World Economic Forum teams up with over 100 organisations on blockchain-based supply chain initiative

The World Economic Forum, a Switzerland-based non-profit organization that aims to improve the state of the world, is teaming up with more than 100 organisations on a blockchain initiative.

In a press release dated May 01, the WEF said that the initiative, Redesigning Trust with Blockchain in the Supply Chain, aims to accelerate blockchain deployment across supply chains.

Participating organizations include the world’s largest ports, incumbents from the global supply chain and logistics industry, blockchain startups, importers/exporters, civil society, as well as government organizations. This includes Maersk, Hitachi, Mercy Corps, Korea Customs Service, Llamasoft and Ports of Los Angeles, Oakland, Valencia and Rotterdam.

The supply chain industry is highly fragmented with various stakeholders adopting a siloed approach. Blockchain technology holds the potential to bring standardization and transparency.

On these lines, the project will focus on designing an open-source roadmap or toolkit to help supply chain decision-makers deploy blockchain technology in an “interoperable, responsible and inclusive way.”

The multistakeholder group will pilot the toolkit to accelerate and streamline deployment of the technology throughout a broad and diverse supply chain sector. The WEF will be releasing bi-monthly white papers on the findings from the community.

“As blockchain technology is so new, supply chain decision-makers need clear guidelines, tools and frameworks to help them maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of this technology,” said Nadia Hewett, project lead, Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology, World Economic Forum.

“This toolkit will be built by the industry and piloted, so we can see what works and what does not. We are going to piece together the puzzle, so others don’t have to start from scratch.”