Yes, this year is definitely about scaling debate. Blockchain is about 10 years old experimental technology and we have blockchain killer apps. Isn't that weird? I hope that one day we will talk not about infinite TPS but about security and robust technology. I think that it is a little to early to bury blockchain in its infancy. Scaling solutions are on their way and we should expect bugs and weak security from the very start but it should evolve to better solutions. I feel that patent bum of DLT's is just upcoming. People can't understand the power of open source. Here lays the real value of blockchains in contrast to patented DLT's.
Everything else is futile if the technology ultimately can't scale.
We aren't concentrating on just scalability.....its a key part yes, but not where all of our focus is. Security, efficiency, usability, infrastructure integration etc are all important things ONCE you have the scale nailed.