The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), a UK-based agency funding research and training in engineering and the physical sciences, has announced seven new projects that will explore the potential of blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) in fields such as energy, healthcare, banking, and policy-making.

The agency is supporting the projects with over £3.6 million of investment, delivered through the Research Councils UK (RCUK) Digital Economy Theme. The projects will particularly look at new uses for digital distributed ledgers, databases which are shared between multiple parties and have the potential to make the systems and services more transparent while maintaining high levels of security and privacy.

These projects involve a wide range of academic and industry partners, and consider the technical, economic, legal and social elements of the technology. The seven projects will focus on exploring the potentially transformative opportunities in:

• Regulation and compliance models
• UK’s energy market
• Safeguarding the integrity of the content of major archives
• Healthcare
• Electronic voting
• Decentralised Energy in sub-Saharan Africa
• Smart Money: Precision Data Management for Distributed Ledger enabled Central Bank issued Digital Currencies

The project focusing on regulation and compliance models will be receiving the most funding, amounting to £617,000. Partners include London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Reading, King’s College London, Advanced Technologies Solutions SpA, Aesthetic Integration Ltd, BT, Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission, Financial Conduct Authority, Lykke, Morrison & Foerster, R3 CEV.

“Distributed Ledger Technology may be synonymous with Bitcoin to many, but as these projects show it has disruptive potential across a wide range of products and services. If it delivers on its radical promise, it could make a significant impact on the economy and society”, EPSRC Chief Executive, Professor Philip Nelson, said.