Bart Mellink is currently the Practice leader for Disruptive Technologies at Gartner. This implicates the he advises clients on the strategic impact of those technologies on the client’s business and IT landscape. He started at a young age as a founder of a medium-sized systems integrator and software development company. After this experience, he started to work at Gartner to validate the trust people place in upcoming technologies.

At Gartners most recent Hype Cycle of 2016 the Blockchain was presented just before the peak of inflated expectations. The Gartners Hype cycle reflects how a technology moves over the time with regards to the expectation one has of it. To get a feeling what this stage implies, it can be compared to where Near Field Communication Payment was just five years ago. Of course, every technology will have its own path and Gartner expects this technology to be mainstream adopted in five to ten years.

The most important characteristic of Blockchain he regards that it can include programmable behavior. This feature can be placed in a self-enforcing perspective. This implying that new forms of interactions will take place and things will act for themselves. This is the furthest look in the future from where we are at the moment. At this moment we see a shift from digital marketing where interactions are optimized and digital business where new business models are created towards an adaptive perspective where things can initiate on our behalf and autonomous perspective where autonomous things can make decisions. The last step after this autonomous perspective is the self- enforcing perspective where Blockchain together with its smart contracts functionality is placed.

Mathieu Galtier is a data, computer and neuro scientist from France. He likes both researching which led to a PhD and two Post Docs as working with startups like Rythm and Morpeo. Morpeo is a project where Rythm collaborates with knowledge insitutes like the University of Paris-Descartes and Polytechnique Paris. This new project uses Blockchain to guarantee that sensitive data are handled securely and transparently. Because he has a background in designing algorithms, he wants to create a market where data and algorithms are rewarded and secure.

The goal of Morpheo is to provide state-of-the-art automated medical predictions from one’s sleep records. When started with this goal, a problem occurred which is seen a lot lately. It’s the problem of data quality. To make accurate automated predictions one has to have lots of data. However the data is sensitive which makes it hard to share and also there are multiple sources of data, all having their own way of data handling. So there is a problem concerning data privacy & ownership and multiple data sources & tasks. Furthermore, Blockchain can ensure a traceable path of learning and his experience with Rhythm can lead to retribution of data & algorithms.

The current discussion he has was about the way Blockchain should be implemented with regards to their business case. They want to do an Initial Coin Offering, also known as ICO, which issues SleepCoins. With this coin a person can pay for their prediction. According to the audience, the price of the medical predictions can best be mathematically regulated but still subject to the market.

Mathieu also participated in the Q&A during  the Business Track!

Wiebe Draijer is currently the Chairman of the Executive Board of Rabobank Nederland, focusing on auditing, communication, research and human resources. As a real enthusiast about technology he graduated from the University of Technology in Delft when also doing a research at Philips Research Laboratories. The following twenty years he was a managing partner at McKinsey before he became Chairman of the Social Economic Counsel which eventually leads him to Rabobank.

In his beliefs, there are three types of uses for Blockchain. One can talk about identity or maybe better known as the Know-Your-Customer problem. Second is the use of documents which can enable to connect people that are using documents. How can we simplify supply chains by using Blockchain? The last category comprises payments on which they have been working since 2014.

The most important use case Rabobank is currently working on concerns the Digital Trade Chain which can enable secure international trade between SMEs, provides easy access to banking services & counterparty information and manages, tracks & protects transactions. All this established in a simple and digitized way where trusts is created through the banks that participate in that Blockchain. With cross-border payments banks should take insurance or a leap of faith to deal with that risk. By using this application it is possible to guarantee trust by the bank that has that client and therefore mitigates the risk for the involved banks.

Speakers Ling Kong and Marc van der Chijs really enjoyed the conference and think it’s very different than many others they have visited because of the wide approach. Student Joël Happé said it was like a “bird view on blockchain”. Comedian Greg Shapiro gave an hilarious talk as Donald Trump: hear what he and many others have to say about blockchain! Kate McManus says it’s just as great as Consensus in New York!

One day after the Blockchain Innovation Conference; I’m dead tired but so happy! We had over 400 people in the room, 4600 people watching online and 50 amazing speakers who each did a terrific job! The atmosphere was great and there were lots discussions among attendees. It was fantastic. There were so much of substance. Ling Kong from China said there is no trust in China but now they can get it. David Birch made fun of the blockchain and also Chris Skinner was skeptical. Jan-Peter Doomernik had an amazing view for the future and dare to dive deep. We had an amazing team and great sponsors. Lot of different people in the audience from everywhere: big companies, startups, students, enthousiasts, some people even flew in from America. KPMG did a wonderful job hosting the event. Click here to watch back the full conference!

What does blockchain mean to you? During Blockchain Innovation Conference we interviewed Rutger van Zuidam (Dutchchain), Brenda Childers (Amsterdam Institute of Finance), Austin Alexander (Kraken), Jan Baan (Vanenburg Group), Siebrand Dijkstra (Appmachine), Richard Kastelein and Shujohn Ahmed (Cegeka). “Decentralizing trust and taking it from the hands of the few and putting it in the hands of the many; distributed by cyber space, gained by code and made honest by algorithms” is how Richard Kastelein sees this.

Watch the video below, recorded and show during BIC17!

The day before the conference Simon Lelieveldt gave an amazing tour through Amsterdam for all the international speakers. During the tour around the financial district we were trying to find to oldest blockchain in a place were once the Amsterdam Stock Exchange was established by the Dutch East India Company. This is considered to be the first stock market. Conference Director Vincent Everts introduces Simon. What a great way to get to know Amsterdam.

Finding the oldest #blockchain in #Amsterdam with @vincente and our speakers! #BIC17 pic.twitter.com/IMjtrUKjpN

— BlockchainConference (@BlockchainIC) June 21, 2017

Finding the oldest blockchain!

https://t.co/7Qd5q4WxmU

— BlockchainConference (@BlockchainIC) June 21, 2017

First pawn bank 1614 for poor people, short term loans with goods as security. High interest! Where taken over by the city councel. #bic17 pic.twitter.com/X6UUlme9ve

— Vincent everts (@vincente) June 21, 2017

This morning speakers Marc van der Chijs (Founder & CEO at Global Data Chain and blockchain investor), Egbert-Jan Sol (National Blockchain Coalition) and conference director Vincent Everts were interviewed about the Blockchain Innovation Conference and blockchain on BNR Radio. Vincent explains very briefly what a blockchain is: more in the Blockchain for Dummies session tomorrow at the conference! Marc, Egbert-Jan and Vincent talk about blockchain disruptive power for the trust mechanisms. The first 100 listeners who downloaded the JAXX wallet received free Bitcoin bits and Ethers!

Click here for the Dutch interview at BNR Radio (starts at 47:00)!

At Radio 1 Vincent was interviewed about the rise of cryptocurrency. Listen to the full interview here! (in Dutch)

Marc van der Chijs previews his talk at the Blockchain Innovation Conference with shipdesigner Martha Coolidge!

Tuur Demeester is CEO of global Bitcoin and blockchain investment company Adamant Research. Because of the high demand and maximum capacity of Bitcoin blocks it currently takes over 2100 minutes to receive or send transactions, unless you pay a fee. Yet Bitcoin is still a lot more mature than Ether. In the interview he dives further into ICO’s, bubbles and the major changes approaching for Bitcoin in August. What are his blockchain predictions?