Page 30 - 2019 January Newsletter WEBEL

30 Volume: 23
January 2019 Issue

18-19 December 2018

Department of IT&E has taken focused approach to establish West Bengal as a front runner in creating a Blockchain
Technology Hub. Blockchain is a vast distributed ledger or database running on millions of devices, where not just
information but anything of value – money, titles, deeds, music, art, intellectual property etc. can be stored securely
and privately. The world is looking at Blockchain as the next biggest disruptive technology after internet. Among the
financial institutions, almost 50% of the banks are expected to be using this technology by 2020 and there is a huge
transformation expected to take place in the non-financial sector as well within next few years. Already jobs are getting
created because of the fast, transformative effects of blockchain and substantial volume of creation of jobs are
expected in coming days.

Department of IT&E has held a day long knowledge workshop on Blockchain – ‘Genesis’ on 13 April 2018, hosting
national and international level participants. Around 400 people from the Industry, Corporate, Academia and
Government sector participated in the event. With this a message was also passed on to the Industry that how
Government of West Bengal is seriously considering to build a holistic ecosystem around Blockchain in the State.

To take the initiative further and develop a collective understanding on different aspects of Blockchain, a One & half (1
& ½) days long International Blockchain Congress was held on 18th & 19th December 2018 at Biswa Bangla Convention
Centre, where blockchain experts, corporates, start-ups, individuals around the globe joined to share their insights on
the technology, applications, use cases & best practices on capacity building and awareness generation.

At the beginning Shri Aninda Chatterjee, MD, Webel, welcomed everyone for the Global Blockchain Congress
Consensus 2018, the first international conference ever to be held in eastern India on Blockchain. Program started with
playing the National anthem.

Shri Aninda Chatterjee, MD Webel addressing audience National Anthem being played

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Mr. Subbu Jois – Founder Aurigraph.IO, Mr. Ram Kiran Dhulipala –
Strategy and Operations Officer, Director General’s Office at ICRISAT, Mr. Thampy Koshy – Partner, Ernst & Young India,
Prof. Dhiren Patel – Director VJTI, Ms. Mani Dasgupta, CMO, IBM Global Business Services USA, Prof. Bart Preneel,

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