In February 2018, I attended and reported on a seminar organized by CSIRO (Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) featuring blockchain technology to provide secure communication of private material such as scientific reports and commercial data (https://www.americanlaboratory.com/Blog/346971-Blockchain-Technology-Promises-to-Improve-Lab-Data-Quality-and-Productivity/). I wondered why CSIRO was lecturing on blockchain in San Francisco, CA.
The next dot or node has just appeared with the announcement of the Australian National Blockchain (ANB) platform—“New Blockchain-Based Smart Legal Contracts for Australian Businesses."
According to the press release, “CSIRO’s Data61 has formed a consortium with law firm Herbert Smith Freehills and IBM to build Australia’s first cross-industry, large-scale, digital platform to enable Australian businesses to securely communicate and collaborate using blockchain-based legal contracts.” This enables communication using blockchain protocols to securely and indelibly record scientific results. Such secure communication is essential to protect intellectual property and other confidential information. CSIRO expects that the ANB will provide Australian firms the ability to securely record and share data from external sources such as the Internet of Things (IoT). Rapid, secure communications could be valuable in documenting scientific data, including research results between satellite enterprise research or production control laboratories.
The promise of blockchain communication is that the data relating to recording and communications are saved inside cryptographic blocks connected in a hierarchical manner to one another. This creates an endless chain of data blocks, hence the name “blockchain.” Any alterations of the original data blocks are also recorded and traceable. This facilitates tracing and verifying all transactions ever made.
Robert L. Stevenson, Ph.D., is Editor Emeritus, American Laboratory/Labcompare; e-mail: [email protected]
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