Organizations and consortia across industries are rapidly looking to unleash the exponential business value of blockchain technologies. Early adopters have already identified key benefits from blockchains including cost, immutability, transparency and new business models. Learn how these blockchain trailblazers have partnered to design, develop and rapidly adopt digital ledgers, digital identity, trust and transparency with Blockchain.

This session features discussion about the unique properties of Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, which can bring new and disruptive capabilities to industries like finance, banking, healthcare and manufacturing. Understand how it will interact with other emerging technologies such as big data, machine learning and IoT, and discover how you can begin to exploit this flexible technology in the short and long term for your business. This session includes a deep-dive discussion on a number of specific real-world use cases and provides guidance on where they can be applied best to benefit enterprises in 2019 and beyond.

The healthcare sector is undergoing significant change with the migration to electronic records and massive amounts of data made possible by connected health solutions.  But, there are major hurdles still ahead when it comes to creating an efficient, integrated, interoperable, and secure healthcare data environment.  This session will look at the challenges a digital healthcare presents and how blockchain technology can be leveraged to solve many of the challenges to efficiently modernize the healthcare industry.

For high performance computing jobs, cloud is the most popular choice as it benefits enterprises by reducing costs and enabling a focus on core business competence rather than IT and infrastructure issues.  However, several key disadvantages should be noticed:  Firstly, using cloud service means all data, even sensitive information, has to be shared with the cloud service provider; second, pay-as-you-go cloud service always has an overall price tag that ends up being higher than expected.  Blockchain can offer solutions to both those issues.  Specifically, we can leverage the power of computers across the world by using a blockchain network, and then distribute the task’s workload among each computer.  In this session, we will introduce the architecture and components of the blockchain-based distributed computing platform and also discuss the challenges and opportunities down the road.

This session will cover current investment trends, "Traditional" investments in blockchain startups to How STOs will change global fundraising mechanisms.  We'll consider how blockchain strategy is evolving from cryptocurrency to blockchain-based assets, valuation methods, financing strategies, ICO vs STO, and much more.

Too often, we have seen technology bubbles burst because of too much hype and not enough strong use cases and no supporting ecosystem. Blockchain has received as much hype as any recent technology, and we have already seen many projects on their way to success -- but also more that have quickly fizzled. The key is a model that is feasible, a use case that solves real problems, and an ecosystem that leverages enthusiasm, information, and solid planning to produce successful results, rather than bursting more bubbles. This session will discuss how the right blockchain ecocystem can effectively support projects and ensure success.

While blockchain is set to underpin the anticipated major technology wave, smart contracts will become the most popular horizontal use case, with Ethereum having become something of the de facto platform thus far.  This session will look at how smart contracts are being used today with blockchains, and why they have potential to impact so many industries.  We'll look at the benefits of smart contracts over traditional mechanisms and what risks or challenges lay ahead as businesses look to them for increased efficiency, transparency, recordkeeping, and trust.  We'll also discuss what has to happen to bring smart contracts into the mainstream world, and how real the disruptive power of smart contracts really is to the way business is conducted.

Wake up for a big bang keynote about modern digital experiences that accelerate development and delivery at scale, while not compromising security or performance, and in fact leveraging it. Let's discuss the path to demystifying and mastering DLT strategic record keeping with real use cases, practical journeys, opportunities and accessibility, but most importantly, proven results i.e. high performance, zero knowledge, partially homomorphic searchable encryption i.e., millions of transactions per second.

The way we work is changing. Teams are no longer confined to single offices, but span the entire world. In fact, more than half of the workforce will contribute remotely by 2020, so businesses require purpose-built tools to help employees succeed. As a result, it’s important to build tools reflective of the way we work, accelerating productivity, as opposed to being a roadblock to getting work done. The communications tools of the future will bring us closer together and make collaboration more productive whether we’re in a meeting room, at our desks, or on mobile while on the road, and machine learning is playing an increasingly important role. In this session, Google Cloud Office of the CTO Executives Diane Chaleff will discuss the changing communication landscape in the enterprise, including: - Why users appreciate specialization in an application over one with many functions - How to adjust strategy and product design to meet team the collaboration needs Google continues to see - Machine learning’s role in facilitating team collaboration and communication, like bots and audio/visual suggestions

Wake up for a big bang keynote about modern digital experiences that accelerate development and delivery at scale, while not compromising security or performance, and in fact leveraging it. Let's discuss the path to demystifying and mastering DLT strategic record keeping with real use cases, practical journeys, opportunities and accessibility, but most importantly, proven results i.e. high performance, zero knowledge, partially homomorphic searchable encryption i.e., millions of transactions per second.

It’s impossible to disregard Blockchain as they hype around it continues to grow. As that happens, business leaders see Blockchain as the catalyst for their organizations' Digital Transformation and want to do something with it… no one wants to miss out. However, as with any emerging technology, the Strategic Business Value of implementing Blockchain Technology may be difficult to identify. This session will assess Blockchain opportunities by vertical and horizontal sectors and discuss how to determine the Strategic Business Value prior to a large investment in order to maximize ROI.

Security tokens are very likely to become one of most important asset classes of the next decade.  However, to get there, security token platforms need to evolve from basic tokenization products to complete financial offerings.  This session introduces the notion of security token 2.0 as a framework to deliver the new capabilities of security token platforms.  Crypto-financial primitives, such as debt or derivatives, governance models, voting protocols, disclosures and transparency mechanisms, are some of the key building blocks that should drive the security token 2.0 wave.  While security token 1.0 mostly focused on compliance, the next generation of security token platform should bridge the gap with sophisticated investors in order to make security tokens a relevant financial product. 

There are countless blockchain projects that have been launched over the past year. Some of them have enjoyed success, but others have stalled. The question is, what are the real business problems blockchain can solve and what are we learning about how to effectively implement blockchain technology to accomplish those goals?

While there are many key verticals that stand to benefit from the maturation of blockchain, the same technology holds promise for nearly every business that is faced with competition from innovative competitors gaining an edge in competitive markets.  This panel will discuss the potential of blockchain across general enterprises and uses of the technology that can set forward-thinking businesses apart from competitors.  Some of the many questions that will be answered include:  How can your business benefit from blockchain?  Can you and should you leverage digital currency?  How can you identify blockchain projects that will benefit your business and guide them to success?  This session will demonstrate that blockchain is truly a horizontal technology, not one reserved for financial, healthcare, and a few other key markets.

Of all potential applications of blockchain technology few are as important, relevant, and ready for disruption as elections.  Regardless of political leanings, recent events have shown the importance of securing public trust through decentralization and universal transparency and, with a growing number of players in the space and rapidly increasing public and private sector adoption, advocates and opponents on both the policy and technology fronts are lining up for what will be one of the most visible and mainstream blockchain conversations of the next year.  This session will lay out the current landscape, challenges to adoption, and what it all means for the larger blockchain ecosystem.

Far beyond the financial use-cases of blockchain, there are many applications for this technology that advertisers, marketers, and content creators can implement to drive meaningful consumer engagement. Blockchain creates opportunities for new economic models and incentivization that have been impossible in the digital age. Several solutions are coming to the forefront that are changing this, enabling brands to engage with their audiences better than ever before.