“If we want to use blockchain solutions successfully, then we have to make sure we educate blockchain experts now”
BlockChain Network Online Education for interdisciplinary European Competence Transfer (BlockNet)
Project timeframe: 01.09.2018 – 28.02.2021
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Project BlockNet (“BlockChain Network Online Education for interdisciplinary European Competence Transfer”) is funded by the European Commission in the context of the Erasmus+ program “KA2-Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices. Strategic Partnerships for higher education”.
In 2018, three out of 18 proposals were granted which equals a success rate of 17%. The good news reached the team of Prof. Vladislav Fomin (Vilnius University in Kaunas), Univ. Prof. Dr. habil. Michael Henke (TU Dortmund), Prof. Raimundas Matulevičius (University of Tartu), Assist. Prof. Boris Düdder (University of Copenhagen).
The fundamental goal of BlockNet is the development and practical implementation of an interdisciplinary Blockchain Technology (BCT) Small Network Online Course (SNOC). To date, there are no interdisciplinary courses providing students of different majors with knowledge of BCT, its applications and impact on business environments, as well as comprehensive essential skills to be prepared for the interdisciplinary work they will face in future projects.
The project was started at the backdrop of paradigmatic changes in the technology landscape, where BCT is emerging as one of the most hyped, but also most promising innovations of recent years –agreeing on that we notice a strongly growing demand for experts and personnel with a wide range of backgrounds and skills in the field of BCT. The growing number of Blockchain Projects and expectations towards the technology highlight the need for a comprehensive understanding of how this new technology is affecting and improving existing structures and relationships in the business environment. The project will prepare European students and help them to gather the knowledge and skills needed to exploit new market opportunities and to be prepared for changes in employment trends.
The project was launched at the same time as the new Master program “Financial Technologies (FinTech)” at Kaunas Faculty of Vilnius University and the Master lectures “Blockchain in Supply Chain Management” at TU Dortmund University. Due to the opportunity to involve students in evaluating the developed learning materials, BlockNet stands out from many prior similar projects. BlockNet will evaluate its intellectual outputs readily during the lifetime of the project not only through the new Master programs, but also through a blended-learning activity conducted at the Blockchain Summer School at the University of Copenhagen in 2020. Feedback received from students, lecturers, and industry partners will make it possible to implement the needed improvements before project closure.
An impressive list of companies on the Advisory Board of BlockNet will ensure a close collaboration of the academic partners with the relevant industry players in collecting BCT case studies, validating chosen learning outcomes and disseminating project results.
The project consortium is coordinated by Prof. dr. habil. Vladislav V. Fomin from Kaunas Faculty of Vilnius University. However, all participating parties assume leading tasks in the four work packages of the project. The project has commenced in September 2018 and will run through February 2021 (the duration of 30 months). The project funding obtained from Erasmus+ KA2 program amounts to 337,336.00 Euro. Project No: 2018-1-LT01-KA203-047044
The Project
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
Blockchain technology (BCT) is arguably one of the most promising and most hyped innovations of recent years. Many visionaries focus solely on the big picture regarding a revolutionary paradigm shift from an internet of information to an internet of value. This highlights the need for a comprehensive understanding of how this new technology is affecting and improving existing structures and relationships in business environment. Furthermore, increasing numbers of job adverts for Blockchain-related positions show that there is a high demand for experts and personnel with knowledge and skills in the field of Blockchain. BCT builds a base for smart contracts which constitute the missing link for the realisation of the vision of Industry 4.0/the Internet of Things (IoT). Smart contract use cases express the imperative nature of interdisciplinary work. Due to the many different players involved in practice, education approaches in the field of BCT need to be designed interdisciplinary from the core in order to be successful in empowering and improving students' employability. Blockchain is a highly interdisciplinary area, bringing together new challenges and opportunities at the intersections of computer science, economics, engineering, finance, business and law. Despite this interdisciplinarity, there is a lack of educational programs, incorporating different perspective of Blockchain from across multiple disciplines such as engineering, business, logistics and finance. This issue is seen at national, European and global levels. This makes it necessary for universities to apply interdisciplinary courses giving students of different majors comprehensive essential skills and knowledge of BCT and its application and impact on different business environments. Sufficient effort from academic institutions to educate and