Facebook, IBM, Microsoft and others join Citi’s blockchain charity camp

According to the compilation of Huobi Blockchain Research Center, Citigroup believes that cooperation will accelerate technological innovation, so while striving to use technology for public welfare purposes, it is also approaching some well-known financial technology companies. Citi recently announced the Citi Technology Integrity Challenge (T4I), which aims to encourage technology innovators from all over the world to create cutting-edge solutions to improve integrity, accountability and transparency in the public sector and beyond.

The distinction between public and private can perhaps be traced back to the beginning of the division of responsibilities between the two sectors. The public and private sectors in any given industry are evolving together and influencing each other. While reforms to more effective collaboration mechanisms are still a long way off, the solution may be right in front of us and we just need to seize it. As David Craig, president of Thomson Reuters’ financial and risk division, said during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos:

“No one can solve the problems in the industry alone, everyone should join forces. We are seeing an increase in discussions and collaborative projects between different industry players, which is a really good thing.”

What is the Citi Technology Integrity Challenge?

The T4I Challenge aims to increase public sector entities’ awareness of technology innovators and their ideas on how to improve transparency and efficiency. In turn, innovators can receive support and equipment to put their ideas into practice for a better and more transparent world.

Government transactions and procurement, culture, ethics and citizen engagement, information security and identity verification are key areas that need to be enhanced through technology by designers of participating challenges.

There is a belief that this initiative will change the integrity model and demonstrate the power of large-scale, systemic public-private partnerships.

Julie Monaco, Global Head of Public Sector at Citi, said:

“By supporting open innovation and providing innovators with the tools they need to develop, we hope to address some of the biggest challenges facing the public sector.”

Support and guidance from tech giants

Some well-known companies have expressed their intention to join the T4I challenge, including Clifford Chance, Facebook, IBM, Let's Talk Payments, Mastercard, Microsoft and PwC.

Mary Tafuri, IBM's head of technology development and advocacy, said the company was excited to help the public sector drive innovation, efficiency and transparency through the use of cognitive solutions, cloud and blockchain technologies.

Some challenge participants will have the opportunity to join a virtual accelerator program, which will provide innovators with mentorship as well as curriculum and infrastructure support to help them develop their proposals.

According to Huobi Blockchain Research Center, the finalists will have the opportunity to showcase their projects in different cities around the world, such as Buenos Aires, Dublin, Hyderabad, Mexico City and Singapore.

Call for strong public-private partnership

Everything related to validation, licenses, all types of transactions, processes and events can be easily backed up by blockchain, as it can manage and monitor this information in a simple and secure way. But this brings us back to where we started - collaboration.

Technology giants and startups, as well as the public sector, all have valuable internal knowledge and experience. So why not take that and design a product for the public? This would save these sectors and companies time, effort and money.

A study led by Procivis and assisted by Dr. Alexander Tressell of Zurich-based consultancy Xupery shows that the successful delivery of digital public services starts with adequate political support. Digital public services require a clear strategy and timeline, which can only be achieved through strong public-private partnerships.