Blockchain to transform Infrastructure
Blockchain innovation will transform infrastructure around the world by enabling the implementation of new energy and transport business models, according to leading Australian investment manager QIC.
In a new Red Paper titled “Blockchain is Knocking at Infrastructure’s Door,” QIC explains how blockchain works, discusses its use in public and private networks, explores the technology’s growing application beyond financial services, and assesses its potential impact on the energy and transport sectors in particular. The study explores case studies around:
Facilitating distributed energy
- Using blockchain-based arrangements to enable peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading
- Strengthening grid security, enabling real-time pricing signals, and more closely matching power supply and demand
Personalising vehicle and driver insurance
- Using distributed data to unlock a new world of rewards and incentive schemes, beyond lower premiums, to promote safe driving
- Saving lives and reducing crash rates by using blockchain-supported technology to encourage behavioural change
Leveraging e-wallets embedded in vehicles
- Connecting vehicles and drivers via P2P private transactions, for seamless and secure toll and parking payments
- Building virtual gantries to reduce congestion and boost revenue
QIC’s study encourages infrastructure industry participants of all types and size to begin exploring the potential of blockchain, better understand the economic and societal benefits it can bring, and prepare to adapt their business models to take advantage of inevitable industry change.
Ross Israel, Head of QIC Global Infrastructure, said: “Blockchain has already earnt its stripes in financial services, thanks to its transparency, security and efficiency. However, its potential applications within the infrastructure industry remain relatively unexplored. We see it creating, in time, tangible value in the energy and transport sectors in particular, from enabling more efficient exchange between producers and users of energy and helping to prevent power shortages, to boosting the efficiency and revenue generation of transport-related payments. If supported by those of us working in the industry as well as by regulatory reform, blockchain has the power to transform global infrastructure and build a better world for all.”
Read more about QIC’s study Blockchain is Knocking at Infrastructure’s Door here. Post from QIC.