Deploying Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology for Government Digital Transformation: Overcoming Barriers to Adoption

Blockchain technology, which emerged in 2008 in parallel with the bitcoin cryptocurrency out of an assemblage of pre-existing technologies, is now set to transform government operations and services through the unique means by which it fills trust gaps or replaces traditional trust anchors between transacting parties to enable complex forms of inter-personal and organizational trust, coordination and collaboration that are driving economic and social value. The public sector has become a principal area of application, in which governments and other actors have announced hundreds of use cases all around the world. Digital currency/payments, land registration, identity management, notarization, supply chain traceability, healthcare, education, corporate registration, data management, auditing, energy market, taxation, voting, and legal entities management are some areas where blockchain is currently being tested for public services.

Notwithstanding this widespread interest and the opportunities for digital transformation that blockchain technology presents, the actual implementation of blockchain technology in the public sector has remained limited. Previous studies have highlighted several adoption barriers such as lack of regulation, security, and privacy concerns, insufficient and lack of interoperable infrastructure, lack of information about operational costs, inefficient and energy-costly transactions, the need for value-driven transitions in administrative processes, and the absence of effective governance models. A key challenge for blockchain and distributed ledger systems adoption in public sector digital transformation projects is think about the application and adoption of blockchain and DLT holistically to avoid misalignment among the social, information and technical aspects of blockchains and DLTs.

To address this challenge, as part of the GovTech Talks Series, this webinar will present and discuss the application of a novel high-level conceptual model ("The Three-Layer Model") and accompanying question-led framework for the design and implementation of blockchain and distributed ledger systems illustrating how the framework can be used to improve the design of blockchain solutions and overcome barriers to adoption.

WHAT WE WILL LEARN

• Understand the main value proposition public sector digital transformation of blockchain and distributed ledger systems;
• Explain the "layers" of the "Three-Layer" conceptual model, the interactions among the layers and how they relate to the question-led design framework accompanying the model;
• Understand how the question-led design framework can be applied to help overcome adoption barriers in the design and implementation of public sector digital transformation projects involving blockchain and DLTs.