.
"Through our POC, we are targeting colleges and universities, where the social graph is very interesting with a lot of peer to peer feedback" Saurav Kumar Tomar of @chaintope at #GBCKolkata
How do you think university students will adapt to a technology like blockchain? #BTCWires pic.twitter.com/e4Gujo1ptY
— BTC Wires (@btc_wires) December 19, 2018
A key highlight of the day was the address of the Honorable Finance Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Amit Mitra. He spoke at length about he is both skeptical about the practical use case of blockchain, but also equally hopeful about the change that it can bring in the world.
It's a packed stage at #GBCKolkata. The Honorable Finance Minister of West Bengal, Amit Mitra addressing the dignitaries. Blockchain can really help in #ChannelizingYouthPower#BTCWires #LiveWires #blockchaintechnology @ditewb pic.twitter.com/jEJzJhUFKk
— BTC Wires (@btc_wires) December 19, 2018
The event also saw the exciting launch of the release of PwC and Webel co-branded thought leadership paper and E&Y and Webel booklet on Blockchain.
Launch of Blockchain White Paper at #GBCKolkata featuring Use Cases With Focus on Real Estate: Limitations and Adoptions by Ernst&Young. #BTCWires pic.twitter.com/0kbJz2cjQq
— BTC Wires (@btc_wires) December 19, 2018
An event like this draws the attention of the youth and the general populus of the city towards a technology as important as blockchain. We hope to see more such events in the future.