You can say what you will about the State of Illinois (financially troubled U.S. state) and all its financial problems, but for sure they are innovative. With Chicago being a fintech hub it only makes sense that new ways to apply blockchain technologies to streamline government and business operations catch on here. Now, a pilot program for digitizing birth certificates is being launched by the state government. Very cool. Can't wait to see what Illinois comes up with next.
(Bill Taylor, CEO)
"The state of Illinois has begun work on a new blockchain pilot focused on the digitization of birth certificates.
Working with blockchain identity startup Evernym, the tools being designed would, if put into production, allow parents and doctors present at the time of birth to officially log the birth on a permissioned blockchain.
But the project, which forms part of the state's broader blockchain efforts, is about more than just birth certificates.
According to Jennifer O'Rourke, who serves as Illinois' blockchain business liaison, the platform being designed could ultimately lead to a broader identity tool-set that a person can use over the years.
O'Rourke told CoinDesk:
"In this pilot, businesses and governments would be able to verify and authenticate a citizen’s identity by requesting encrypted access to verifiable claims."Within the proposed framework, existing government agencies would be able to verify a person's registration information at birth, then cryptographically sign data related to a person's name, date of birth, blood type, and other details. That information is expected to be stored on a tamper-proof distributed ledger that would only be accessible with consent from a legal guardian – up until the age that the person becomes a legal adult.
At this early stage in the pilot development, efforts are being focused on creating a user interface that parents and doctors can use to digitize the birth certificate, as well as enabling other back-office processes that come into place..."
Full Story at CoinDesk