The blockchain project for the protection of Made in Italy

The pilot project “Blockchain for the traceability of Made in Italy” promoted by the Ministry of Economic Development with the support of IBM and the collaboration of companies in the textile sector was presented today at the MiSE. 

At the moment it is an experiment pursued by the MiSE, with the aim of defending and protecting Italian excellence in international markets, fighting counterfeiting, and supporting the competitiveness of companies by exploiting technological innovations. 

The Ministry is also considering replicating the experimentation in different sectors and applying it to other production chains. The heart of the system is obviously the standardisation, immutability and authenticity of the data and documents guaranteed by the blockchain, coupled with a higher level of security, a reduction in transaction disputes, process automation and a decisive improvement in overall productivity. 

The project started with the pursuit of a solution to the needs of the textile companies that participated in the testing. With the suggestions received, IBM created a prototype based on a blockchain platform which was made available to companies via the Cloud. The Proof of Concept platform has been designed to allow product traceability, certifying quality, origin, ethics and sustainability, from the creation phase to the final consumer. Finally, a report was prepared that describes the process followed and the benefits that can be derived from it.

The blockchain is therefore a pivotal point for the Italian Government, as Minister Stefano Patuanelli explains:

“Today we present the results of an initial trial conducted by the MiSE using blockchain and technologies based on distributed ledgers. We are working at European level in the framework of the European Blockchain Partnership in order to export the Italian model of protection of production chains through emerging technologies. We believe that our country can play a leading role at the EU level in this field”.

According to Enrico Cereda, president and CEO of IBM Italy, blockchain will benefit Italian companies:

“The opening of global markets to competition puts the Made in Italy brand in a position to ensure maximum transparency and traceability. The use of the blockchain is the innovation that can allow our companies to guarantee their products, differentiating them in terms of quality and sustainability. This will allow consumers to choose with the utmost awareness, guaranteeing companies an important return in terms of trust”.