Potential Speakers

NameOrganization/TopicWho contacted them?Date of PresentationStatus

Bobbi Muscara 

The Giving Chain

Came up in discussion at 1/25/24 meeting

2024/05/02

Bobbi Muscara  will present to the SIG on 5/2/2024. 2024 05 02 Bobbi Muscara - The Giving Chain.

Alexander StyleVinturas

Ned Thompson, MBA 

2024/05/16

Alexander Style has told Ned Thompson, MBA he can speak at our 5/16/24 meeting. We will follow up in March to finalize the topic and title. (1/31/24) | Alex had to postpone his 2023/11/06 presentation to 2024. I will follow up with Ned Thompson in January regarding possible rescheduling.

TBDbConnect

Alicia Noel 

TBD

Thiago Oggioni shared that the Serpro team is discussing internally whether they can speak publicly and what they can share. The company is government-owned and has constraints. - 2/9/24 |Alicia Noel sent follow up to responsive Serpro person on Linked in (2/8/24) | Josélio Teider of the Brazil chapter has offered to inquire with a contact of his at Serpro. (1/29/24) | Sent query to a 2nd person Jan 25. He's currently on holiday so I will follow up in two weeks. |  Alicia Noel sent a note on Dec 3 via LinkedIn and is waiting to hear back. | ebook profilee.

Rishi CFarm to Plate

Alicia Noel 

2024/04/18

Scheduled Presentation date: 4/18/24. Alicia will follow up in March re: topic and title. (2/1/24) | Alicia Noel sent follow up to Rishi on January 25, 2024. Saptarshi responded that they plan to launch in late March. We're discussing tentative presentation dates in April. (1/30/24)

TBD

Circular

Jeff Pribich 

TBD

Jeff Pribich has sent 2 emails (as of 2/13/24), no response yet.

Ashish Anand

Co-Founder & CEO,
Bru Finance
www.Bru.finance

Bru Finance(Bru.Finance)

Jeff Pribich 

2024/03/21

Ashish Anand and others from Bru Finance presented their knowledge on trade finance during a presentation to the and Finance SIG a few weeks ago where the focus was directed at finance mechanisms and the Bru.Finance platform.
For our SIG the focus of a presentation is to be on trade finance capabilities within supply chains for partners involved in trade, especially the warehousing of commodities assisting producers in monetizing their products whilst at the same time, monitoring the movement of these goods.

Meral Şengöz EBL research and projects in Turkey

Ayhan Köseoğlu 

2024/04/04

Ayhan Köseoğlu will speak with a colleague about speaking during a meeting. Alicia Noel I contacted to my colleague , she will respond me soon and I will update you accordingly

Project Ideas

2024 Project Ideas

2024 Topic IdeasDeliverableCommentsMember effort preferences




How exactly blockchain operates for SC-TF

  • Produce a diagram or e-guide

Process definition required especially around involvement of the Fabric technical groups. Opportunity for synergy between SIGs.


What are the business reasons for firms/corporation not adopting blockchain for Supply Chains?

  • "Listening project"?
  • Could include webinars, then turn into a blog post.

Process steps for this effort need further clarity at this time(01/2024).  Through online research and interviews define the stumbling blocks, differential attitudes and incorrect assumptions on value/benefits and what has changed.

Per Ayhan Köseoğlu, 2/8/24, Invite people from big banking/finance companies and hear from them why they aren't adopting blockchain.

Note (from Ayhan , 2/9/24) not only banking/finance companies , we should also consider real buyers/sellers (exporters/importers) 


Integration
  • Webinars and/or blog post.

Per Ned Thompson, MBA , 2/8/24, there are banking projects integrating blockchain tech with legacy systems.

Note (from Ayhan , 2/9/24) , that is really great initiative


Electronic Bills of Lading (EBLs)

  • Webinar topic and/or blog post.

per Ned Thompson, MBA, in page comments : I attended a BIMCO webinar a few weeks ago and the talk was all about utilizing blockchain to digitize bills of lading and other trade documents. As we know, BIMCO is part of FIT along with Swift, ICC, FIATA, and DCSA, so it was great to hear that blockchain is considered one of the technologies to revolutionize trade transactions. In our eBook, we focused on some of the companies that are leading the charge in electronic trade documents including Wavebl and Tradewaltz. I think that eBL's will be a use case that helps put blockchain on the map and I think this is a great avenue for Hyperledger Fabric to market its capabilities. Not sure how to do this, but I think this is an opportunity for Hyperledger to differentiate itself and get more exposure. Thoughts?

