Last month, IBM published the report Building trust in government: exploring the potential of blockchains, which reviews the findings of its recent research examining blockchain adoption amongst governmental organisations

In accordance with its continued commitment to fostering collaborative efforts, IBM’s research arm, the IBM Institute for Business Value has published a new report looking into global government adoption of blockchain. Research was conducted with the support of Economist Intelligence Unit, which surveyed 200 government leaders in 16 countries around the globe to gain insight into their experiences and expectations with blockchain.

Around the world governmental institutions are hindered by mounting budgetary pressures and bureaucracy. Many of these organisations lack the ability to access and analyse data so as to create greater economic value. Blockchain technology can alleviate these pressures by facilitating the secure transfer of data between institutions and individuals. According to IBM’s research, government’s around the world are exploring use cases for blockchain more and more.

The report findings revealed that government organisations are interested in the potential benefits blockchain can have on numerous areas of operations. Nine out of ten surveyed organisations intend to invest in blockchain for use in financial transaction management, asset management, contract management, and regulatory compliance by 2018. Additionally, seven in ten government executives predicted significant disruption from blockchain in the area of contract management, which frequently serves as the intersection of the public and private sectors.

Although almost every government organization surveyed reported plans to invest in blockchain by 2018, a small group of stand out pioneers are already setting the pace and experimenting with blockchain. These Trailblazers, as IBM has dubbed them, made up 14% of respondents, all of whom expect to have blockchains in production and at scale already in 2017. They are prioritising blockchain to reduce obstacles to innovation, as well as incomplete and inaccurate information across their organisations,

In the full report, IBM shares key insights on the market adoption of blockchain solutions and explores differentiation factors for early adopts, in addition to reviewing the potential benefits to governments that experimenting with novel blockchain applications.

To read or download the complete IBM government and blockchain report, click here.