In a B2B context (i.e. "enterprise blockchains" aka "DLT") speed is indeed the main driver for any kind of research into blockchain. The two main areas of research, settlement automation and supply chain traceability, are driven by expected speed advantages over current tech.
Which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone knowledgeable in enterprise systems. These processes are notoriously difficult to implement in an enterprise-centric systems landscape. Settlement takes days, establishing provenance can take weeks.
For industries with a high premium on real-time information (FMCG) or information integrity (pharma, food) "blockchains" are a heaven-sent for a problem that is only becoming more pressing over time.
And given the sheer amount of value that's at stake in a global supply chain, investigating the usefulness of blockchain/DLT makes a whole lot of sense, even under the realization that deployability at scale might be ten+ years off. This is how research in enterprise works.