Note (from Ayhan , 2/9/24) , totally agree with you Ned Thompson, MBA , just one little additional note that UK's MLETR approved regulation refers to ' reliable system ' which is still a question mark and the terms & conditions of being reliable not published


AI in blockchains(SC-TF related)

Blockchain "+" AI

  • Webinar topic and/or blog post.

Discover and document how firms are planning or currently employing AI for blockchain supply chain solutions where the underlying technology is Hyperledger Fabric. 

Process:
1) Online investigation on current activity?
2) Tech talks on AI and Supply Chains (risk management)
3) Reach out to firms(shipping and tech).
4) Reach out to our Hyperledger tech group as to Fabric-AI arch. model.

Deliverable: Similar to eBook published in 2024

Per Christos Tsislianis (2/8/24) - we could explore how the two technologies are being used together.

NOTE (Jeff Pribich - 02/06): Willing to begin exploring this project to provide SIG with specific information on deliverable. 


How do NFTs address supply chain inefficiencies?

  • Webinar topic and/or blog post.

Bobbi Muscara will present how The Giving Chain uses NFTs at our May 5, 2024 meeting.

 Webinar topic. Produce a document on current use for this purpose or document(tech).

NFTs eliminate many of the issues supply chains are known for, as they can enhance traceability and reduce the need for constantly checking in to see who has your materials. Ultimately, this would result in lower supply chain costs, and these savings could be passed onto consumers. Still, it’ll probably be a while before this technology is widely adopted in supply chains.


 





Past Project Ideas

Past Project Ideas



2024 - project/effort idea

Platform differentiation

Perform a competitive analysis between Fabric and current other popular platforms that provide an SC-TF solution.

NOTE(Jeff Pribich - 02/06): Should this entry be removed from this list as this has already been performed.


2024 - project/effort idea

Risk: How can blockchain display and provide guidance on risk as situations change during shipping

Can AI assist? Technical view on how this can be provided and/or how is blockchain transparency enabling risk reduction - who is using this advantage?

NOTE(Jeff Pribich - 02/06): After further review, this effort would be a portion of the proposed project entitled "AI in blockchains(SC-TF related)"


2024 - project/effort idea

Deeper dive study on how blockchain(Fabric) thwarts product fraud and tampering.

Was touched on slightly during our e-Book effort. This idea promotes working on a very detailed level as to how Fabric(target blockchain) enables fraud detection and allows for the creation of a process preventing fraud. Seems as if there is more maturity in this space with everledger for example.


Process:
1) What technical aspects of blockchain enable fraud detection? Mid or low level detail as to the inner workings such as hashing, the ledger and physical implants in goods.
2) What firms are now utilizing blockchain(Fabric) for this purpose.
3) Can we produce an architecture and Fabric implementation document as to how this is implemented.  


2024 - project/effort idea

Where / How is crypto utilized in blockchains for SC-TF such as hedging due to price changes?



2024 - project/effort idea

Consumer use of the supply chain - direct purchases from manufacturing firms. 

The idea associated with this project is to produce a document strategizing how consumer use of SC blockchain will allow for direct purchase from manufacturers of goods. How to avoid use of Amazon for example utilizing the same technology.  


2024 - project/effort idea

Produce a document detailing the financial advantages of blockchain technology for SC-TF usage.

Form of the output would detail the blockchain(Fabric) intricacies enabling cost advantages for SC-TF usage.

Examples:  How do smart contracts-chaincode enable partial payments?   Transaction efficiencies. Efficiencies to transaction processing, reduces manual tasks such as aggregating and amending data, and eases reporting and auditing processes. Enables traceability and close tracking to prevent product damage from spoilage, theft and lost goods.

Process definition required especially around involvement of the Fabric technical groups. Opportunity for synergy between SIGs.


SIG Blog

We have the opportunity to share supply chain and trade finance information via a SIG blog. Topics could include speaker presentations, relevant projects that use Hyperledger, industry new that is relevant to the SIG community.

Questions: How often? Who wants to write a post? How long should we expect them to be?

Blogposts should be written by one or more SIG members, and edited (by someone with strong English writing skills) by at least one other person before being shared to the SIG blog.



Mitigating environmental impact of blockchain use

How are organizations that use blockchain as a tool for supply chain and trade finance managing the environmental impact of the technology use? Are companies using private chains that are only powered by renewable energy? What about minimizing environmental and human costs of lithium mining for use in batteries?


FinTech(Trade Finance)

Use of trade finance(FinTech) across supply chains. Investigate how specific industries, especially small to mid-size industries) utilize FinTech to corral financing of supply chain operations. Some examples are:

1) Warehouse Receipt Financing: Utilize assets(commodity) as collateral. 

2) Small and mid-size companies have three core assets that can be used to obtain financing: approved invoices, inventories, and purchase orders.


