IBM unleashes blockchain accelerator for start-ups
Support for business case and technical development, and governance and legal issues
IBM has launched its Blockchain Founder Accelerator to help enterprises and enterprise developers power up their blockchain networks.
The programme provides one-on-one mentorship and support by network founders and technologists for business case development, network membership incentives, technical development, governance and legal issues.
In addition, members of the Founder Accelerator will receive early access to new prebuilt software assets, delivered via IBM Cloud, to help “reduce the time and technical expertise” needed for developers to write complex blockchain code.
Marie Wieck, general manager, blockchain technology, IBM, says it has “worked on more blockchain projects than any other player in the industry and we understand the challenges organisations face and the resources needed to get blockchain networks right the first time”.
Eight new blockchain network founders will be selected by IBM for this fee-based accelerator across a range of industries such as banking, logistics, manufacturing and retail. The firm says it can help companies get its network up and running by the end of the year. Scholarships are also available.
Moreover, start-ups or participants will get access to workshops; help with marketing; a document store; a provenance engine – which maintains a history of industry assets; a process engine – for workflow orchestration on the network; and member management and onboarding.
IBM says its software assets will complement Hyperledger Composer, a collaboration tool for building blockchain business networks, and one of the Hyperledger projects hosted by The Linux Foundation. Hyperledger Composer is an open source tool for developing and deploying chaincode, and the development of business logic in smart contracts.
