The growing disruptive implications of Blockchain in a range of settings including the financial and health sectors is key to IBM’s decision to open an innovation center in Singapore.
According to the Vice President, Global Labs at IBM Research, Robert Morris, this first collaboration between IBM and the private sector and multiple government agencies within the same country to explore the use of Blockchain and cognitive technologies will aim at improving business transactions across several different industries.
He said:
“Now with new cloud services that make these technologies more accessible, leaders from all industries are beginning to take note of the resulting profound and disruptive implications in a range of settings including finance, banking, IoT, healthcare, supply chains, manufacturing, technology, government, the legal system, and more."
A recent report entitled ‘Understanding Blockchain Technology And What It Means for Your Business,’ by Southeast Asia’s largest bank, DBS Bank, says the most transformative blockchains will be those that can work across geopolitical boundaries and Southeast Asia has the most potential that can be unlocked with this technology.
It says further that the potential for blockchains to add value is higher if used collaboratively across industry/workflow.
Working with government
IBM will collaborate with the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to work with government, industries and academia to develop applications and solutions based on enterprise blockchain, cyber-security, and cognitive computing technologies.
It will also work with the world's largest container transhipment port, PSA Singapore Terminal, to create a trade ecosystem which connects emerging financial technologies with the physical world of global trade and logistics.
With plans to co-create cutting edge digital solutions for global markets from Singapore, IBM will also engage with small- and medium-sized enterprises to create new applications and grow new markets in finance and trade.
Over the next three years, the Innovation Center is expected to deliver a number of technology pilots across the finance and trade industries that will build on IBM's work with the Linux Foundation Hyperledger platform.