One Year of Thought Leadership at the Blockchain Research Institute

The Internet’s second era is in full swing, and the blockchain revolution is sweeping over business, government, and society. 

When Alex Tapscott and I published Blockchain Revolution in 2016, the technology was barely on most people’s radar. “Blockchain? What’s that?” they’d ask us in tones usually reserved for those who speak Klingon in public.

We’d interviewed many of the brilliant innovators who were pushing the technology forward. They struggled to close the gap between their vision of the future and the imaginations of business and government leaders.

Blockchain’s potential was obvious to anyone who took the time to look. A secure ledger that facilitated trust without intermediaries could help us realize the promise of the digital economy. A protocol with built-in trust could change how people and institutions interacted for the better. A truly secure, decentralized network could empower citizens, restore their control over their identities, and distribute opportunities widely so that everyone could enjoy the prosperity of the digital age.

We recognized the profound shortage of thought leadership: few people were helping these brilliant entrepreneurs to bridge the gap so that they could influence decision-makers in business, government, and civil society. We saw this knowledge gap as one of the most serious challenges to blockchain implementation, and so Alex and I set out to address it. 

In March of 2017, we founded the Blockchain Research Institute. 

The Institute would bring together leaders in business, government, and civil society and help them understand how to navigate this blockchain revolution – and how they could thrive in a new modern economy. Meanwhile, we could support ground-breaking research from some of the leading thinkers in the space, assuring them that the public would benefit from their vision and intellect.

By far, the Blockchain Research Institute was the most ambitious project of this kind that I’ve ever taken on. Fortunately, we started out with a great team and a network of visionary leaders supporting us. 

Now, we’re celebrating our one-year anniversary. So, what have we accomplished in our first year? 

We welcomed over 40 leading businesses, governments, and non-profits as members, and provided thousands with proprietary access to our research.

We held our first summit in Toronto with over a hundred members and researchers, and brought regulators together with industry leaders to discuss the future of digital identity for the Province of Ontario.

We signed an MoU with Nasscom to help lead India’s blockchain transformation, and opened satellite offices in Zurich, S?o Paulo, and Hyderabad. Our network of international affiliates is continuing to grow, with over half a dozen countries represented.

Our staff quadrupled in size, and we recruited nearly 50 of the world’s leading thinkers in blockchain to our research faculty.

Most importantly, we produced and released over 35 in depth research projects to our members, with 40 more scheduled for release.

These ground-breaking projects are at the heart of everything we do at the BRI. They cover every aspect of blockchain: how to leverage it in supply chains, manufacturing, marketing, information technology, human resources, the Internet of Things, enterprise operations, and intellectual property management; how to transform healthcare and combat global warming; how to revolutionize media, telecommunications, airlines, agriculture, retail, and travel. They address the challenges that each member of the C-suite will face as this new technology is incorporated into their organization. 

We even allowed ourselves a moment or two to have some fun, and were featured in HBO's Last Week Tonight, hosted by John Oliver. Naturally, our one-year anniversary celebration included chicken nuggets.

From boardrooms, to newsrooms, to kitchen tables, we have seen an explosion of interest in blockchain technology. Traveling the world and speaking at business forums and conferences, we are now fielding such questions as “How can we get involved?” and “Is it too late to join?” At the World Economic Forum in January, a commentator noted that the word “blockchain” was the second-most widely used term of the forum – just behind the word “Trump.”

It would have been impossible to imagine a more successful outcome for the BRI. The last year has been one of tremendous growth and progress. This year is shaping up to be equally momentous in business and government. Keep an eye out for our next summit in New York City, an updated version of Blockchain Revolution, and a major event yet to be announced in the fall.

The revolution is underway. All hands welcome. Klingon not required.

About:

Don Tapscott is one of the world’s leading authorities on the impact of technology on business and society. He has authored 16 books, including Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, which has been translated into over 25 languages.  

Don’s most recent and ambitious book was co-authored with his son, startup CEO and bitcoin governance expert, Alex Tapscott. Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Underlying Bitcoin is Changing Business, Money and the World was published in May 2016 and is, according to Harvard Business School’s Clay Christensen, “the book, literally, on how to survive and thrive in this next wave of technology-driven disruption.”  

In 2017, Don and Alex co-founded the Blockchain Research Institute, whose 70+ projects are the definitive investigation into blockchain strategy, use-cases, implementation challenges and organizational transformations.