Joint media release with the Minister for Tourism, Trade and Investment, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham.

Leading Australian blockchain companies and investors will travel to China as part of an Australian Government-led mission to deepen collaboration and explore growth opportunities within one of the world’s fastest growing technology sectors.

Top tier start-ups, scale-ups, venture capitalists, incubators and financial institutions will be represented among the 37 delegates who will visit Austrade’s Shanghai Landing Pad before going on to the Wanxiang 4^th Global Blockchain Summit.

With Australia continuing to expand its use of blockchain technology and China considered a world-leader in its application across industry and government, the mission will provide Australian tech companies with opportunities to share best practice and forge new business partnerships.

Blockchain, at its simplest, is a digital technology that records and verifies transactions within a computer network. Blockchain is an exciting technology presenting strong opportunities for Australian firms. By making possible efficient and secure real time transactions across a range of sectors, it has the potential to be transformative.

The technology has already begun to revolutionise the financial services industry particularly in data storage and its practical application continues to increase in other industries such as health and agriculture. The Government, through Standards Australia, is leading the development of new international blockchain standards. We are also investing $700,000 over the next financial year to investigate the benefits of using blockchain for government payments.

It is vital Australia stays ahead of the game and the Morrison Government will continue to support Australian tech companies to grow their expertise and showcase their product offerings on the world-stage.

Among the delegates are:

• AgriDigital, the world’s first cloud-based, multi-participant commodity management platform;
• Capital Markets CRC, Australia’s leading translational research hub and a technology solutions provider;
• ArtChain Global, a platform that synchronises digital and offline assets for anyone involved in trading, collecting or producing works of art;
• Beam, a global payment platform that supports smart contracts;
• Beefledger, which streamlines payments and improves credentials in the beef supply chain;
• Civic Ledger, which helps governments digitalise operations; and
• Standards Australia, which is leading the development of international standards which will facilitate the adoption of (distributed ledger technology (DLT).

The mission has been organised by Austrade in partnership with the Australian Digital Commerce Association (ADCA), the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS) and Melbourne’s Blockchain Centre

This latest Australian Blockchain Mission starts today and will run through to the 12th of September in Shanghai.

Media contacts: Minister Andrews' office 02 6277 7070
                             Minister Birmingham's office 0428 342 325