This week the U.S. Department of Energy announced that it will award a grant of nearly $1 million to a blockchain startup in connection with efforts to advance the development of a decentralized energy grid. The startup's project employs blockchain in the development of a decentralized solar power system that can share energy data from multiple sources (e.g., homes, buildings and electric grids) in a way that promotes energy efficiency and reduces the threat of cyberattacks.

In the aerospace and defense industry, there has been continued interest in blockchain-based solutions for reducing maintenance costs, minimizing errors in tracking parts and preventing falsified data. Earlier this week, a global consulting firm revealed a project that leverages blockchain to track, trace and authenticate aircraft parts and materials for suppliers, manufacturers and operators. Also this week, a multinational aerospace and defense company announced plans to use blockchain technology in the development of a traffic management solution for unmanned aircraft systems.

In the insurance industry, a new blockchain proof-of-concept (PoC) was announced that aims to reduce the costs in reinsurance contracts by eliminating inefficiencies related to excessive paperwork, lack of standardization and extensive signoffs. The PoC leverages a smart contract and creates a single and immutable version of the reinsurance contract that is accessible to all the key parties: insurer, broker and reinsurer. All negotiations occur through real-time messaging on the blockchain platform. Upon execution, the smart contract automatically calculates the premiums due and triggers payments upon the occurrence of a valid event. The PoC reportedly could become a commercially viable product as early as January 2019. Another notable blockchain solution in the news this week comes from a Boston-based startup that is building a blockchain platform to synthesize inter-country real estate protocols, lists of reputable industry personnel, real estate information, and real estate developments, so that individuals on the buy and sell side of real estate transactions can work more efficiently and make better decisions.

More blockchain solutions for supply chain also debuted this week, including an announcement from a data technology company of plans to launch a blockchain platform that will verify data, like packaging claims, and address compliance concerns with data regulations. The platform is currently backed by a major consumer packaged goods company. And in the metals and mining industry, a new cloud-based blockchain platform has emerged that seeks to reduce the inefficiencies of paper tracking and offer pricing transparency. The platform reportedly has 100 registered members and has plans to expand.

Finally, this week the R3 consortium launched Corda Enterprise, a commercial blockchain platform that hosts trade-specific blockchain applications. For example, one application processes mineral interest royalty contracts, and another tracks the trade of precious metals. The platform uses a proprietary firewall to improve data security and is currently available on a licensed basis.

To read more about the topics covered in this week's post, see the following:

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