Canadian Government to Use Blockchain to Trace Steel Supply Chain

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 1/21/2020 9:22 AM ET

The Canadian Government is planning to use blockchain technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to track the steel industry supply chain for Canadian and possibly North American business users and government.

The Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), a government agency, has awarded a C$169,427 or about $130,000 worth contract to Canadian enterprise blockchain start-up Mavennet Systems, Inc. to develop the digital tracing platform by combining the two technologies.

Canada's steel industry is a major international exporter, especially to the U.S.

The solution is intended to provide real-time insights and information to users within minutes of upload on smart phone and web interface, to digitally automate steel supply chain transactions.

The use blockchain technology is expected to ensure secure, accurate and transparency of data. It will also maintain a full digital trail in case of input errors. Users must be able to rectify mistakes by "adding onto the log", rather than deleting mistakes entirely.

Meanwhile, the use of AI enabled data analytics will better capture activities across the steel supply chain. Using AI will enable information on past, current and predicted demand for any input and output and predicting downstream product volume from supply products.

The platform is also expected to provide a comprehensive digital breakdown of the component parts of steel and steel products, such as coal, iron ore, nickel, steel scrap, and finished steel products.

In November last year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) awarded a grant of $182,700 to Mavennet Systems to develop a blockchain-powered solution to track cross-border oil import.

Under the terms, Mavennet is required to modify its existing oil and gas tracking platform to meet the requirements of the U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP) to track cross-border oil imports.

The CPB expects the new platform to track the evidence of oil flow through pipelines and refinement between the U.S. and Canada and attribute oil imports with the accurate composition and country of origin.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Volvo To Use Blockchain To Trace Cobalt Used In Electric Car Batteries

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 11/8/2019 9:05 AM ET

Volvo Cars Group is set to become the first carmaker to use blockchain technology to trace the cobalt used in lithium ion batteries used for its electric cars. The company announced last month the launch of its first fully electric car, the XC40 Recharge.

The carmaker is providing traceability of raw materials, such as cobalt, used in the production of the batteries used in its cars as part of its commitment to provide its customers the information that materials for the batteries has been sourced responsibly.

By implement global traceability of cobalt using blockchain, Volvo Cars will gain provenance of cobalt used in lithium-ion batteries for their electric vehicles and provide customers with transparency of the raw material supply chain as the information about the material's origin cannot be changed on blockchain.

The data on the blockchain will include the cobalt's origin, attributes such as weight and size, the chain of custody and information establishing that participants' behavior is consistent with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) supply chain guidelines.

Volvo Cars has already reached agreements with its two global battery suppliers, China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) and South Korea-based LG Chem to implement traceability of cobalt starting this year.

Last month, Volvo Cars also launched an ambitious climate plan to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent per vehicle by 2025, as well as a continued commitment to ethical business across its entire operations and supply chain.

Volvo Cars Group, founded in 1927, has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding of China since 2010. It has sold 642,253 cars in 2018 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars said it expects half of its global sales to consist of fully electric cars and the rest hybrids by 2025.

In April, German car maker Volkswagen Group joined an industry consortium that will use blockchain technology for the responsible sourcing of strategic minerals which are used in the production of vehicles. Other members in the blockchain network include Volvo Cars, Ford Motor Co., Huayou Cobalt, IBM and LG Chem along with co-founding responsible sourcing specialists RCS Global Group.

The network is built on the IBM Blockchain Platform, and powered by the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger Fabric.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe