IBM has filed a patent application to deploy blockchain technology for scientific research and data sharing. The new technology aims to enable researchers to closely track their work as it moves between, and is used by, other institutions. Essentially, the patent’s process allows the blockchain to serve as a tamper-proof research log.

The proposed blockchain would provide a sequence of blocks representing several research data packages. One block would contain information about the research, while the next would include analysis of the previous block. The blockchain would also allow adding “correction” and “summary” blocks, which would expand data on the blockchain instead of deleting it.

The patent application notes that existing platforms facilitate scientific research and data sharing but remain limited. Most do not vet data veracity or reliability effectively. In contrast, the blockchain-based distributed ledger makes data modification impossible.

IBM’s Leading Blockchain Patent Push

Maria Chang, Patrick Watson, Ravindrath Kokku, and Jae-wook Ahn are the creators of the patent. These four are members of a research group located in IBM’s Watson Research Center. The patent for this technology was originally filed by IBM last December. However, the contents of the application are being made public for the first time. No one has any idea if the patent will be approved or when it will be approved.

In recent times, IBM has been at the forefront of major innovations in the blockchain industry. Its number of blockchain patents, which currently sits at 89, is only surpassed by Alibaba who leads with 90 blockchain patents.

Apart from filing patents for blockchain, IBM is also deeply involved in a lot of real-time blockchain networks. The company has deployed its blockchain technology to a number of situations, in addition to having several clients and blockchain partnerships on its roster.

In conclusion

A patent application that is set to adapt blockchain technology to scientific research in addition to facilitating the sharing of data has been submitted by IBM. This new technology would allow researchers to monitor the movement and usage of their work by other institutions. Essentially, the blockchain is expected to be a research log that is tamper-proof.

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