Abstract
This paper discusses blockchain from a public sector perspective in Europe where interest in its adoption is accelerating. Having this goal in mind, the European Commission is currently deploying a common European Blockchain Services Infrastructure in close collaboration with the Member States, in addition to specific funding provided by EU Programmes. Despite being a recent technology—its origins date back to 2008—blockchain builds on classical trust enabling technologies to offer novel functionalities that open new possibilities for creating value for society. In the public sector, this happens via improved processes (internal focus) and services provided (external focus). In short, blockchain-based solutions have the potential to increase significantly the rate of automation and modernization within the public sector in compliance to Europe’s specific legal constraints, in particular when it comes to ensuring the authenticity of information in digital format.
Personal views hereby presented are the authors’ only, and should not in any way be construed as to represent an official position of the European Commission.
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Notes
- 1.
Weill, P. and S. L. Woerner, What’s You Digital Business Model? (Harvard Business Review Press: Cambridge, MA).
- 2.
Furlonger and Uzureau (2020), The Real Business of Blockchain: How Leaders Can Create Value in a New Digital Age (Harvard Business Review Press, Cambridge, MA).
- 3.
Primavera de Filippi and Aaron Write (2018), Blockchain and the Law: The Rule of Code (Harvard university press, Cambridge, MA).
- 4.
World Economic Forum’s White Paper “Blockchain Beyond the Hype—A Practical Framework for Business Leaders”.
- 5.
These definitions are aligned to the eIDAS regulatory framework: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2014.257.01.0073.01.ENG.
- 6.
Legal Entity File of the European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/library/contracts_grants/info_contracts/legal_entities/legEnt_privComp_en.pdf.
- 7.
Hidden Costs of Verification: https://goo.gl/kP5Lsw.
- 8.
Self-Sovereign Identity is an emerging trend associated with the way identity is managed in the digital world. According it, users should be able to create and control their own identity, without relying on any sort of centralized authority. This may be achieved using Verifiable Claims, meaning that Users can control the pieces of information they want to share with third parties to identify themselves.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
All the European Union Member States and EFTA countries signed the ‘eGovernement Declaration’ in Tallin on 6 October 2017. The text of the Declaration is available at http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/document.cfm?doc_id=47559.
- 12.
These include eID, eSignature among others, for more information: https://ec.europa.eu/cefdigital/wiki/display/CEFDIGITAL/Building+Blocks and https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/solutions_enprogram.
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Baldacci, E., Frade, J.R. (2021). Advancing Digital Transformation in the Public Sector with Blockchain: A View from the European Union. In: Kaili, E., Psarrakis, D. (eds) Disintermediation Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65781-9_13
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