Senior business and financial executives will converge on UT Dallas Sept. 21 to learn about blockchain, a new technology that promises to disrupt, or even revolutionize, the way companies do business.
The Center for Finance Strategy Innovation will host a half-day conference, “Uses of Blockchain: Creating and Unlocking Value through Business Innovation,” at the Naveen Jindal School of Management. Chris Ballinger, director of mobility services and chief financial officer at Toyota Research Institute (TRI), will be the keynote speaker.
The technology now known as blockchain was developed in 2008 as a way for buyers and sellers to conduct digital financial transactions without having to involve an intermediary party. It is a type of electronic ledger consisting of transactions joined in a virtual chain only after members of a known peer-to-peer computer network mutually validate each proposed block of data. The network can be private or public. As new blocks are added to the chain, each block already in the chain is updated with the new information, thus making the transaction history complete, transparent and auditable at every step along the way — and virtually impossible to be hacked or intentionally corrupted.
Because virtually anything of value can be traded through blockchain transactions, the technology has become known as the Internet of Value. Although still in its infancy, its proponents claim that it is revolutionary in that anything of value will be able to be exchanged at the speed in which information is currently exchanged.
Ballinger will discuss the basics of blockchain technology, and explain Toyota’s efforts in the space. Toyota will provide a 2017 Prius Prime for a special conference demonstration developed by UT Dallas student teams and local blockchain startups. TRI initiatives include gathering secure driver and autonomous vehicle data-sharing capabilities, car and rideshare transactions that would allow drivers and riders to rent vehicles with their smartphones, and usage-based automobile insurance.
“Blockchain and related technologies are great for lowering transaction costs, reducing friction and enabling both peer-to-peer and business-to-peer transactions,” Ballinger said. “They tend to make many more things available as a service.” Experts from IBM Blockchain, ConsenSys Energy, Grid+, Digital Twin Labs, Symbiont, MoneyGram, Nimbix, Ingentium and Oaken Innovations will present business use-case scenarios that utilize blockchain technology.
Registration is now open at jindal.utdallas.edu/blockchain. The cost for attending is $80.
