Blockchain summit focuses on retail
Blockchain technology will play an important role in industrial transformation, according to the 2019 International Blockchain Empowerment Summit held in Shanghai.
The technology can help streamline processes, reduce friction between parties exchanging information and offer cheaper and more effective solutions. It can be used from financing and manufacturing to trade.
The technology is bringing a fundamental change to the manufacturing industry, according to Zhao Xiaolei, director of UNIDO ITPO Shanghai that was built by the city government, China’s Ministry of Commerce and the UN.
The financial industry has long benefited from blockchain, and now it is the turn of retail. Retail sales are increasingly shifting online, and blockchain will solve age-old challenges, such as reducing acquisition costs and offering better value. Disintermediation is coming, said Glen Ward, former CEO of Virgin Entertainment.
He estimated that blockchain in the retail market is set for 96 percent of compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2023.
China was one of the pioneers to acknowledge the potential of the technology in 2016. Last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released an action plan to encourage research and exploration in the area.
