The programme is aimed at professionals who possess at least an undergraduate qualification and who are working in business, academia, national and local governments in Spain, and research centres. 

Places are limited to 25 participants for the 3 days programme and will be taught in English, for which each candidate must have a high level. Successful candidates will be offered a place on merit by a Selection Committee consisting of representatives of LSE and Fundación Ramón Areces who will meet by 3rd  October.

Inscription

Persons wishing to register for this programme must make their registration online through this website, before 1st October . They should send the following documents by e-mail to Teresa Raigada: T.Raigada-Fernandez@lse.ac.uk

• Currículum Vítae (in Spanish or in English).
• Personal statement, in English, on why you want to attend the programme (maximum 400 words).

Introduction

When a mysterious individual or group of individuals under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto on January 3rd 2009 launched the Bitcoin blockchain, the global financial system was reeling from the financial crisis. The under-lying blockchain technology has since become an increasingly discussed socio-technical phenomenon, and one subject to hugely diverging views. Much like the British yeast spread for the morning toast – Marmite – people tend to either love or hate it. From mounting an unsuccessful attempt at a global digital currency, to becoming a technology for organisational consortia to work effectively together, the technology needs close inspection in order to avoid simplistic assumptions of its promises and pitfalls. The aim of this masterclass is precisely to offer the participants a combination of world-leading academic thinking on blockchain with highly practical discussions and design thinking exercises arming each participant with insights enabling mature and balanced insights.

The first day will provide the theoretical basis for our in-depth exploration of the socio-technical architecture and innovation dynamics of blockchains. This will, amongst others, cover: the brief blockchain history, the scope from public permissionless to private permissioned arrangements, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), as well as a novel theoretical framework explaining the substantial differences between different types of digital infrastructures. This first day will also place blockchain innovation in the bigger picture of organisational innovation with digital technologies. The day will, as the other two days, contain a significant amount of interactive discussions and practical design work. These will focus on mapping the new socio-technical opportunities onto practical strategizing within participant organisations. 

The second day will seek to embed the theoretical discussions and practical work from day one to the strategic context of private and public organisations. The day will cover the potentials and pitfalls of applying cryptoasset and blockchain technology in a traditional organisational context, and with a significant discussion of the particular Spanish context. This will be covered in a lecture and discussion session, as well as through a panel with experienced Spanish blockchain practitioners. Day two will finish with an initial blockchain strategy design session where advanced mapping techniques and design thinking will enable participants to engage in a highly practical strategizing exercise.

The third day will explore the contemporary theories of inter-organisational digital infrastructures further, and apply these, along with the insights from the first two days, in the second strategy design workshop. This work-shop will, amongst others, enable the participants to provide and receive feedback on their design strategizing.