Title: Digital Talk: Versatility of Blockchain and its relevance with Research and Education Network

Date: September 30, 2020 at 10am [GMT+6]

Venue: Virtual “Using Zoom Application”

Name of the Presenters:
Prof. Dr. Md. Sadek Ferdous Department of CSE, SUST Email: sadek-cse[at]sust.edu Presentation Slide: Click Here		Khondkar Atique-e-Rabbani B Tech (Hons), UK, FCA Email: atique.rabbani[at]gmail.com Presentation Slide: Click Here
Name of the Panelists:
Mir Masud Kabir Managing Director Mango Telecom, Bangladesh Email: masud.mir[at]mango.com.bd	Mr. Habibullah N. Karim Founder & CEO Technohaven Company Ltd Email: karim[at]technohaven.com	Prof. Dr. Muheymin-us-Sakib IIT, Dhaka University, Bangladesh Email:sakib[at]iit.du.ac.bd	Sami Ahmed Policy Advisor, LICT Project BCC, ICT Division Email: samiahmed74[at]gmail.com

Overview: Blockchain Technology has become the latest hype. What is Blockchain? Is it legal to deal with Blockchain Technology? Is it related only with Bitcoins which is yet to be legalized in many countries including Bangladesh? If it is not, then what are its usages and in which field this technology is relevant to? How is it applicable to REN community? Is blockchain secured? Is it a panacea? All these questions will be addressed in one and half hours of intensive discussion among industry renowned academicians and professionals who have wide experience on this specific field. Also, issues of the relevancy of blockchain with REN and the member institutes under REN community, particularly the Higher Education Institutes (HEI) will be intensely thrashed out in this brief discussion session. At the end, the future roadmap of Blockchain will also be looked into with a special focus on the role of this specific fDLuDCf project in taking the technology move forward.

The following areas will be covered:

• Blockchain Architecture
• Characteristics
• Types of Blockchain
• Application versatility
• Relevance with NRENs
• Challenges in Implementations
• Any suggestion to move forward

Objective:  The principal objective of organizing the seminar is to delve into the basics of blockchain, its scopes and versatilities in terms of applications that can be implemented using Blockchain, and also its relevance with Research and Education Network (REN) community.

Agenda: 

• Presentation-1: Basics of Blockchain (30 minutes)

• Presentation-2: Applications of Blockchain (30 minutes)

• Comments from the Panelists
  • Panelist-1 (10 minutes)
  • Panelist-2 (10 minutes)
  • Panelist-3 (10 minutes)
  • Panelist-4 (10 minutes)
• Floor to be opened to the audience (40 minutes)

Name of the Presenters:

1. Prof. Dr. Md. Sadek Ferdous Department of CSE, SUST, Bangladesh
   • Presentation Slide: Click Here
2. Khondkar Atique –e- Rabbani, B Tech (Hons), UK, FCA
   • Presentation Slide: Click Here 

Name of the Panelists:

1. Mir Masud, Managing Director, Mango Telecom, Bangladesh
2. Prof. Dr. Muheymin-us-Sakib, IIT, Dhaka University, Bangladesh
3. Habibullah N. Karim, Founder & CEO, Technohaven Company Ltd
4. Sami Ahmed, Policy Advisor, LICT Project, BCC, ICT Division