Mr. Anndy Lian is appointed as the Blockchain Advisor for The Asian Productivity Organization (APO). The appointment ceremony was held in May 2019 in Bangkok and Dr. Santhi Kanoktanaporn, Secretary-General of APO, hosted the ceremony and personally presented the appointment. He will be using his knowledge to help members’ countries implement and introduce innovative use of blockchain technologies.

The Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) is an intergovernmental regional organisation established by Convention in 1961 by several governments in Asia to hasten their economic development. The current membership is 20 economies, comprising Bangladesh, Cambodia, Republic of China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. These countries/economies pledge to assist each other in their productivity drives in a spirit of mutual cooperation by sharing knowledge, information, and experience. Exploration of future technology such as Blockchain is part of their roadmap.

Mr. Lian is an all-rounded business strategist with more than 15 years of experience in Asia. He has provided advisory across a variety of industries for local, international and public listed companies. Mr. Lian is also the founder, advisor and board member of several other companies in Asia and Europe. He currently plays a pivotal role at the Gyeongsangbuk-do Blockchain Special Committee, under the Gyeongsangbuk-do provincial government (Republic of Korea), helping the city to grow using blockchain technologies together with Blockchain Experts like Brock Pierce from Bitcoin Foundation and Alexis Sirkia from Yellow.com.

He is also involved in a blockchain based supply chain solution provider based in Singapore and has strong foothold in South Korea, China and ASEAN. Prior to his blockchain stint, Mr. Lian played a leadership role in not for profit and quasi government linked organisations such as Singapore Business Federation and Singapore Institute of International Affairs where he worked alongside with policy makers, private sector decision makers and experts to create impacts for different industries.

“I have kept a low profile on this appointment. Thank you for interviewing me and covering this story. This appointment marks recognition not only for myself, but also for those who worked closely together with the same vision,” Mr. Lian stated during the interview. “Blockchain has evolved from its roots as a niche science to become a significant concept in the public eye, and the power that it has will be both subversive and revolutionary to all areas of the industry. It is a great honor to work with APO to improve the innovative usage of blockchain technology, to accelerate blockchain entrepreneurship. Dr Santhi and his team are true futurists. I believe what I am doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionize and redefine traditional businesses. I am also proud to be a Singaporean and doing international work, putting Singapore on the map of blockchain advances.”

According to the appointment, Mr. Lian will perform his advisory role to advise the Secretariat on the latest concepts and applications of blockchain technologies in cybersecurity and IoT network data integrity across smart factories and upskill the Secretariat staff in blockchain technologies as applicable to productivity – through knowledge sessions, roundtable discussions and workshops. Mr. Lian will also be piloting blockchain-based information on-chaining and cybersecurity in IoT-enabled smart factories across selected APO members in the first phase and then eventually across APO’s 20-members and incubating a supportive blockchain eco-system for smart industries by crowdsourcing for promising blockchain business ideas; piloting projects which deploy innovative blockchain solutions across industries; and accelerating blockchain start-ups by giving technical, financial and consultancy support from various stakeholders and partners.