Leveraging the Opportunities of Blockchain

Demand for skills in blockchain technology continues to grow - and shows no sign of stopping. According to a recent Freelancer.com ‘Fast 50’ report, blockchain technology skills saw the fastest growth in demand.

‘Before the rise of cryptocurrencies, nobody heard about blockchain technologies,’ says Dr. Imre Kocsis, a blockchain expert and educator at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). ‘But today, this technology is being used in everything from finance to government, retail, and manufacturing. As a result, blockchain technology is now one of the most in-demand skills sets - and one full of significant opportunities for smart professionals,’ he adds.

However, before we get to what those opportunities are, let’s first take a step back and look at what exactly blockchain is.

A variety of blockchain-driven business cooperation innovations are already relatively well known and accepted. Some examples are supply chain visibility, asset tracking, post-trade processing and trade finance; all challenges that are being addressed today by purpose-built solutions in a variety of industrial sectors, from container logistics through commodities as oil to agriculture and food.

But much more is to come. More and more industries are exploring the benefits of blockchain technology. These include everything from the banking and financial services sector to healthcare, insurance, media, entertainment, consumer goods, telecommunications, and travel and transportation. Hyper-connected digitized industry and smart, 5G and fog computing enabled cyber-physical environments stand to gain especially much. Here, blockchain will have a key role in such ‘killer applications’ as monetising sensor data and AI capabilities, orchestrating manufacturing across companies and ensuring the safety and resilience of connected systems.

To back up this prediction, consider that the aforementioned PwC report forecast that between 10 - 20% of the global economic infrastructure could operate based on blockchain. And, according to analytical agency Gartner, the blockchain solutions market will be worth an estimated $3.1 trillion by 2030.

‘Needless to say, blockchain will unlock many new business opportunities,’ notes Dr. Kocsis.

EIT Digital Professional School offers two courses specifically designed to give you the skills to future proof your career for a blockchain-fuelled future. The Blockchain for the Decision Maker course helps professionals evaluate and introduce blockchain-based solutions into their enterprise systems, while our Blockchain for Digital Manufacturing and Logistics course focuses on leveraging blockchain’s potential within the manufacturing and logistics setting.

‘Both courses offer a comprehensive understanding of the full potential of blockchain technology and how to leverage that potential in an enterprise or manufacturing setting,’ conclude Imre Kocsis and László Gönczy. ‘But most importantly, they give you the confidence to begin using blockchain technologies to solve actual problems and create new business opportunities.’