UCL Blockchain Rules Online Programme

Do you understand the rules that govern today’s digital economy?

This Blockchain Executive Education Online Programme brings the world-renowned expertise of the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT) who have designed this course for government officers, managers, legal professions, accountants and engineers interested in studying the intersection of technology and policy.

WHEN

23 Nov 2020 – 10 Dec 2020

WHERE

Online

LENGTH

6 Evening Sessions
Over 3 Weeks

REGISTRATION

WHEN

30 June 2020 – 28 July 2020

WHERE

Online

LENGTH

9 Evening Sessions
Over 5 Weeks

REGISTRATION

Introducing the Programme

We are living in a fast-moving technological environment. Innovation is the main factor to compete and technologies are completely reshaping from our economy to social life. An understanding of how technologies work and their role in policy is fundamental to be part of the present and future digital transformation. The Technology & Policy course combines the foundations of today’s most critical technologies—AI and Blockchain technologies—with a vision of the most profound example of global economic democracy and policy.

Through the exploration of the technologies that are today ruling the world, participants in this course should expect to grasp a deeper understanding of what this implies for today and future policy and economy. A solid grounding in policy and technology is necessary to face the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead as we move into this technological transformation.

Introducing the Programme

Today blockchain is not an immature technology anymore. Corporations in  finance and beyond successfully completed blockchain pilots; investments reached over $22.5 billion1 and now are constantly rising. In a few years this technology will completely reshape many industries and government activities.

However, the potential of blockchain technologies is still overlooked by most. Educational materials are often superficial or overly-technical making their understanding of how blockchains will impact in the near future a challenge. Today innovation is the main factor to compete on and blockchain is the key.

The Blockchain Rules course is a “deep dive” into the key economic and legal issues related to breakthrough blockchain technologies. In particular, how blockchain technologies work, how they are regulated and how blockchain technologies can be exploited to innovate will be discussed .

How can blockchains be deployed practically alongside other emerging technologies will be also investigated. These technologies will likely impact like the Internet did twenty years ago. An understanding of blockchain technology rules is necessary to be part of the coming blockchain era.

The Value This Programme Delivers To You

Intro to AI and DATA ECONOMY

An understanding of AI foundations and the role of data analysis in today’s economy is fundamental to understand how to compete effectively in the age of data.

AI & ETHICS

From Bias in AI to Data Protection and Artificial responsibility.

IS CODE LAW?

From the cryptoanarchy movement and Bitcoin origin to the role of protocols and code in enforcing the law.

DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGIES

Intro to the disruptive blockchain technologies and the need for international regulatory policy.

TECHNOLOGIES AND GOVERNMENT

An exploration of the main government applications in the field of blockchain and AI (e.g. digital identities to Covid19 Apps/ Dapps)

THE FUTURE POLICY FOR TECHNOLOGIES

An exploration of the future policy and/for technologies.

What You Will Learn

 

Through the analysis of the main technologies that today rule the world and the main legal and economic aspects involved, participants will:

– Understand the potential underlying breakthrough technologies (AI and blockchain) to be able to compete effectively in today’s data economy

– Recognize the impact that emerging technologies can have in driving today’s digital transformation and the main economic and legal aspects involved to be able to evaluate them critically;

– Gain a greater appreciation of today’s global digital tech-economy and the crucial role of the technological innovation process in policy.

What You Will Learn

 

This course is designed to provide you with a framework for evaluating blockchains, both through use of technology and business applications and from a legal and regulatory perspective. The following outlines the main areas of teaching spread over eight weeks:

What are the rules for technology?

Intro to the key legal concepts and issues (e.g. the telecommunication regulation, antitrust and IP law) concerning technologies: from the Internet to blockchain.

The Internet and data regulation

Blockchain combines existing technologies. An understanding of how the Internet and data are regulated is fundamental to investigate the present and future blockchain regulation.

Is code law?

Crypto-anarchy movement and the foundation of blockchain technologies. Code is Law and Trust the Code

Distributed Ledger Technologies

Intro to Blockchain, cryptocurrencies and smart contracts—how they work and applications.

Bitcoin – Cryptocurrencies and the law

What is money and the concept underlying a crytocurrency. Intro to legal issues related to cryptocurrencies. Cases, such as Libra, will be analyzed and developed.

