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FrancoAngeli Journals

Articles

No. 1 (2020)

European blockchain for the structural funds management: from the current scenario to an implementation proposal

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3280/cgrds1-2020oa10027
Submitted
giugno 15, 2020
Published
2020-11-25

Abstract

This work is part of a branch of studies that will take greater importance not only in the academic field, but also within political institutions and more generally in civil society: the relationship between technology and public sector’s performances.

In particular, this work discusses the proposal for the creation of a European blockchain for the management of European Structural Funds and therefore presents a set of best practices to support its design and implementation. There are two themes at the basis of the work: 1. the risks (such as that of significant frauds) and the well-known and documented inefficiencies (for example the inability  to commit and spend the funds typical of some European regions) which distress public funding systems preventing both national and European systems from effectively managing and adequately monitoring very complex realities; and 2. the significant potential offered by emerging technologies based on decisional algorithms (on which blockchains are based) in being able to effectively and sustainably resolve aforementioned fragility and inefficiencies.

After identifying and describing the main critical issues of the current national and European public financing systems, the work defines the main characteristics of a blockchain able to overcoming the current fallacies and discusses the potential application advantages in terms of efficiency and transparency of the decision-making processes. By an accurate analysis of the extant literature and eloquent case studies dealing with the application of the blockchain in the public sector, the work therefore proposes a useful set of best practices for the implementation of a European blockchain, without however neglecting to report the potential problems not only related to technological feasibility but also concerning conceptual and value issues.

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