Platform leverages blockchain for product traceability in the textile and food industries
Having access to secure product data that span the entire supply chain will lead to more sustainable practices and introduce circularity models to the industries. Coordinated by Italian luxurious clothing manufacturer Fratelli Piacenza, the TRICK project aims to provide a complete, affordable and standardised platform enabling SMEs to collect and manage product data as well as access needed services on a dedicated, open business-to-business (B2B) marketplace.
Blockchain to the rescue
TRICK is building the platform based on a blockchain model supporting supply chain traceability, allowing the food and textile markets to overcome issues such as product counterfeiting and greenwashing techniques. Such issues have been hindering not only the authenticity but also the availability of product data. As explained in a project post, “the logical architecture has been organized into two concepts: the first one is related to the type of services, and the second concerns an extension of the type of layers.” Type of services is divided into core and business, while layers cover end-user IT, collection and data management, traceability, security and B2B marketplace. In this way, the new model targets security, transparency, privacy, flexibility, scalability and interoperability. The blockchain infrastructure is provided by project partners Ubitech, a greek SME, and Quadrans Foundation, a Swiss non-profit organisation. The aim is to enhance the circularity and traceability of a product considering all actors across the value chain, with TRICK platform services as operations executed through smart contracts. The overall design of the TRICK blockchain infrastructure combines two open-source blockchain technologies, the Hyperledger Fabric and the Quadrans Foundation blockchain, and it is based on private and public distributed ledgers offering data integrity, transparency, and auditability. To this end, TRICK protects sensitive data and resources against leaks or improper modifications while at the same time ensuring transparency to legitimate users. The new model will also be supported by Truebit, a blockchain enhancement tool Quadrans has used to advance integration and interoperability. The partnership with Quadrans is slated to help standardise services for Europe’s food and textile industries.
Integration with other systems
The platform will be demonstrated and validated in two pilot programmes involving the textile and food industries. One of its important features is its ability to cooperate with EU customs and other external systems. The feasibility of this concept has already been tested on the integration of TRICK with the Integrated Automation Customs Excise, or AIDA – the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency’s information system. Going forward, TRICK (PRODUCT DATA TRACEABILITY FROM CRADLE TO CRADLE BY BLOCKCHAINS INTEROPERABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY SERVICE MARKETPLACE) will continue to refine its services and evolve its research and activities. The final results of the demonstration will be published at the end of 2023, setting the TRICK platform on its commercial trajectory. For more information, please see: TRICK project website
Keywords
TRICK, blockchain, textile industry, food industry, secure data, circularity, product traceability
