World Economic Forum Launches Blockchain Toolkit for Supply Chains

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has launched a blockchain tool-kit aimed at fixing some of the bottlenecks in the supply chains. Called Redesigning Trust, the blockchain deployment toolkit explains in clear terms how to put together a Minimum Viable Ecosystem (MVE) of supply chain participants that will reap the benefits of automating their systems and moving some of their processes to a shared, distributed ledger, according to a Forbes report on April 28, 2018.

WEF Releases DLT Toolkit

While a handful of forward-thinking players in the global supply chain and logistics ecosystem have started exploring the potential of distributed ledger technology (DLT), using it for shipment of goods and more, the fact remains that a good number of firms are yet to join the movement, relying on their inefficient paper-based processes instead.

However, in an effort to encourage more firms to adopt innovative technologies and significantly reduce the current bottlenecks in the supply chain ecosystem, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has joined forces with 80 leading firms and 20 governments to formulate a blockchain technology toolkit.

Per sources close to the development, since 2018, the WEF has been researching how blockchain technology, the building blocks of Bitcoin (BTC), and altcoins can revolutionize the world’s aging supply chain infrastructure and has now come up with a functional solution.

Dubbed “Redesigning Trust: A Blockchain Deployment Toolkit,” the WEF reportedly collaborated with 80 public and private firms as well as 20 governments, to find out the factors that made existing blockchain projects crumble and used these insights to create a comprehensive guide on how supply chain participants can replace their existing obsolete and inefficient systems with DLT.

Commenting on the development, project lead Nadia Hewett, reiterated that if all goes as planned, the project will see to the completion and implementation of hundreds of completed proofs-of-concept (POCs) that could potentially bring about more transparency and efficiency in supply chains.

Notably, the new blockchain toolkit puts special focus on the food and energy supply chain ecosystem and it describes how players can put together a blockchain-based minimum viable ecosystem (MVE) to launch a food supply chain.

WEF says the MVE must be made up of at least a single retailer, a wholesale processing plant, a bank, distribution center, a retail processing plant, and a regulator.

WEF says members of the MVE will be able to share information in real-time, anticipate shortages before they occur, and ascertain the exact temperature of food items at every point in the supply chain lifecycle.