【ZB】How Alibaba is championing the application of blockchain technology in China and beyond

When it comes to blockchain technology—blockchain patents in particular—one company stands out from every other. Alibaba [BABA] is leading the pack in blockchain patent and they are proud of it. “We are the most patented company in the world of blockchain technology,” Jing Xiandong, CEO of Alibaba ’s financial arm Ant Financial said.
Alibaba’s Numerous Blockchain Patents to show
Of the 406 patent applications related to blockchain in 2017, Alibaba had 43, second only to People’s Bank of China (PBOC) who filed 68. Alibaba’s blockchain patents covered areas of invention, design, and utility. It goes a long way to show the efforts the multifaceted internet giants are making in the area of blockchain innovation. One of the more interesting landmarks of Alibaba’s blockchain efforts is The Ant Financial blockchain 2.0 released by Alibaba’s financial arm. The platform has evolved from the initial blockchain 1.0 to become an open platform for self-operation and decentralization.

Blockchain patents aren’t the only proof of Alibaba’s strong showing in Blockchain related endeavors. The e-commerce giant seems to know a lot about more blockchain than many others giving priority to this emerging technology. To date, Alibaba has scored huge points for its blockchain partnerships, blockchain innovations, and adoption.

Blockchain Technology for Transparent Supply Chain
Companies and organizations globally are exploring the possibility of using blockchain supply chain. One sure benefit is that it brings transparency to the supply chain. Blockchain can help, for anything from, tackling counterfeiting, recording transaction details or fighting poor labor conditions along the supply chain.

Alibaba would not be left behind in this movement. The Chinese giant will rather pioneer efforts in the blockchain space than lose out on early gains of blockchain adoption. So far, it has adopted blockchain to fight food fraud, secure medical data and track cross-border shipments.

Alibaba e-commerce subsidiaries Lynx and T-Mall adopt blockchain technology.
Alibaba, through its subsidiary Lynx International, integrated blockchain technology to track information in its cross-border logistics services. With the successful application of blockchain, Lynx can all keep an immutable record of shipment information such as production, transportation, customs, inspection and any third party verification.

“Although the concept of blockchain has only recently started to emerge, it has a very wide range of applications” Tang Ren -The technical Director, Lynxx

For a shipping and logistics arm like Lynx, security and transparency cannot be overemphasized. It’s really no surprise Alibaba looked no further than blockchain.

More recently, another of Alibaba’s subsidiaries, T-Mall in partnership with Cainiao adopted blockchain technology for its cross-border supply chain. Similar to the Lynx project, blockchain is being used to track information about shipments from over 50 countries.

Alibaba uses blockchain technology to Fight Counterfeit Food
In 2016, IBM announced a collaboration with key food producers and distributors including Dole, Golden State Foods, Kroger, McCormick and Company, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Unilever, and Walmart to reduce contamination in the global food supply chain.

Alibaba was early to the party. The e-commerce giants already had an agreement with Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) to tackle China’s food security challenges. The “Food Trust Framework” that originated from this partnership will use blockchain to track products from producer to consumer.

Alibaba Partners Chinese Government on Healthcare
In an effort to improve healthcare in China starting from Changzhou where the company operates from, Alibaba once again drew upon the benefits of blockchain technology. The company in partnership with the Chinese government hopes to create a “trusted environment for transactions”.

Blockchain will be used to share patients’ medical records with doctors in a very efficient manner.

Alibaba defines Blockchain Strategy in “BASIC” paper
BASIC, which stands for “Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Security, Internet of Things and Cloud Computing” serves as Alibaba’s strategy towards emerging technologies including blockchain. The guide was released at a Computing Conference in October 2017.

From：Smartereum
Details：ZB.com