CSIRO’s Data61 announces Australian National Blockchain for legal compliance

Data61, Australia’s leading digital research network, has announced a new initiative aimed at creating the country’s first cross-industry blockchain platform for smart legal contracts.

Data61 is the innovation center of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) - an Australian federal government agency responsible for scientific research.

In collaboration with law firm Herbert Smith Freehills and tech giant IBM, Data61 has formed a consortium – the Australian National Blockchain (ANB). The consortium will build the country’s first large-scale, enterprise grade and industry-agnostic digital platform, designed for ensuring legal compliance.

“The development of this new platform will provide businesses with ‘smart legal contracts’ as a secure, cost-effective means to digitise contracts, exchange data and confirm the authenticity and status of legal contracts,” the website reads.

The platform will enable organizations to digitally manage the complete lifecycle of a contract – right from negotiations to signing as well as throughout the term of the agreement – allowing them to use blockchain-based smart contracts to trigger business processes and events. In addition, permissioned-based access among parties in the network will ensure security and transparency.

Using IBM Blockchain, Herbert Smith Freehills, Data61, and IBM will test the concept as a pilot project, which is expected to start before the end of this year, according to the official announcement. If successful, the consortium intends to roll out the technology to other markets beyond Australia.

“Technologies like blockchain are set to transform the legal industry and the wider business landscape as we know it,” Natasha Blycha, Blockchain and Smart Legal Contract Lead from Herbert Smith Freehills said. “This presents a huge opportunity for agile and forward-thinking firms and has potential to deliver significant benefits to our clients and the business community as a whole. Our clients are enthusiastic about process automation, and how it can support a move away from paper-based systems, simplify supply chains and quickly and securely share information with customers and regulators.”