The Fundamentals Focus Day has been designed for those who are new to blockchain, or for those who have existing knowledge but are looking for a refresher or the opportunity to benchmark learning. The day will provide good foundational knowledge for business leaders across banking, corporates, insurers, supply chain, ports and logistics who want to embrace the opportunities of blockchain. Interactive workshops will offer the opportunity to advance your blockchain implementation or kick-start new initiatives.

10.00 Blockchain 101: Understanding the Core Principles of the Technology

Blockchain architecture offers a totally different way of looking at things. To better understand the opportunities of blockchain, you need to start with a solid foundational knowledge of the technology itself. This workshop is designed to go beyond the buzzwords and will take you through the concepts of distributed ledger technology (DLT), blockchain, bitcoin, tokenization, nodes – helping you navigate this new techie language. Private and public blockchains will be explained and you will gain an understanding of how they can deliver trust and transparency. We will explore the kind of business problems blockchain is a solution for and when you might employ alternative technologies. We will look into some of the challenges of blockchain technology from a security and privacy standpoint.

Michael Hyltoft
Independent Director
EFA SME Trade Finance Fund

11.30 Exploring How Blockchain Offers the Potential to Simplify Global

Blockchain is a business technology, its success is defined by being able to take a business-led approach to identifying a common problem to be solved, identifying blockchain as a potential solution, and leading out the
implementation. This workshop will look at the specific business problems faced in global trade finance today – across the ecosystem (banks, corporates, shipping & logistics, insurers) – and marry the benefits of blockchain as established in session 1, to
demonstrate why blockchain is such a powerful solution. This session will look at speeding up transaction time, improving ease of transaction, delivering authenticity of data. We will help you to envisage the future of global trade finance under the influence of blockchain technology. The session will end with an audience discussion with a focus on opportunity mapping.

Michael Harte
European Head of Trade Product
Standard Chartered Trade Finance

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Engaging Your Business in Blockchain and Developing the Roadmap for Adoption

Blockchain implementation requires collaboration across multiple stakeholders, not only across the value chain, but also within your organization. As a consequence, the groundwork and preparation required before you start is absolutely essential for successful implementation. This workshop will look at the first year of blockchain adoption, from the experience of a leader who has initiated the blockchain journey within their own organization. The session will address 3 key steps at the outset of blockchain adoption: Engaging your business in blockchain; Identifying potential partners and reviewing opportunities to join a consortium; Setting out a roadmap to kickstart your first blockchain proof of concept.

Bob Gravestijn
Business Developer
ABN AMRO

14.30 Reviewing Approaches to Blockchain Collaboration

Whilst collaboration is a given to blockchain implementation, there are a variety of routes that can be taken. Whether you are driving the collaboration, or being asked to join, this session will help you understand the nuances of the options and what to be aware of.

• The session will review the industry consortiums – Marco Polo, we.trade, Voltron, komgo – and help you understand the differences between each, as well as the pros and cons of joining a consortium. What commitments are expected? What are the rules of engagement? How should you collaborate? We’ll look at blockchain initiatives that are taking place outside of these membership consortiums and how these arrangements are initiated. Governance and trust are key to enabling effective collaboration, we’ll explore how this is being addressed across the various consortium models.

David Hennah
Co-Chair
World Trade Board

15.15 Refreshments

15.45 Blockchain Global Trade Finance: Use Case Development

This session will demonstrate 1-2 examples of blockchain use case developments – walking you through the practical steps to demonstrate the value of blockchain to solve specific business problems.

Looking at practical examples we will answer questions such as why blockchain vs. other technologies? How to demonstrate ROI and value? How to get business buy-in for a blockchain project. We will go through the following steps
in detail:

• Analytics to demonstrate the business problem
• Measurement for what transformation could achieve
• Review why blockchain vs other solutions
• Review the potential blockchain technology options to solve the problem

Jim Bidwell
Head of Trade Services Product Management
RBS

17.00 Workshop Close