THEKEY Starts Social Insurance Blockchain Scientific Research Fund Worth $20 Million USD

THEKEY, the Information Center of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS), and China's Social Insurance Association (CSIA) have reached an agreement to cooperate on research in the area of social insurance blockchain applications.

To that effect, THEKEY has launched a USD $20 million scientific research fund focusing on better understanding, better innovating with, and better promoting blockchain-based social insurance applications.

The national Ministries and agencies say the move is so as to realize the full societal benefit of the invaluable social insurance data that is increasingly being aggregated from China's hundreds of millions of current and future healthcare patients.

The announcement was made at a joint press conference by the representatives of the ministries and agencies in China on 30th of June, 2018. THEKEY was represented by its CEO, Catherine Li.

Why The Research Fund Matters

Speaking about the significance, and application procedures to access the fund, Larry Wu, Secretary General of the Fund said the Fund has been established to accelerate innovation in both the technological and regulatory aspects of blockchain.

Wu said the use of blockchain technology as it relates to social insurance services and IDV, is intended to not only enhance platform outcomes but generally and greatly enhance the welfare of the people and the society.

Research Areas Supported By The Fund

Wu said the fund will support research specific to the following areas:

• Security supervision mechanisms
• The aggregation, processing and commercialization of the China population's social insurance data within the context of strict data protection laws
• Research on the operation and maintenance of medical resources Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO)
• Research on the application of blockchain technology to China's greater social insurance industry
• Research on the future of processing, analyzing and mining healthcare-centric big data to the benefit of all.

Who Can Apply And What To Expect?

The fund sponsors say potential applicants are any highly accomplished academic, commercial, government or NGO individual or institution with outstanding achievements in relevant fields that have intensive international working background and are willing to follow all data security regulations and rules set by Chinese government are eligible to apply to this fund.

THEKEY, as the initial sponsor and organizer of the Fund, will provide significant support to all winning beneficiary/research partners. This support can include, but is not limited to: industrial and technical resources; government support as makes sense; key data support, including the personal health data and other supporting data from statistically significant populations of users; the processing of health data; the provision of data experimental environments; and direct access to THEKEY's highly accomplished and award-winning technical team.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is the world's largest insurance payer and provider, serving over 1.4 billion people. The application of blockchain as measurable acceleration to the real-world needs of the Chinese social insurance industry will surely impact the global social insurance and healthcare industries – for the better.