Breakthrough Innovation with Blockchain Technology

Disruptive innovations that transformed society, businesses, and government are often only evident in hindsight. Students have the opportunity, through this course, to be in the front row of this fourth industrial revolution of disruption and transformation. The third industrial revolution was enabled by computers and the internet. The fourth industrial revolution has already begun with blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) as two enabling technologies. Other promising technologies include web 3.0, internet-of-things (IoT), robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing, the Metaverse, and quantum computing. Blockchain supports all of these technologies by increasing trust through security, reducing cost, and enhancing sustainability. This course explores blockchain technologies in combination with AI and other technologies in the transformation of business across several economic sectors including supply chain, financial technology, health care, real estate, retail, and energy. We are in an unprecedented time of redefining how value is exchanged. Web 3.0 envisions a very different world without centralized companies, where people control their own data, transactions are transparently recorded on blockchains or databases, and value exchange between trading partners is transformed. This course provides a glimpse into a more sustainable future.