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According to the “Hype Cycle for Blockchain Technologies 2020” study conducted by Gartner research and consultancy, the distributed ledger or blockchain technology is on a “productivity plateau” now that the hype has been deflated. At the moment, the main challenge is to identify, implement and test useful DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) applications. It has enormous potential for the logistics sector, which is not yet fully digitized as DLT is considered transparent, counterfeit-proof and decentralized. The joint North German project Hanseatische Blockchain-Innovationen für Logistik und Supply-Chain-Manangement (HANSEBLOC) run by the Logistics Initiative Hamburg, is further ahead. The nearly three-year project, which received 1.9 million euros in funding from The German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and involving ten SMEs, will conclude this month. About 90 meetings were organized and a prototype produced.
Logistics cluster as a catalyst for innovation
About 70 participants attended the HANSEBLOC closing virtual conference during which inInitial results and a glimpse of upcoming events were presented. Dr Oliver Pieper, head of innovation at BMBF, hailed the project as a “prime example” of how clusters such as the Logistics Initiative Hamburg make an important contribution to Germany as a center of innovation. “Launched in April 2018, HANSEBLOC was a pioneer even then,” added Pieper. The German government’s blockchain strategy was not adopted until the end of 2019. “I can’t wait to see how the project develops in the coming years.”
Hansebloc
The HANSEBLOC project is led by ten North German partners from Hamburg and Bremen, who have joined forces in the network of the Logistics Initiative Hamburg. Its members include four logistics service providers (Kroop & Co. Transport + Logistik GmbH, Shot Logistics GmbH, Sovereign Speed GmbH & Transimeksa Intermodal GmbH), four IT service providers and blockchain experts (Chainstep GmbH, Consider it GmbH, Hec GmbH & Itemis AG) as well as two universities (HAW Hamburg and Kühne Logistics University). The Logistics Initiative Hamburg coordinated the project from April 2018 to December 2020 with a volume of around 3.1 million euros so far. The BMBF is investing around 1.8 million euros in researching the potential of blockchain innovations for medium-sized logistics companies. BMBF’s “KMU-NetC” program funds research and development projects by SMEs in high-performance clusters to better equip these companies for the future.
Blockchain technology
A blockchain is a system in which a record of transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency is kept on several computers connected in a peer-to-peer network. The database is expanded chronologically in a linear fashion, similar to a chain. New elements are constantly added to the lower end, hence the term “blockchain”. When one block is complete, the next is created. Each block contains a checksum of the previous block to protect the technology from manipulation. Therefore, the blockchain is part of ddistributed ledger technology.
