Blockchain International Scientific Conference https://www.britishblockchainassociation.org/isc2020

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RMIT's story:
Setting up a Cryptoeconomics
Innovation Hub
Dr Chris Berg
Co-Director, RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub
March 2020

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About us
• RMIT was established in 1887 as
the Working Men’s College.
Leading Asia-Pacific technology
university with 87,000 students
across Australia and Asia.
• World’s first dedicated social
science research institute on
blockchain technology,
established in 2017 through
College of Business funding, now
supported by at the university
level as a special investment
vehicle.

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RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub
Melbourne, Australia
Prof Julian Thomas
Prof Sinclair DavidsonProf Jason Potts
Co-Director
Dr Darcy Allen
A/Prof Marta Poblet Balcell
Prof Asha Rao
Dr Chris Berg
Co-Director
Dr Elizabeth Morton
A/Prof Ellie Rennie
A/Prof Stuart Thomas
Dr Vijay Mohan
Dr Aaron Lane

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Our vision: blockchains as a new economic
infrastructure
Decentralised distributed ledgers for Industry 4.0
Supply chains
Blockchains offer:
provenance, biosecurity,
anti-fraud, shifting value
capture towards producers
(i.e. Australian agriculture)
Working with:
IBM, Oracle, CBA, CPA
Australia, Accenture, Vic
govt, ACOLA, Victorian
Water Register
Civil society
Blockchains offer:
Donations management
for non-profits,
governance reform,
intellectual property
management
Working with:
Save The Children,
Australia Council,
BlueBike, TypeHuman,
IndieCon, Resonate,
Aletheia Platform
Governance
Blockchains offer:
New forms of collective
choice and action, ‘crypto-
democracy’, constitutional
experimentation,
accounting public policy.
Working with:
Agoric, Data61, NEO,
Eosphere, NEM,
Bubichain, Elastos,
Strongblock. CPA
Australia, Ledgerium
Data markets
Blockchains offer:
User control over data (ie
health data, smart cities,
privacy), new journalism
models
Working with:
Data61, DBResults,
AHURI, The Global
Academy, Copyright
Agency, PCSG, SBE-NRC
Other partners: Stone&Chalk, Vic Bar Association, Rarebirds, Web3, Property Council

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RMIT
Blockchain
Innovation
Hub
Policy
Advice to government
Public impact
Hackathons
Observatory
Data and mapping
Applications
Industry
Government
Society
Research
Theoretical
and empirical
Courses
Micro-credentials
Postgraduate
Undergraduate
• Advising state, federal
and international govts on
blockchain regulation and
use cases
• Founded & co-founded
numerous blockchain
foundations and alliances
• Cost of Trust Index
• Crypto-Friendliness Index
• Blockchain Readiness index
• Empirical Science of blockchain
workshop
• Collaboration with
incubators
• Explored applications of
blockchain across varying
industries; Law
Accounting, Banking &
Finance, Supply Chain,
Smart-Cities, etc…
• Digital health-data sharing
wallet on blockchain –
POC developed with DB
Results
• Developing Blockchain Strategy
– RMIT Online
• 4 UG Courses in COB –
• Blockchain Economics
• Blockchain Finance
• PhD students
• Exec Education (CPA)
• Institutional crypto-economics
• Nano-economics
• Crypto-democracy
• Theory of Crypto-cities
• Theory of Crypto-Altruism
14 journals, 4 books, 3 book
contracts, 18 working papers,
seminars, panels, workshops &
conferences
ARC Discovery bid – Public finance
and cryptocurrencies
ARC CoE bid – Social automation
Our structure

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Impact and policy
The RMIT BIH engages closely with the
policy process through:
o Developing the National
Blockchain Roadmap (Cwlth
Dept of Industry)
o Briefing domestic and
international governments
o Appearing as witnesses before
parliamentary inquiries
o Engaging in policy debates in
the media
o Emphasis on public
communication and outreach

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Global reach

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What have we learned?
• Large research teams are relatively unusual in social science in Australia
o Direction and coordination a huge part of research management
o How do we identify what should be worked on?
o The workshop model
• Focused on engagement
o Australian government demand → Australian university demand
o Popular media commentary
o Political engagement is key
o Industry engagement
• Is the blockchain space unusual?
o Extremely fast paced
o High demand
o Enormous opportunities for cutting edge research