A group of blockchain practitioners, advocates, theorists and policy experts, calling themselves the “Muskoka Group”, met at the family compound of Don and Alex Tapscott, authors of Blockchain Revolution from August 24-26th, 2016 to discuss how the blockchain ecosystem can most effectively move forward to ensure that this technology fulfills its potential.

14 executives signed the ten major recommendations and actions discussed during the meeting. These mainly focused on improving the health of blockchain ecosystem by facilitating global communication to explain the power and potential of blockchain; launching a campaign to help overcome misconceptions about the technology; launching the Blockchain Hub; taking advantage of the Linux Foundation; develop a roadmap and action plan for future government leaders; actively support the Chamber of Digital Commerce; explore launching a syndicated research program into Blockchain use cases and more.

Those signing these recommendations include Brian Behlendorf, Founder, The Hyperledger Project; Perianne Boring, Founder and President, The Chamber of Digital Commerce; Michael Dillhyon, CEO, YouBase Inc.; Joseph Lubin, Founder, Consensus Systems; Matthew Roszak, Co-Founder and CEO, Bloq; Jamie Smith, Chief Global Communications Officer, The BitFury Group; Matthew Spoke, CEO, Nuco;  Christa Steele, CEO, Boardroom Consulting; Don Tapscott, CEO, The Tapscott Group; Alex Tapscott, CEO, Northwest Passage Ventures; Tomicah Tilleman, Senior Partner, Founder of Bretton Woods II, New America Foundation; Joseph Weinberg, CEO, Paycase; Pindar Wong, Chairman, VeriFi; and Jim Zemlin, Executive Director, the Linux Foundation.

Notably, the group has decided that it will collaborate with others to create a “comprehensive Blockchain strategy” for government leaders at the municipal, state, federal and supranational level.

One participant said “we need actionable efforts that are ‘shovel ready’ for implementation once there is a new administration.”

In addition, the group has identified the need for deep research into how blockchain can transform industry, government and society and will explore launching a syndicated research program into Blockchain use cases.

“The world needs horizontal research investigating areas such as supply chains, asset tracking, marketing and management.  We need vertical research into industries such as banking, insurance, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and government”, it said.

Blockchain Hub

According to the official site, Don and Alex Tapscott will explore how to fund a “Blockchain Hub” using the Global Solutions Network (GSN) Program. This will include conducting a research project to inventory, categorize and analyze the current blockchain ecosystem; creating a set of tools for ecosystem players to understand the challenge of governance and help them self-organize to move forward; and creating a comprehensive “network of networks” to help coalesce the community.

“The Muskoka Group has recommended that a Blockchain Hub be launched to provide essential know how to those who care about a healthy blockchain ecosystem and also to link the various organizations and networks involved together”, it says.