RESEARCH & INNOVATION
Kumar Sookram Master’s student The UWI, St. Augustine Campus
Dr. Wayne Goodridge Head, Department of Computer and Information Technology, The UWI, St. Augustine Campus
Dr. Koffka Khan Lecturer in Computer Science The UWI, St. Augustine Campus
Sookram said their application can serve as a gateway to the adoption of blockchain technology in the region. “Once you have an active internet connection you can use the blockchain technology, so from that perspective, the Caribbean is ready. What we may want to consider is the motivation for users to go in that direction.” A similar argument was put forward by Dr. Goodridge, who pointed out that the research has wider implications for the Caribbean: “Projects like this open up the landscape for other developers to participate in terms of showing their creativity in how blockchain technologies can be used to improve our automation processes. The key to blockchain technology that will allow it to be adopted is the creation of innovative apps. Once you get a useful app and people are using it, that’s how [the Caribbean] will get on board. We are hoping that by doing projects like this, we can spread the good
transactions associated with that vehicle. With this suite of applications, I will have irrefutable proof of the service history of the vehicle and be able to verify the authenticity and ownership of the vehicle.” The DeVAM system uses a variety of tokens — one is a currency called ATK that is pegged to the Trinidadian dollar, the digital representation of the vehicle asset named VTK; and the digital representation of the loan agreement, LTK. It also utilises smart contracts to automate business processes and offers decentralised applications for the relevant parties. Khan said if implemented, the system will increase efficiency by automating the different processes within the automobile industry; increase transparency and trust by allowing the parties to view required information; reduce operational and regulatory costs, provide digital asset management, and put companies in a more advantageous position.
news so that people can adopt the use of blockchain technology.” However, the department head believes government regulation will be a barrier to rolling out the system, particularly given the absence of a framework for transferring the ATK currency to that of the different countries. “For such a project to work, you need to have agreements between all the different organisations, like the licensing office and dealerships, to roll out a currency like ATK. You need some sort of legal framework to do this; so the legal framework needs to be developed before a system like this can be put in place.” The team presented a paper on DeVAM at the Frontiers of Research in Caribbean Science and Technology (FORECAST) Conference held in August 2022. It was entitled “A Distributed Smart Contract Vehicle Management System for Vehicle Loans” . They have now turned their attention to having it published in a peer-reviewed journal. u
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