Yesterday, the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) announced it has finalized the entries to its Smart Buildings Challenge program for blockchain and IoT projects. The program hopes to bring together tech partners, suppliers, and customers for the development of smart homes and offices.

The US-based IIC is a group focused on the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), using industry 4.0 technologies like blockchain to transform business. Its Smart Buildings Challenge, co-run with the Trusted IoT Alliance, asks contestants to solve one or more problems in the sector with a proposal and pilot.

The problems faced by investors and builders include space flow analytics (such as tracking and zoning), smart metering, automation, sustainability, and the lack of management and sales tools. Yesterday, the IIC confirmed the 26 organizations which will be taking part in the challenge.

Contestants include electronics giant Dell, the IOTA Foundation, Wipro, gridX, Slant, Cloud Studio, Hansheng, and YPTOKEY. The firms, focused on blockchain and IoT, will be able to work with tech partners of the challenge such as Microsoft and Bosch. A jury will choose winners and award opportunities like delivering a Proof of Concept live in a shopping mall.

For industry 4.0 projects, IoT and blockchain go hand in hand. To allow smart devices or buildings to communicate, many firms use a blockchain-based decentralized platform. For instance, the smart metering aspect of the challenge could be tackled with a blockchain system like that of Power Ledger or the Energy Web Foundation, who is a partner of entrant gridX.

Last week, Hyundai-backed Hdac revealed its plans to use blockchain in the construction and maintenance of smart homes. Mitsubishi and Hitachi are among a group of Japanese manufacturing firms planning to use blockchain for data sharing.