transfer accumulated knowledge about blockchain technology will foster creation of professional workforce, help exploit the benefits of this innovation, and create other innovations. Graduates might face challenges of understanding advanced blockchain technology in the later stage of their career. Thus, to educate about this new technology, academic institutions should provide sufficient interdisciplinary courses, especially in the fields of Supply Chain and Logistics, Business, Economics, Finance, and Computer Science. This will help students acquire the knowledge and skills needed to exploit opportunities and to be prepared for changes in employment trends. The Blockchain SNOC project includes the following milestones and intellectual outputs: - First, the project will conduct a benchmarking study analyzing best blockchain course examples from universities, corporations and associations’ educational programs. Furthermore, the competencies requirements and job adverts will be analyzed for developing the interdisciplinary theoretical skill concept. - Second, the insights gained will be empirical validated by case studies with European companies in order to identify the best practice use cases for BCT and required skills and competencies. Moreover, this provides a comprehensive and systematic analysis of skill and competence needed to be covered in the online course. - Third, based on this first ever comprehensive competence assessment and use case analysis project BlockNet is going to design a didactical and organizational concept for interdisciplinary Blockchain SNOC facilitating remote learning opportunities leveraging educational access. - Fourth, the multimedia learning material for interdisciplinary Blockchain SNOC will be produced and evaluated - Fifth, the course will be technical realized, conducted and evaluated in blended mobility with the students of participating universities. In order to achieve the objectives and milestones, a consortium with four project partners and advisory board is formed, which brings together leading universities: Vilnius University (Lithuania), TU Dortmund University (Germany), University of Tartu (Estonia), University of Copenhagen (Denmark), European project management competence and practical exposure (e.g. associations and industry partner workshops) with a very strong background and international network.
EXPECTED PROJECT RESULTS
The Blockchain SNOC project includes the following milestones and intellectual outputs (please also see project roadmap):
- The project will conduct a benchmarking study analyzing best blockchain course examples from universities, corporations and associations’ educational programs. Furthermore, the competencies requirements and job adverts will be analyzed for developing the interdisciplinary theoretical skill concept.
- The insights gained will be empirical validated by case studies with European firms in order to identify the best practice use cases for blockchain and required skills and competencies. Moreover, this provides a comprehensive and systematic analysis of skill and competence needed to be covered in the online course.
- Based on this first ever comprehensive competence assessment and use case analysis project BlockNet is going to design a didactical and organizational concept for interdisciplinary Blockchain SNOC facilitating remote Learning opportunities leveraging educational access.
- The multimedial learning material for interdisciplinary Blockchain SNOC will be produced and evaluated.
- The course will be technical realized, conducted and evaluated in blended mobility with the students of participating universities.
One of the main outputs in this project is a fully new empirical validated interdisciplinary Blockchain skills concept and Best Practice Use Cases in Supply Chain Management and Logistics, Production and Smart Maintenance, Finance, which sustain the development of interdisciplinary Blockchain study program largely. Furthermore, didactic and organisational concepts forcing the implementation of an interdisciplinary learning concept will be developed. Developed framework of SNOC facilities effective teaching of blockchain technology from a holistic view of a range of different application areas such as Supply Chain Management and Logistics, Business, Economics and Finance, and Computer Science. A profile for each application will be elaborated to provide a comprehensive process view of diverse blockchain opportunities in various functions and their specific industries. To systemize the different applications and to identify the transformative potential, the paramount factors that drive the adoption will be evaluated scientifically. The project will also address exploring effectiveness.
Interdisciplinary Blockchain Course
Interested parties are invited to register at Open.eStudies.vu.lt to participate in BlockNet online courses!
Instructions how to access and navigate BlockNet online content can be found here.
The course modules have been prepared to get profound knowledge on the cutting-edge Blockchain technology, its development, working and security principles, and its application in the modern business environment.
Featuring over 1,500 slides, 10 hours of video, 16 hours of lecturers’ narration, quizzes and case studies, the newly developed BlockNet course is a result of the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project run by four European partner universities - Vilnius University (VU), University of Copenhagen (KU), University of Tartu (UT), and TU Dortmund (TUDO).
