Blockchain Stories 2020: Highlights from Five Weeks of Community Sharing in Asia Pacific

We all have heard blockchain stories. Stories that redefined the way businesses operate. Stories that created new business across the domains. Stories that propelled innovation. Stories that are defining the future of technology. Stories that helped others run their business in decentralized fashion. And a lot more.

Blockchain technology has seen increasingly wider adoption across the industries. Digital transformation of businesses and innovation in the healthcare industry have seen unprecedented demand like never before during the challenging times of COVID-19. What seemed impossible in the past is now turning to be reality.

The Hyperledger India Chapter aims to bridge the gap between the blockchain technology enthusiasts and the blockchain technology experts. To us, it seemed it was time for an event to bring together booming startups and established organizations to share their blockchain journey. In these demanding times, having physical get-togethers is impossible around the world. There is a saying in Sanskrit “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” which translates to “World is Indeed One Family.” The idea of having the virtual event in India transformed to one that could benefit the whole Asia Pacific audience. The event time was chosen so that everybody in the Asia Pacific region from the Middle East to Australia/New Zealand could attend.

In the last week of May and through June, Hyperledger India Chapter proudly organized a series of interactive events, the most anticipated “Blockchain Stories 2020.”

The series was an attempt to answer the questions one normally hears. Is blockchain really being adopted across the industries? What uses can blockchain solve? How do you effectively use a blockchain solution? Can blockchain transform agriculture? How does blockchain transform education and certification in the future? Is blockchain an answer to all the healthcare problems? What are the barriers for the adoption of blockchain technology?

Highlights:

• 25+ organizations presented their solutions. The topics covered a range of domains including supply chain, telecom, healthcare, agriculture, digitally verifiable certificates, self sovereign identity and security, digital currency, global trade, research and education. 
• More than 1,000 blockchain enthusiasts from across the Asia Pacific region signed up for the events.
• Community engagement continued across five weeks.
• 20+ volunteers helped tirelessly, physically separated but virtually connected. 

That’s not all. Since Hyperledger believes in inclusive community growth, sessions not only showcased solutions built on Hyperledger projects but also ones built on other platforms. These sessions focused more on how blockchain as a technology pillar is helping to design solutions to the demanding problems. The series also featured talks on how to measure and improve the performance of blockchain frameworks.

Indian blockchain firms have made an impact on Industry 4.0, which created massive hype amongst the young, brilliant and blooming minds of India. Blockchain tech has already made its way into many mainstream industries. The emerging technology startups thanked the Hyperledger India Chapter for organizing an event and providing them an opportunity to present their solution alongside the lights of big establishments. AyanWorks, a blockchain startup based in Pune, India, presented their immunity passport solution for safe reopening of the post pandemic world. Snapper Future Tech & IIT Alumni Association presented their solution on COVID-19 X-Ray analysis using  blockchain & AI, reducing the cost of testing. Tech Mahindra showed how blockchain is helping to solve the telecom’s billion subscriber problem, and countries including the USA are requesting a similar solution. The dltledgers, a blockchain startup based in Singapore, shared their digital transformation journey for cross border trade finance. Soramitsu, a blockchain technology firm based in Japan, shared their payment solution.

Arun S M, Walmart Global Tech, says “It feels amazing to see the great response from the community. What started as a thought late last year took multiple turns, shapes and forms to be finally called Blockchain Stories 2020. Hyperledger staff members made it easy for us to turn a local event into a virtual one that reached an audience throughout Asia Pacific. The community stood by us through a technical glitch on our first day of the event, showing quality and a high level of interest and engagement.”

Julian Gordon, VP, Asia Pacific, Hyperledger, says “Hyperledger’s India Chapter volunteers worked tirelessly and enthusiastically to produce this wonderful series of ‘Blockchain Stories 2020’ for the Hyperledger and wider blockchain communities. Each event featured cutting-edge blockchain solutions, addressed opportunities and challenges, and showcased exciting developments in blockchain. Hyperledger has received excellent and appreciative feedback from the series’ virtual audience. It’s particularly timely and heartening to see quality virtual events like these take place in this challenging time of Covid-19. It’s a pleasure to support Hyperledger’s India Chapter, and I would like to thank them for all their work on the ‘Blockchain Stories 2020’ series.”

Did you miss the event? We have got it covered. Watch the recap on YouTube. The Hyperledger India Chapter thanks all the volunteers and organizers for helping to make this event a success story.

About Us: The Hyperledger India Chapter is responsible for growing the Hyperledger community in India, promoting contributions to Hyperledger projects and providing a platform for collaboration, mentoring and support. The chapter aims to showcase the broad range of Hyperledger projects and initiatives to the Indian audience. Join us and share your ideas! Weekly meeting details can be found at the Hyperledger Calendar of Public Meetings.

Future Plans: There is a huge interest in the community to contribute back to open source projects. We are happy to provide a platform and connect, guide and mentor the technical community in India. Following the success of the “Blockchain Stories 2020,” we will organize a “Hyperledger Project Connect Series” to benefit tech enthusiasts in Africa, Europe and the Asia Pacific regions.