1. Blockchain for Government and public services
Sir Mark Walport FRS
Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government
Franco – British Workshop
26 May 2016

2. Chief Scientific Adviser
Health, wellbeing, resilience & security
Science for economic advantage
Scientific advice for emergencies
Evidence for policy makers
Science advocacy & leadership

3. Digital Government Collect curate and analyse data
Provide evidence for decisions
Deliver better public services
Important for the economy
Credit: Courtesy of the researchers/MIT

4. Bringing evidence from outside government into policy making
Blackett Review
Expert panel
Ten case and use-case studies
Eight recommendations

5. Distributed Ledgers
Blockchain algorithm used to underpin Bitcoin in 2008…
Technology now goes beyond digital-currencies…

6. Distributed Ledger Technology
A database that can be shared across a network of multiple sites
New ways to record and verify information and transactions
An immutable record of all transactions in a network

7. Potential Applications
Protecting critical infrastructure
Supply chain
Transparency
Medical
Records
Smart Contracts
Copyright and IPR
Internet of Things

8. Changing the way government does business
Disruptive technology that could transform:
public service delivery
boost productivity through multiple applications
relationship between government and the citizen

9. UK Government Response
Ministerial leadership from Matthew Hancock and Ed Vaizey
A cross-Whitehall community of Interest has been established
Departments are looking at proof of concept trials
£10m funding for research

10. Conclusions
Distributed Ledger Technology is in its infancy but already showing great promise
The UK Government can play a leading role in trialling innovative applications
The challenge for Government is to identify the most feasible and interesting opportunities to test this emerging technology

11. @uksciencechief www.gov.uk/go-science
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