BlockNet courses:
1. Introduction in Blockchain Application (5 ECTS)
1b. Introduction in Blockchain-Enabled Business Processes (1 ECTS)
1c. Introduction in Blockchain And Applications Development (1 ECTS)
2. Blockchain Foundations and Development (2 ECTS)
3. Blockchain For Logistics and Supply Chain Management (2 ECTS)
4. Blockchain For Enterprise It Security (2 ECTS)
5. Blockchain For Business (2 ECTS)
The first presentation of the interdisciplinary Blockchain online course will be made at the online Multiplier Event of the BlockNet project, which will be taking place on December 3, 2020, in conjunction with the 15th prof. Vladas Gronskas international scientific conference.
Publications
Publications:
- Düdder, B., Fomin, Vladislav V., Gürpinar, T., Henke, M., Iqbal, M., Janaviciene, V., Matulevičius, R., Straub, N., Wu, H., 2021. Interdisciplinary Blockchain Education: Utilizing Blockchain Technology from Various Perspectives. Frontiers in Blockchain. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbloc.2020.578022
- Iqbal, M., Matulevičius, R. (2020) Corda Security Ontology: Example of Post-Trade Matching and Confirmation, Baltic Journal of Modern Computing, Vol. 8, pp. 638-674.
- Iqbal, M., Matulevičius, R. (2020) Managing Security Risks in Post-Trade Matching and Confirmation Using CorDapp. In: Robal T., Haav HM., Penjam J., Matulevičius R. (eds) Databases and Information Systems. DB&IS 2020. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1243. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57672-1_24. URL: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-57672-1_24
- Mammadzada K., Iqbal M., Milani F., García-Bañuelos L., Matulevičius R. (2020) Blockchain Oracles: A Framework for Blockchain-Based Applications. In: Asatiani A. et al. (eds) Business Process Management: Blockchain and Robotic Process Automation Forum. BPM 2020. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 393. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58779-6_2
- Iqbal, M. (2020). A Reference Model for Security Risk Management of the Blockchain-based Applications, Accepted CAiSE 2020 Doctoral Consortium, CEUR-ws.org. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mubashar-Iqbal-2/publication/343981996_A_Reference_Model_for_Security_Risk_Management_of_the_Blockchain-based_Applications/links/5f4bfeb7a6fdcc14c5ece110/A-Reference-Model-for-Security-Risk-Management-of-the-Blockchain-based-Applications.pdf
- Guerpinar, T., Straub, N., Kaczmarek, S., Henke, M. (2019). Blockchain-Technologie im interdisziplinären Umfeld. ZWF Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb. 114. 605-609. 10.3139/104.112117. URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336885205_Blockchain-Technologie_im_interdisziplinaren_Umfeld
- Janaviciene, V., Fomin, V. V. (2019). Systematic Literature Mapping on Blockchain Application in the Context of Economics, Finance and Management. The 11th International Scientific Conference “New Challenges of Economic and Business Development – 2019: Incentives for Sustainable Economic Growth,” 310–319. URL: http://dspace.lu.lv/dspace/bitstream/handle/7/48896/NCEBD_Proceeding_2019.pdf
- Iqbal M., Matulevičius R. (2019) Blockchain-Based Application Security Risks: A Systematic Literature Review. In: Proper H., Stirna J. (eds) Advanced Information Systems Engineering Workshops. CAiSE 2019. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 349. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20948-3_16
- Iqbal M., Matulevičius R. (2019) Comparison of Blockchain-Based Solutions to Mitigate Data Tampering Security Risk. In: Di Ciccio C. et al. (eds) Business Process Management: Blockchain and Central and Eastern Europe Forum. BPM 2019. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 361. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30429-4_2
Presentations:
- Fomin, V. (2020) Introduction to the BlockNet project (download materials)
- Fomin, V. (2020) Blockchain for Business (download materials)
- Henke, M. (2020) Blockchain technology in Supply Chain Management (download materials)
- Düdder, B. (2020) Blockchain applications development (download materials)
- Matulevičius, R. (2020) Blockchain and IT Security (download materials)
Events
Kick-off meeting in Kaunas, October 2018
On October 29th, 2018, the kick-off meeting of the Erasmus+ project BlockNet (BlockChain Network Online Education for interdisciplinary European Competence Transfer) took place in Kaunas. The participants from Copenhagen, Dortmund, Kaunas, and Tartu met already the evening before for a comfortable get-together at the Senoji Kibinine restaurant in Trakai in order to get in contact personally and start developing perspectives on the project’s tasks and deliverables.
