Altice Labs’ 98th Tech Day was held on the last 28th September, under the theme Blockchain.
The keynote speaker was Professor Miguel Pupo Correia, from the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) of the University of Lisbon (ULisboa) and senior researcher of INESC-ID, who in his presentation “Blockchain: far beyond cryptocurrencies” made a brief introduction to the underlying technology of this theme, presented the bitcoin and the crypto-coins, the evolution to ethereum and the possibility of blockchain programming, explaining the advantages and disadvantages associated with this type of technology and concluding with a list of the most relevant research projects and use cases, highlighting the contribution of portuguese know-how to the evolution of this emerging technology.
This was followed by a presentation by José António Palma from Altice Portugal’s Core and Convergence Networks Strategy unit. Under the theme “Chainig the way to a new digital era”, he addressed the opportunities that the technology brings to the telecommunications industry, presenting several use cases that are being explored in some telcos, among them Altice Portugal. In his presentation, José Palma also pointed out the main challenges that the blockchain presents and alerted to the danger of the current fascination with this technology, the reality that later presents itself, and the need to follow its evolution as it acquires maturity.
Then, André Duarte, software engineer at Ubiwhere, presented a use case under development by his company, “Block car pollution”, which intends to use the blockchain advantages in promoting a more sustainable use of a city’s vehicles through an ecosystem with a circular economy.
José Figueiredo, co-founder of Blockbird Ventures, presented three use cases developed by his company that involve the use of this technology in three different sectors: energy, health and financial. In the first case, regarding the energy sector, a B2B platform for data management related to energy’s generation, consumption and commercialization is being developed. In the second example presented in the health area, the goal is to use blockchain technology to control access to patient health data, in compliance with the new General Regulation on Data Protection. The third use case presented, from the financial area, proposes the creation of a fiduciary cryptocoin.
In the following discussion panel, moderated by Professor Miguel Pupo Correia, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions to the stakeholders and to address other issues such as the energy consumption problem currently associated with this technology or its use in controlling the so-called “fake news”.
It is also possible to consult in the 2017 Innovaction the article on this subject, “Blockchain: a brief introduction”.