Scottish blockchain ecosystem maturing
Scotland is poised to fully exploit blockchain and DLT, not just in the banking sector, but in areas like supply chain logistics and public undertaking:
Scotland has deciphered blockchain beyond Bitcoin and cryptocurrency and the entrepreneurial ecosystem has made widespread use of blockchainbased applications in varied industries. The country is known to have gained insights into the technology and understood its potential across multiple industries. There is already collaboration between government, academic institutions, private sector and the emerging tech sector. Besides, the fact that Scotland is a developing hub for fintechs and startups has helped to create blockchainbased solutions for various sectors.
IN SUPPLY CHAIN LOGISTICS
For example, Edinburgh’s data analytics firm Spiritus Partners has developed blockchainbased solutions to improve supply chain logistics across a range of industry sectors. It focuses on using blockchain to manage chain of custody for medical equipment and provide a `middle ground’ where hospitals, device manufacturers and third-party service providers can share vital data and information in a timely, secure manner. It has also developed in collaboration with the NHS and Edinburgh Napier University a tool to track the chain of custody of connected medical devices throughout their lifecycle. The project is aimed at laying the groundwork for safe, private and secure remote care for patients using wearables and other mobile-enabled devices. Spiritus is today one of the top companies in the healthcare blockchain space and is on track to eventually become the market leader.
PROPERTY RENTAL
Another Scottish firm Wallet.Services aims to streamline, simplify and secure digital life by accelerating the use of blockchain technology across society. It has developed a blockchain platform, Siccar, in collaboration with the Scottish Government’s CivTech unit, which is intended to address the issue of applying for permits and licences by simplifying the process. It has also collaborated with Scottish residential property rental portal
Citylets to offer the first blockchain-enabled private rented sector worldwide database.
The third notable enterprise is Blockchain Technology Partners, which has developed a powerful blockchain management platform, Sextant, which enterprises can build upon; it ensures they focus on business application development, not blockchain infrastructure.
TICKETING SOLUTION
The fourth is Citizen Ticket, which had launched BitTicket in 2017, a blockchain ticketing solution, to circumvent tickettouts and counterfeit tickets. BitTicket is a ticket delivery service that ticketing providers, event organizers, venues, artists and individuals can use to secure their tickets with blockchain technology. BitTicket has subsequently transformed into a System as a Service (SaaS) model, enabling ticketing providers to use it and secure their tickets.
A PLATFORM FOR RBS
There is also no dearth of use cases of DLT in Scotland. Companies, especially those in the financial services sector, are beginning to understand the potential of the technology. GFT, the global provider of advisory, business consulting, IT and software services to the financial services community, had in collaboration with Google, built and deployed a test framework and sandbox on Google Cloud Platform for the Royal Bank of Scotland. It is essentially a faster transaction solution for the Single European Payment Area (SEPA) in a way that does not exist yet.
USE IN PUBLIC SERVICES
The Scottish Government Digital Directorate had commissioned Wallet.Services to study the benefits for the country by adopting blockchain and DLT and Wallet.Services has brought out a report titled Distributed Ledger Technologies in Public Services. The report identifies a number of processes in Scottish public services which continue to rely on the use of paper and highlights the importance of effective and appropriate information sharing in enabling crossagency collaboration to improve citizen services. It says using blockchain in public services has the potential to redefine the relationship between government and the citizen in terms of data sharing, transparency and trust. It discusses a number of areas where the usage of DLT can add value for public sector organizations and processes in Scotland.
Scotland also has several blockchain organizations promoting its use, doing high-end research and finding applications. The Edinburgh Bitcoin Meetup, established in Jan 2014, has evolved to be the Scottish Blockchain Meetup with around 400 members.
Napier University i n Scotland is synonymous with blockchain and DLT. It is now building a world class institution called Advanced Blockchain Identity Lab. The focus of the lab is to create worldleading knowledge and innovation around areas which focus on the rights of the citizen to privacy, while enabling new methods to provide citizen-focused system.
Edinburgh University School of Informatics has established a Blockchain Technology Laboratory, which brings together students and academics to focus on industry-inspired problems. The lab’s multi-disciplinary research scope will encompass economics, business and law. The laboratory launched the EU’s first blockchain and Distributed Ledger course.