An all-star team of academic blockchain scholars across North America and
Europe is pleased to announce the formation of a multi-national research
organization, Insolar Research, which is poised to bridge the gap between
blockchain science and real-world enterprise adoption. Insolar Research is a
subsidiary of Insolar and comprises 10 leading academic blockchain scholars
from institutions including York University, ETH Zurich, and Princeton
University. It is currently undertaking an ambitious slate of research and
proof-of-concept pilot projects that span multiple research areas, industries,
and partner collaborations.
Among Insolar Research's ranks is Prof. Henry Kim, co-director of York
University's blockchain lab in Toronto and one of the leading academic scholars
in North America, and Prof. Alexandru Butean, Senior Lecturer Professor in
Computer Science and architect of the Blockchain Society in Estonia. 8 other
scholars round out the team's growing membership, each contributing a mix of
blockchain expertise with other industrial research specializations, such as
cryptography, security, IoT, and AI/ML.
"Insolar Research is pushing the boundaries of blockchain science," says
Prof. Henry Kim, "more than that, it's bringing that science to real-world
enterprise use, showing companies the tangible benefits of blockchain and
solving the urgent hurdles they face in adopting it."
In keeping with Insolar's open source values, Insolar Research will freely
publish and share its findings with the world.
"Insolar Research is a vital component of the Insolar ecosystem," says the
company's CEO Andrey Zhulin, "It brings thought leadership and academic rigor
to our technology platform and advances the frontiers of knowledge for the
greater community, creating a rising tide that lifts all boats."
Projects which Insolar Research is currently conducting include:
- Investigating how a
modern society would function if blockchain technology were applied at all
levels. This project closely follows EU directives for 2020 and creates
the architecture, requirements, and tools necessary for public
institutions and enterprises to integrate their services to achieve fairness
in an unfair world.
- Businesses remain
hesitant in their adoption of blockchain technology. SimuChain simulates
how blockchain technology can impact the business processes of an
enterprise organization, decreasing uncertainty and demonstrating tangible
benefits.
- Making the case for
how blockchain technology can improve supply chain provenance and food
safety. This project leverages smart contracts to execute provenance
tracing.
- A two million euro
project that will create the factory of the future by using IoT products
and services to optimize the interplay between humans, computers, and
their environment. This project is funded by the Romanian government and
its specifications were drafted following discussions with top industry
leaders throughout Europe.
- Proposing a
blockchain-enabled electricity microgrid that incentivizes the use of
local, renewable energy sources to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
- Investigating how
blockchain technology impacts the United Nations Centre for Trade
Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) and how the organization
can provide standardized technical specifications for the provenance and
authenticity of goods.
- Examining how adopting
blockchain technology can increase the global competitiveness of food
manufacturers and exporters in Canada, especially in Ontario.
- Investigating how
tightly coupled blockchains for different enterprise operations (e.g.,
Financing and Operations) can increase productivity, improve resource
allocation, and minimize the risks and costs of information asymmetry in
business transactions.