Xiong'an Blockchain Laboratory Established, Focusing on Smart City and Digital Economy Development

Recently, the Blockchain sector has seen several significant advancements.

Many large commercial banks in China are currently conducting internal tests of central bank digital currency and are allowing some users to try it out. At the same time, the national blockchain service network BSN, led by the National Information Center, will soon be launched. Behind these exciting news are the results of long-term exploration by the government and enterprises. Whether it is legal digital currency or a controllable blockchain platform, pilot programs have already been launched in the Xiong'an New Area.

At the end of March 2020, the Xiong'an New Area Blockchain Laboratory was officially established, marking the local government's further systematic and in-depth research and application of blockchain technology. In fact, over the past two years, Xiong'an has conducted several explorations in the field of blockchain: from launching a blockchain fund management platform in 2017, to introducing a blockchain rental platform in early 2018, and achieving the country's first "Blockchain + Order Financing" at the end of 2019.

Undoubtedly, in the blockchain development blueprint led by the Chinese government, Xiong'an occupies a crucial position in terms of policy support intensity, richness of application scenarios, as well as the scale of institutional participation and strategic positioning.

The newly established Blockchain laboratory will serve as an important window for observing the research, application, and ecological construction of Blockchain in Xiong'an. Li Jun, the deputy director of the laboratory, stated that the initial intention of establishing the laboratory mainly has two points: first, to research the Blockchain technology, application scenarios, and concepts required for the construction of smart cities and the development of the digital economy; second, to provide a leverage and leading role for Blockchain innovation in the field of smart cities.

In Li Jun's view, if the laboratory grows and strengthens in the future, exporting knowledge and technological capabilities is also one of its missions. Currently, several large state-owned enterprises, state-owned banks, and universities have participated in the laboratory. The laboratory is also opening its doors to small and medium-sized enterprises in the innovation and entrepreneurship sector, and relevant admission mechanisms are being formulated.

In terms of research directions, the laboratory will focus on two main lines: the construction of smart cities and the development of the digital economy. Specifically, this includes the research and development of open-source Blockchain systems for smart cities, turning Blockchain into infrastructure, and exploring related operational mechanisms, market norms, and methodologies.

Li Jun emphasized that the technology research and development in the laboratory will adopt an open-source model. He believes that it is difficult to prove the true use of the core concepts of Blockchain without open sourcing. In addition, the laboratory will also establish local standards and regulations for the application of Blockchain in smart cities, which are expected to be promoted as national and even international standards in the future.

In terms of talent policy, the laboratory will create an open innovation environment, welcoming talents from all sides to communicate and cooperate. Some incoming personnel will receive funding support, while others can bring their projects to settle in. Li Jun expressed that outstanding talents from across the country are welcome to join.

Regarding the implementation of Blockchain applications, Li Jun believes that this is an inevitable trend, but the specific scale and progress are still difficult to predict. He pointed out that many so-called Blockchain applications are actually just ordinary information systems "dressed in Blockchain skin." Although the existing Blockchain applications in Xiong'an are advanced, they are still relatively fragmented. An important task of the laboratory is to connect these applications into a system and promote them in an orderly manner around the overall direction of smart city construction.

Li Jun expects that the blockchain applications in Xiong'an may involve dozens of subfields and more than twenty scenarios, including social governance, livelihood services, smart transportation, safe city, green points, supply chain management, trade finance, data sharing, and more.

Although blockchain has not yet been included in the new infrastructure category, Li Jun believes that blockchain technology will closely integrate with new infrastructure fields such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and the industrial internet, and will surely benefit and achieve rapid development from this integration. He stated that if the blockchain pilot in Xiong'an is successful, it is likely to develop into an important industry in the future.