The Industry's Blockchain

On the initiative of Chaire BALI and the company Belharra Numérique, a conference on blockchains was organized in Izarbel. Companies gave testimonials about their use of the new technology, especially for traceability applications.  

Introduced in 2008 with the digital currency, Bitcoin, a blockchain is technology for recording and transmitting data. Literally a "chain of blocks", it is composed of blocks, which each have the digital timestamp of the previous block; a blockchain is an ordered database. The transparency of the system and its decentralized structure have given it potential for applications that now go beyond the financial sphere.

Entitled "Augmented Transparency – Blockchains serving Consumers", the conference held on March 10^th this year at the ESTIA engineering school in Izarbel was aimed at presenting cases of blockchain use in business sectors other than finance. Jointly organized by the digital company, Belharra Numérique based in Bassussarry and Chaire BALI (Biarritz Active Lifestyle Industry) created by ESTIA and three partners, the conference was attended by about sixty people.

As an introduction, Patrick Bourg, director of operations at Belharra Numérique, presented the challenges of traceability proposed by blockchains. Luca Comparini, head of Blockchain activities at IBM France explained the main principles of the technology. Louis Goffaux from the Labeyrie Fine Foods group shared experience about implementing a blockchain solution to relay data (species, origin, farming conditions) about their salmon products. Afterwards, there was a debate attended by entrepreneurs and students interested in the different applications of blockchain technology.

Websites: 
http://www.belharra.fr 
http://www.chaire-bali.fr/fr 
https://www.ibm.com/en-en/blockchain