Last week NASDAQ-listed China Internet Nationwide Financial Services (CIFS) announced it was setting up a research center with Tsinghua University. The research will focus on enterprise blockchain.
In 2016 the university was also involved with the much-publicized Walmart/IBM blockchain food provenance test. Tsinghua is one of the elite Chinese universities, and an alumnus is current President Xi Jinping who graduated in 1979.
The solutions developed will be targeted at Chinese companies. Research will cover several sectors including medical, agricultural, pharmaceutical, energy, banking and others.
The announcement provided the example of supply chain traceability and transparency. This would include tracking the production, assembly, distribution and storage processes of supplier products. They see this as addressing food safety issues and also ensuring reasonable pricing of agricultural and livestock products.
Yang Bin, VP of Tsinghua University said: “It is of great significance to implement the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy to accelerate economic transformation and progress.” He hopes Research Center will provide a “solid think tank foundation for social development with an open and international attitude.”
The technology subsidiaries of both Zhong An and Ping An Insurance are both forging ahead with major blockchain deployments.