The kick-off meeting served as an important venue for launching the project. Starting with a round of introductions of partners, getting familiar organisational and administrative rules, discussing in detail and reaching understanding on project goals and deliverables, scheduling the next meetings, agreeing on communication pattern and technologies facilitating the project work.
The participants found the meeting to be constructive and fulfilling. Kaunas Faculty was unanimously agreed to be a great host to the project and the kick-off meeting.
The next meeting will take place at Tartu University in Tartu on April 1-2, 2019. During the Tartu meeting the progress on the first intellectual output (IO) of the BlockNet project will be reported and plans for the completion of the work discussed and finalized.
The 2nd meeting in Tartu, April 2019
The second transnational meeting of the BlockChain Network Online Education for interdisciplinary European Competence Transfer (BlockNet) project took place on the 2nd of April 2019 in Tartu, Estonia. The participants from Dortmund, Kaunas, and Copenhagen had arrived to Tartu a day before and came all together to the Institute of Computer Science at University of Tartu next morning.
The meeting started with the introduction of the host institute and with the visit to the Computer Museum. Here the participants had a chance to travel back in time and to remember some computers which they had potentiality used 15-30 years ago.
The project constructive discussions began with the overview of the administrative and financial project issues. Next, it was continued with the current BlockNet activities. The major emphasis was placed (i) on the current state of the project within the development of the interdisciplinary blockchain skills concept, and (ii) on the preparation to examine the blockchain best practice use cases in the supply chain management and logistics, business, economics and finance, and computer science.
Meeting participants had lunch in the famous Tartu restaurant Wilde and Vilde. In in the evening participants enjoyed the social diner at the Polpo restaurant in the Tartu city center.
The participants agreed that the second BlockNet transnational meeting has fulfilled their expectations.
The next meeting will take place at Technical University Dortmund on the 4-5 of November, 2019.
BlockNet Project 3rd Transnational Meeting and Multiplier Event, November 2019
On November 4th and 5th, 2019, the BlockNet team came together in Dortmund, Germany for their 3rd transnational meeting and first multiplier event. The team members from Tartu, Kaunas, and Copenhagen arrived to Dortmund already one day early for an evening get-together in the city center.
Next day, the transnational meeting was utilized to reflect on the current research status and to discuss the procedure for remaining project milestones. A high priority was given to the interconnection of results from the literature-based analysis (first working package) and the practice-oriented interview results (second working package). Lunch break was taken in the course of the Dortmund Digital Week kick-off event at Dortmund Football Museum. After another fruitful session with BlockNet discussions, the project team ended the day with an after work event at the Dortmund Phoenix sea.
On the second day, the multiplier event "Fit for Blockchain" took place at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML). At the event, members of the BlockNet partner institutions organized an interdisciplinary discussion on blockchain technology. Following the discussion the visitors of the event had the opportunity to participate in a BlockNet workshop, where a blockchain use case was analyzed in interdisciplinary teams. In addition, there was a tour through the Fraunhofer IML to get to know various innovative demonstrators of the institute and especially get a live impression of a blockchain application. The evening was rounded off with additional visitors from the Blockchain Technology Meetup Dortmund and their question on how blockchain will influence financial transactions in the future. With over 55 participants, the event was a great success and good 
opportunity to obtain feedback on the current project outcomes. The discussions and the feedback received reaffirmed the need for and value of the Blockchain interdisciplinary course being developed under the BlockNet project.
BlockNet Project Multiplier Event, December 2020
On December 3, 2020 an online Multiplier Event (ME) was organized for “BlockChain Network Online Education for interdisciplinary European Competence Transfer” (BlockNet) project.
ME was organized to promote BlockNet project developments and disseminate project results. During the online ME, partner universities of BlockNet project – Vilnius University (VU), University of Copenhagen (KU), University of Tartu (UT), and Technische Universität Dortmund (TUDO) – made a round of presentations and organize an interdisciplinary discussion on education on blockchain technology, where each partner will present a different perspective: Management and Finance (VU), Supply Chain Management (TUDO), Computer Science (KU), and IT-Security (UT). Attendees were introduced to the project’s developed interdisciplinary Blockchain online course and invited to take part in its evaluation during the online Learning Activity event, which take place on December 7-11.
