WatermelonBlock’s chosen platform, NEM has made headways in the past 12 months as being a community driven blockchain that prides itself on being a simple, plug and play platform. Watch our Director Elliot sit down with Jason Lee, NEM’s Expansion Director for Australia & New Zealand, and Global Director of Partnerships. Together they explored NEM’s community philosophy, ethos, future horizons and the convergence of blockchain and Artificial Intelligence.
Power to the people – the importance of simplicity and community
“NEM’s business ethos is to provide NEM’s blockchain technology platform to enhance enterprise whilst being run by the people, for the people”
As one of over 100 protocols, the core feature that pushes NEM out from the crowd is its “community driven platform” explains Lee. It’s the community that is the nucleus of the NEM philosophy. In an industry with so many complex protocols that require extensive developmental knowledge, NEM offers a simple, easy to use platform. Outlining the plug-and-play nature of the NEM platform, Lee explains how anyone can build their own separate platform, and simply link it up to the NEM blockchain via an API course.
‘“Its kind of like booking.com, where you have all the different hotels linked up to one website” Lee laughs.
NEM’s people-first ethos drips down into its emphasis on community engagement. “We advocate for communities to run and drive the activities that happen on the NEM blockchain” Lee comments. With a focus on start-ups, enterprises and governments, NEM has opened up shop in 50 countries and 100 cities, helping these sectors to explore the impact blockchain can have on their organisation.
Looking to the future with Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence
The convergence of blockchain and AI technology has certainly been topical in 2018, with ICOs exploring these technology points spurring on the daily. “Support for technologies that explore the blockchain not just as a that single driving-force technology, but other technologies (such as AI) is really important”. Lee points out that NEM is committed to helping companies explore these technologies in the connected world. “This is where we feel sentiment analysis is really important” states Lee. “The convergence of these technologies is really important, and we really support what WatermelonBlock is doing in tackling these convergence points”.
Jason’s top picks
Comparing his projects to “picking one of his children”, Elliot asked Jason which NEM projects are closest to his heart. After revealing his law and banking background, Lee details his interest in the areas of intellectual property and financial services. “Looking at how payments could be different and the way we view financial services in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency is definitely something that I’m particularly interest in” Lee asserts.
To the future and beyond – what’s next for NEM?
Elaborating on the convergence of blockchain and AI, NEM is particularly interested in the convergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), connected devices and the supply chain. Another area on the horizon is the merging of blockchain technology into different industries, such as intellectual property, education and tourism. “Exploring these industries, the blockchain can be used to create databases where data is timestamped to ensure the integrity and transparency of the system” Lee explains. “This is something we’re really excited to explore, and have been working on a lot of projects in Australia, New Zealand and the world to develop such platforms”