With the goal of turning the U.S State of Ohio into Blockland, business, community, and higher education leaders from Cleveland flew to Toronto by private plane to learn from Torontos Blockchain Research Institute (BRI).Cleveland entrepreneur Bernie Moreno flew the group of business development and higher education officials to Toronto to gain their commitment to go all in on blockchain for the U.S state.The group included CEOs and presidents from the Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University, Cuyahoga Community College, JumpStart, Destination Cleveland, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, and the chief information officer of KeyBank.
So many local leaders making the journey for such a meeting signals the high regard in which Toronto, and Canada, is held in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space.
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Clevelands Metro News interviewed Moreno afterwards and in writing, recognised Toronto as a world leader in blockchain. It also pointed out Torontos University of Waterloo partnership in Ripples Blockchain Initiative.
Moreno owns a chain of luxury car dealerships, already invests in blockchain technology, and is an influential Cleveland civic leader. His company was expected to turnover around $900 million USD worth of revenue in 2017.The entrepreneur wants to make Cleveland, Northeast Ohio, a national epicentre for blockchain and a U.S blockchain leader, focusing in on blockchain use cases for business and government. He wants to organize a blockchain conference in Cleveland and local colleges and universities to offer blockchain-based curriculums. He hopes to convince IBM, which has facilities in the area, to expand.The goal of the trip to Toronto for Moreno was to get Clevelands leaders committed to his goals and he believes he was successful:"The conversation on the way back from Toronto wasn't should we do this, it's how should we do this," said Moreno (emphasis added).
"We want to take the biggest bite out of Blockchain that we can," Greater Cleveland Partnership CEO Joe Roman said. "This is a very big technology shift opportunity. It's one we can't miss."The BRIs co-founder Alex Tapscott and director of business development Jenna Pilgrim delivered a presentation to the Cleveland representatives and a brainstorming session was held between the group."I would describe Monday as a great experience for collective learning," said JumpStart CEO Ray Leach. Now it's time to figure out next steps, how long they should take and how much everything is going to cost.The leaders left Toronto ready to investigate the possibilities of blockchain for Cleveland further and some took away particular focus areas to work on, such as planning Clevelands blockchain conference, talent development, and building an entrepreneurial environment. Moreno is hoping to move forward with the initiative in the next few months.Clevelands leaders appear to have gained significantly from the journey to Toronto and the BRI, learning more about blockchain technology, its applications for business, and its potential economic benefits.For Toronto and the BRI the meeting is an excellent demonstration of the influence of the city and of the BRI as an organisation, in the growing global blockchain community.Image credit: Blockchain Research Institute logo
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