IT dept to organise blockchain tech workshop on April 13

Kolkata: The state Information Technology (IT) department, in collaboration with West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and Nasscom, is organising a day-long Blockchain Knowledge Workshop at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in New Town on April 13.

The inaugural session of the knowledge sharing workshop will be attended by IT minister Bratya Basu, while additional chief secretary, IT, Debashis Sen will be delivering the welcome address as well as the concluding note.

"The online registration for the workshop was started some days ago and already, more than 450 registrations have poured in. Since there are 400 seats in the hall, the registration process has been closed. The process of scrutiny and sending of confirmation mail is going on," a senior official of the IT department said.

It may be mentioned that the Bengal government has selected blockchain as a technology for the future and it is the anchor theme for Bengal's strategy in the IT world in the short and medium term.

A number of technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Industry 4.0 and Fintech are emerging, of which blockchain is the most fundamental mover and there are still ways in which the government, the industry and the academicians are trying to grapple with it.

"It is fiendishly complex to explain the basics, that consist of encryption and hash values, proof of work and a difficulty level that increases with machine power. Our idea behind the workshop is to acquire skills on this and knowing use cases that can be replicated or modified," the official added.

It has been learnt that there are only a handful of experts across the country, who are working on this technology and Bengal wants to take the lead.

Leading speakers from across the globe dealing with blockchain technology, will deliberate on various aspects of it in the workshop.

The technology provides secure public databases, that are free from cyber attacks.

"The data centres in the state and national level are prone to cyber attacks. Blockchain technology is safe as the database is shared in lakhs of computers at the same time. So, hacking into a single computer will not affect the data," the IT department official maintained.

The event, according to the official, will signify the originating block of any blockchain, marking a beginning for Bengal in 2018, which would culminate in a Global Blockchain Congress in December 2018.