Scottish government report underlines future need for use of blockchain

The Government of Scotland has released a report hailing the benefits of the distributed ledger technology (DLT) in public services and how it can make them more efficient.

The report, labelled “Distributed Ledger Technologies in Public Services”, was commissioned by the Scottish government to the blockchain development firm Wallet Services.

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The document recommends Scottish authorities to “join the international ecosystem” of DLT, develop a national vision and launch small-scale public sector projects.

The report also highlights that with DLT it is possible to register and permanently record, share and transfer value or valuable information in a more secure way.

The report’s recommendations

Wallet Services makes five recommendations in the report, which includes the creation of a group of Scottish DLT experts who would be tasked with developing the vision of how the revolutionary technology could support the country’s economy.

A second recommendation calls on officials to take steps to include relevant knowledge and skills in fundamental disruptive technologies in the government sector.

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The third calls on the government to engage with the governments of other countries to learn how they have used DLT.

The fourth urges the government to promote the use of DLT through educational programmes and R&D projects, including the University of Edinburgh’s new Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain accelerator.

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The fifth is related to the appointment of public sector leaders tasked with identifying how the DLT can be used to solve everyday problems.

“Nobody can predict with any certainty what the most significant benefits of any technology will ultimately prove to be, but we can continue to scan the horizon, engage with experts and open ourselves up to new possibilities,” says Digital Directorate Director Colin Cook in the foreword of the report.