 

Blockchain regulation

What rules for blockchain technologies? An overview of the most recent developments in the blockchain regulation.

Smart Contracts

Analysis of the present and future adoption of smart contracts from a legal and business perspective

Government and regulation in blockchain

Investigation of the variety of blockchain types and applications with a focus on regulatory/ government applications.

The future of blockchain rules

An exploration of the future global regulation through and for blockchain technologies

Your Instructors – Global experts who will share their experiences and in-depth subject knowledge of the core elements of the programme

Dr. Giovanna Massarotto is an international expert on antitrust, economic regulation and IP law in the field of information technology. She is Research Associate of the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT), Adjunct Professor for the University of Iowa, and teaches IT Law at H-FARM. She is author of the book “Antitrust Settlements–How a Simple Agreement Can Drive the Economy” and multiple articles on antitrust and regulatory issues related to blockchain, digital markets and software that she presented in several institutions, including University of Oxford, Harvard and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Guest Instructors — Global experts who will share their experiences and in-depth subject knowledge of the core elements of the programme will be confirmed soon.

Prof. Tomaso Aste is Professor of complexity science at UCL Computer Science. He has substantially contributed to research in financial systems modelling, complex data analytics and machine learning. He is passionate in the investigation of the effect of technologies on society, and currently, focuses on the application of blockchain technologies to domains beyond digital currencies. He is the principal investigator for the largest UK project on blockchain for automatic regulation and compliance. He is Scientific Director of the UCL CBT; Head of the Financial Computing and Analytics Group and Member of the Board of the ESRC LSE-UCL Systemic Risk Centre.

Dr Marco Delmastro is an economist at Agcom where he is the Director of the Department of Economics & Statistics. Before (i.e., 2005-2009), he worked in Agcom as the President’s Economic Advisor. Prior to joining Agcom (years 2001-2005), he was Economist at the Italian Competition Authority (Agcm), and case handler of important antitrust cases in the communications sector. He spent two years (1997-1999) at Politecnico di Milano as a Senior Research Fellow and one year (2000) at the University of Pavia as a Lecturer.

Dr Chris Pike is a competition expert at the OECD. He is responsible for the proceedings of Working Party No. 2 of the OECD Competition Committee which focuses on Competition and Regulation. He has authored numerous Background Papers for OECD Roundtables on a variety of competition enforcement and policy topics. Most recently he led the OECD’s work on rethinking the use of traditional antitrust enforcement tools in multi-sided markets, killer acquisitions, digital regulation, market concentration, inequality, labour markets, loyalty rebates, price discrimination, competitive neutrality, blockchain, open API standards, gender, and publicly-funded markets.

Mr Michael Catt leads Business Development efforts at The Block Research — The leading information services organization in the digital asset industry. Michael is also the founder of the University of Kansas Blockchain Institute.

Mr Ginevra Di Berardino – Senior Advisor ECN lead and Senior Policy & International Adviser at Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) (TBC)

Dr Primavera De Filippi – Research Associate UCL CBT and Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University (TBC)

Prof Claudio Tessone is Chairman, UZH Blockchain Center and a Research Associate of the UCL CBT. He is an expert in the modelling of economic, social and technical systems from a quantitative and interdisciplinary perspective. His research focuses on blockchain and Bitcoin, specifically in the economic and technical aspects of these ground-breaking technologies: Emergent economic patterns, apparent and hidden incentive schemes, the design of new systems, and the design of decentralised, scalable architectures.

Programme Sponsors

We are currently looking for a sponsor for this programme. If you are interested in sponsoring, please contact us.

UCL Certificate of Participation

By successfully completing this course you can gain a Certificate of Participation that can be used to evidence Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours. This will be from University College London and University College London Centre for Blockchain Technologies.

Registration

This course costs £750. 20% discounts are available for early bird purchases before Oct 31 and for UCL Alumni.

If you are interested in purchasing multiple seats, are a UCL Alumni or a partner of the UCL CBT, please get in touch about special pricing.
After registering, you will receive an option to either pay via PayPal or be invoiced.

This course costs £1500. 50% discounts are available for early bird purchases extended to June 19 and for UCL Alumni.

If you are interested in purchasing multiple seats, are a UCL Alumni or a partner of the UCL CBT, please get in touch about special pricing.
After registering, you will receive an option to either pay via PayPal or be invoiced.