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Blockchain and the Governance of Pandemics:
An Exploratory Study
Alfredo Favenza, Enrico Ferro, Laura Ricci
www.overtheblock.io

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COVID-19 Pandemic Socio-Economic Implications
Healthcare
System
Social
System
Economic
System
Information
System
* LINKS Foundation elaboration based on:
• ”Putting the UN Framework for Socio-Economic Response to COVID-19 into Action: Insights”, UNITED NATIONS, June 2020
• “UN tackles ‘infodemic’ of misinformation and cybercrime in COVID-19 crisis”, UNITED NATIONS, March 2020
*
SYSTEMIC IMPACT

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Research Questions
• For what type of problems may blockchain
be leveraged to offset the impact of
COVID19-like pandemics?
• What kind of value can this technology
offer?
• Is there a phase in the management of
emergency that may specifically benefit
from the use of blockchain?

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TORINO | 13-07-2020
Research Methodology
LITERATURE
REVIEW
CASE STUDIES
SELECTION
CROSS-CASE
ANALYSIS
Academic & Gray Literature
Blockchain & Emergency Management
Mixed Sampling: Theoretical and Empirical
Longlist of 30 applications, 19 under the lens
Four dimensions considered: type of
blockchain, maturity level, value generated,
emergency phase.

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Short List by Impact Area
Healthcare System Social System Economic System Information System
Digital Health Passport
Pronto C2
BeepTrace

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Application Areas Identified
• Shortage of medical equipment due to panic buying and interruptions of the supply chain
(source: World Trade Organization).Supply Chain
• Lack of automation in data sharing between healthcare structure preventing an accurate
prediction of pandemic course (source: European COVID-19 Data Platform initiative).Data Sharing
• Suspension of fundamental rights due to social distancing and «Big Brother» effect produced by
contact tracing (source: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights).
Fundamental
Rights
• Abrupt interruption of the students’ learning path due to school closure, affecting more than 68%
of the total students enrolled (source: United Nations).Education
• Unfair, opaque and inefficient distribution of public and charity funds (source: International
Foundation for Electoral System, U4 Anti-corruption Research Center).
Welfare &
Philantrophy
• Studies have found COVID-19 can survive on surfaces for over three days and touching
banknotes and coins may turn out to be unsafe (source: US Government).
Cashless
Payments
• Insufficient credit lines to cover the expected liquidity shortage of all affected companies and
SMEs due to the three months lockdown period (source: OECD).Access to Credit
• Risk of a «Infodemic» of misinformation and about the urgent need to fight against a
proliferation of false information about the virus (source: United Nation).Misinformation

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Projects by Application Area

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Cross-case Analysis 1/2
Healthcare System Social System Economic System Information System
PoCMVPPRODUCT
Digital Health Passport
Pronto C2
BeepTrace
Supply Chain
Data Sharing
Fundamental Rights
Education
Cashless Payments
Access to Credit
Welfare & Philantrophy
Misinformation

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TORINO | 13-07-2020
Cross-case Analysis 2/3
 Increased transparency
and automation of
supply chain
 Improved sharing of
pandemic data among
healthcare structures
 Improved medical staff
and travelling people
identity management
 Enanced privacy and
anonymity of contract
tracing personal data.
 Improved tracking of
distance learning
processes and
certification of results.
 Enhanced collaboration
among students and
sharing of learning
experience.
 Automation and
disintermediation of
funds transfer.
 Transparency and anti-
fraud, trust in the
charity sector
 P2P cashless
payments & lending
 Incentives Alignment
 Trusted and accountable
source of news, based on
immutability and audit
trails.
 “Wisdom of the crowd”
can combat fake news
enabling individuals to
directly report their
insights anonymously
through the P2P network.
Healthcare System Social System Economic System Information System
Supply Chain
Data Sharing
Fundamental Rights
Education
Cashless Payments
Access to Credit
Welfare & Philantrophy
Misinformation

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Cross-case Analysis – 3/3
Phase Projects
Prevention
9
Preparedness
15
Response
18
Recovery
16
Mitigation
15

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Cross-case Analysis - Final Overview
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
PRIVATE PUBLIC HYBRID
TYPE OF BLOCKCHAIN
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
POC MVP PRODUCT
MATURITY LEVEL
Prevention
Preparedness
Response
Recovery
Mitigation
EMERGENCY PHASES
COVERAGE
12%
20%
25%
22%
21%
VALUE

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TORINO | 13-07-2020
Conclusions and Next Steps
• The blockchain ecosystem has revealed to be a vibrant and reactive
community
• This technology has been applied to address a wide range of problems
mostly requiring coordination, given its role as a trust enabler for
sharing and collaboration activities.
• It has been fruitfully applied along most of the phases of the
emergency mangement process
• COVID19 brought us together as a single population, can blockchain
bring us together in the creation and management of a new breed of
global commons?

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Questions?

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Why do we need blockchain for this?
History does not repeat itself but it rhymes (a lesson from 1995)

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