The event was organized in conjunctions with the 15th prof. Vladas Gronskas international scientific conference, which will be gathering master and PhD students from different countries to contribute to scientific discussion on reliable, secure, efficient, and sustainable economy, economic and business development.
Multiplier Event program:
10:30 – 10:45 Vilnius University Opening the ME with the introduction on the BlockNet project (download materials)
10:45 – 11:00 Blockchain for Business. Vilnius University (download materials)
11:00 – 11:05 Q&A following Vilnius University presentation
11:05 – 11:20 Blockchain technology in Supply Chain Management. TU Dort¬mund (download materials)
11:20 – 11:25 Q&A following Technische Uni¬ver¬si¬tät Dort¬mund presentation
11:25 – 11:40 Blockchain applications development. University of Copenhagen (download materials)
11:40 – 11:45 Q&A following University of Copenhagen presentation
11:45 – 12:00 Blockchain and IT Security. University of Tartu (download materials)
12:00 – 12:05 Q&A following University of Tartu presentation
12:05 – 12:30 Open discussion: Q&A, future developments, issues, and challenges, etc.
BlockNet (“BlockChain Network Online Education for interdisciplinary European Competence Transfer”) Project funded by the European Commission in the context of the Erasmus+ program “KA2-Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices. Strategic Partnerships for higher education” (grant no. 2018-1-LT01-KA203-047044).
BlockNet Project Learning Activity, December 2020
During December 7-11, 2020, an online Virtual Learning Activity (LA) was organized for “BlockChain Network Online Education for interdisciplinary European Competence Transfer” (BlockNet) project.
Virtual Learning Activity was organized to present and promote BlockNet project developed interdisciplinary Blockchain online course (see the content and the structure of the developed course in Figure below), as well as to collect feedback for the course’s improvement.
Interested parties were invited to register at Open.eStudies.vu.lt prior to the Learning Activity week. Even after the end of the BlockNet Virtual Learning Activities, all learning materials are available!
Instructions how to access and navigate BlockNet online content can be found here .
The course modules have been prepared for you to get profound knowledge on the cutting-edge Blockchain technology, its development, working and security principles, and its application in the modern business environment.
Featuring over 1,500 slides, 10 hours of video, 16 hours of lecturers’ narration, quizzes and case studies, the newly developed BlockNet course is a result of the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project run by four European partner universities - Vilnius University (VU), University of Copenhagen (KU), University of Tartu (UT), and TU Dort¬mund (TUDO).
BlockNet courses:
1. Introduction in Blockchain Application (5 ECTS)
1b. Introduction in Blockchain-Enabled Business Processes (1 ECTS)
1c. Introduction in Blockchain And Applications Development (1 ECTS)
2. Blockchain Foundations and Development (2 ECTS)
3. Blockchain For Logistics and Supply Chain Management (2 ECTS)
4. Blockchain For Enterprise It Security (2 ECTS)
5. Blockchain For Business (2 ECTS)
The first presentation of the interdisciplinary Blockchain online course will be made at the online Multiplier Event of the BlockNet project, which will be taking place on December 3, 2020, in conjunction with the 15th prof. Vladas Gronskas international scientific conference.
BlockNet (“BlockChain Network Online Education for interdisciplinary European Competence Transfer”) Project funded by the European Commission in the context of the Erasmus+ program “KA2-Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices. Strategic Partnerships for higher education” (grant no. 2018-1-LT01-KA203-047044).
Contact
Project partners:
Vilnius University:
Prof. Vladislav V. Fomin, ,
Dovile Balevičienė,
Technical University Dortmund:
Prof. Michael Henke,
Tan Guerpinar, ,
Natalia Straub,
Tartu University
Prof. Raimundas Matulevičius, ,
University of Copenhagen
ASSOCIATED PARTNERS (ADVISORY BOARD):
IT University of Copenhagen, European Blockchain Center
Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (Fraunhofer IML)
Axel Schulte,
Philipp Sprenger,
IPSERA The International Purchasing and Supply Education and Research Association (IPSERA)
Spectro Finance
Payally.eu
The competence center NRW Mittelstand Digital
Maria Beck, info@digital-in-nrw.de
The research center Logistik und IT
Vikimedija UAB
Tieto