British Standards Institution seeks to develop blockchain-based supply chain solutions via OriginTrail partnership

The British Standards Institution (BSI), the national standards body of the United Kingdom, has announced that it has partnered with OriginTrail to deliver blockchain-based supply chain solutions.

Founded in 2013, OriginTrail provides blockchain-powered data exchange protocol for interconnected supply chains, allowing organizations to seamlessly share and secure data.

BSI is a business standards company appointed by Royal Charter as the world’s first national Standards Body to develop standards for the UK. It produces technical standards on a wide range of products and services, and also supplies certification and standards-related services to businesses.

In its official release, BSI said that the partnership with OriginTrail is aimed at enhancing its global assessment, certification and supply chain services to confirm the provenance of goods and/or the integrity of digital records or services. Together, they will develop solutions that will enable “organizations prove the integrity of their global operations and that their product and/or services claims are real, have been verified and can be trusted.”

“This strategic partnership aims to provide our clients with the ability to demonstrate the authenticity of their compliance through the digital records of the assessments and certifications they have achieved from BSI,” Howard Kerr, Chief Executive of BSI said.

“Ultimately building trust and confidence as consumers and business partners can easily verify the provenance of the goods and/or services they are buying.”

The key areas of focus include ensuring compliance with regulation and standards; meeting customer expectations concerning products features and claims; managing business risk, product quality and reduce the cost of non-conformities; and facilitating efficient management of product recalls with near-real-time corrective action; among others.

“We are glad that BSI has recognized the potential of blockchain technology to improve the integrity in the often opaque global supply chains, helping increase product safety, protect brands, and decrease risk,” Tomaž Levak, OriginTrail’s co-founder and CEO, said. “We are looking forward to creating solutions and services based on the needs of BSI’s clients and ushering them into the fourth industrial revolution.”

BSI said that its clients can already apply for OriginTrail’s blockchain services in the pre-release stage, to be among the first ones to get hands-on expertise with the technology.