Almost every industry can expect to experience a major business model disruption as blockchain technologies take hold. In this module, you will explore current applications of blockchain in various industries, and will choose one industry on which to focus your final course project. You will research examples of applications or use-cases of blockchain technology within your chosen industry, and will contribute to our Blockchain Case Commons, which will serve as a shared, continuously-evolving resource for all course participants. As well, you will perform some preliminary market research in order to identify a specific market segment within your chosen industry that shows promise for blockchain technologies.

When identifying opportunities for blockchain technology within your chosen market, it is important to understand the kinds of problems that it can and cannot solve—at least in its current state. In this module, you will learn to distinguish between problems that are and are not well-suited to blockchain-based solutions. After considering various opportunities for blockchain technology within your chosen market segment, you will learn how to use a decision matrix to select the most promising idea to pursue for your final project. By the end of this week, you will clarify the purpose and objectives of your project, you will identify your target customers/audience, and you will prepare a statement of need and statement of benefit for your proposal.

In the last module, you identified a promising idea or opportunity for blockchain within your chosen market segment. This week, you will work on positioning your idea—carving out a niche or identity for your product/service within the minds of your target customers. By the end of this week, you will explain how your idea will bring new or added value to your customers, and how your idea will affect the positioning for your organization.

An idea may seem great on paper, however actually executing this idea will require careful consideration of various business-model decisions, including those related to funding, risk, talent, timing, corporate boundaries, and partners/allies. In this module, you will begin to think about what would be required to transform your opportunity from an idea to reality.