A recent report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development analyzed more than 200 government blockchain programs globally, a community that is rapidly growing as public services explore the immense potential of this emerging technology. In order to better learn about blockchain and evaluate solutions that improve transaction performance, traceability, and trust, public services must collaborate not just across silos between agencies, but side-by-side with the businesses, academic researchers, and organizations that are leading these advances.

The Hyperledger Project, started in December 2015 by the Linux Foundation, is an open source initiative to support the collaborative development of blockchain-based distributed ledgers. In this first of our new Emerging Technology Leadership Series, we invite Brian Behlendorf, executive director of the Hyperledger Project and one of The New York Times’s “Top 10 People Leading the Blockchain Revolution,” answer your questions about collaborative development of blockchain solutions and share insights from the source on what public services need to know.

The Emerging Technology Leadership Series, hosted by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Emerging Citizen Technology Office, is a six-part livestream pilot to enhance the modern federal workforce with training, education, and awareness of emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Process Automation, Blockchain, Social Technologies, and Virtual/Augmented Reality.

Who should attend

Federal employees or anyone who wants to learn more about how public services can benefit from the practical application of blockchain-based solutions.

Presenters

Brian Behlendorf is the Executive Director of Hyperledger, an initiative at the Linux Foundation. Behlendorf was a primary developer of the Apache Web server, the most popular web server software on the Internet, and a founding member of the Apache Software Foundation. He has also served on the board of the Mozilla Foundation since 2003 and the Electronic Frontier Foundation since 2013. He was the founding CTO of CollabNet and CTO of the World Economic Forum. He has also been a managing director at Mithril Capital Management LLC, a venture capital fund.

Justin Herman is the lead of GSA’s Emerging Citizen Technology Office, including the U.S. government-wide Blockchain Community initiative, which collaborates with more than 320 U.S. federal, state and local agencies as well as startups, small businesses, and civic organizations to develop government-wide public service modernization initiatives for emerging technologies.

Resources

Have questions? Email emergingtech@gsa.gov.

Learn more about ongoing blockchain initiatives on the Emerging Technology Atlas.