Minimizing the trade finance gap



Tokenization



Digital credentials



Beyond Track and Trace



Interoperability



Governance

  • ISO has recently released some new governance documents - Erik Valiquette
  • ToIP, Trust over IP Foundation - Alfonso Govela
  • Learnings from TradeLens - Perhaps Sophia Brumann?
  • Blockchain consortia (WeTrade, Tradelens)
  • Political complexities of global trade - One thought on a challenge with governance is simply the political complexity of global trade. As an example, Bangladesh exports are growing (particularly to Europe) but governance only has so much relevance here. We got to a stage with the eBL where it became legally accepted from a technical perspective but their reliance on letters of credit for bill of lading processes means we also needed banks involved in all transactions. And suppliers don't use the large international banks we all know. If you consider that each supplier and buyer needs to be using the same foreign technology, how much power do we really have over small, local banks with legacy systems. We dream big but the reality of implementation has been challenging, regardless of governance. Some interesting discussions to be had, though! - Sophia Brumann

Business models

Standards bodies maphttps://scorecoalition.org is doing work in this area.
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28 Comments

  1. Tom Klein

    This the first comment,   Let's skip the competitive ananlysis.

  2. Tom Klein

    As you are looking these over and pulling together your own thoughts, please keep in mind that any project we do in 2024 should be realistically achievable, should provide value to our community, and be something fun and interesting to work on.


    We're not going to chose all of these so some can even be a presentation or blog entry if there is interest.


    Look forward to your comments on these and ones that aren't in the list yet.

  3. Edward Thompson

    I attended a BIMCO webinar a few weeks ago and the talk was all about utilizing blockchain to digitize bills of lading and other trade documents. As we know, BIMCO is part of FIT along with Swift, ICC, FIATA, and DCSA, so it was great to hear that blockchain is considered one of the technologies to revolutionize trade transactions. In our eBook, we focused on some of the companies that are leading the charge in electronic trade documents including Wavebl and Tradewaltz. I think that eBL's will be a use case that helps put blockchain on the map and I think this is a great avenue for Hyperledger Fabric to market its capabilities. Not sure how to do this, but I think this is an opportunity for Hyperledger to differentiate itself and get more exposure. Thoughts?

    1. Jeff Pribich

      Great information - thanks!

      Does the effort to define and construct eBL's that you observe center around standardization of the wording(nomenclature) on bills of lading in use today? Just wondering since we have a standards group although their focus at this time might be on carbon accounting.


      1. Edward Thompson

        Yes, FIT is taking the lead on the standardization of eBLs through its partners and the multitude of companies supporting the alliance (FIT Alliance | Electronic Bill of Lading (fit-alliance.org)). I also believe that GBBC is going to get involved via its merger with BITA, but not sure how that is going as it is fairly new.

  4. Ayhan Köseoğlu

    Hi Jeff Pribich Edward Thompson Alicia Noel Tom Klein  I wish to share with you Swift's latest report regarding eBL's interoperability which would give us more clear picture when I think of Swift's huge network

    1. Alicia Noel

      This looks like a great resource. Thank you Ayhan Köseoğlu.

  5. Ayhan Köseoğlu

    Hi SC&TF SIG , this is a good article , just wanted to share with you , https://gfmag.com/technology/michael-vrontamitis-daniel-cotti-t3i-partner-network-trade-finance/

    1. Alicia Noel

      Great article Ayhan. I've just added it to this week's News Digest. 

    2. Jeff Pribich

      Just through the article. Thanks for sending.

  6. Tom Klein

    I'm liking the six finalists. In general, I like projects that are focusing on the positive ourcomes, however I can see some merit in sleuthing out why blockchain based solutions haven't made as much progress as many of us thought.  Would give us some good data to show the real life issues and paths to create catalysts for what should be done.

    So, I'm voting for the Not Adopting project as my fist choice.  My 2nd and 3rd choices are interchangeable with Process definition and integration projects. 


    1. Jeff Pribich

      In the Hyperledger library I came across a master's thesis paper related to this subject on blockchain non-adoption. The business reasons in 2018 for non or slow adoption of blockchain technology were garnered trough business leader interviews. I have skimmed through this thesis . Although 5 years out of date, it does cover many of the technical / business hurdles most of us have discussed. Could be a good "jumping off point" for a project that may include how those hurdles have now been overcome "technically".

  7. Alicia Noel

    Of the final six topics, the one that interests me most is integration. No company works in a vacuum, they need to exchange data, and there are a lot of legacy systems that companies aren't willing/ready to retire. There have been multiple interoperability projects in the agrifood space (GS1 did a pilot a few years back with SAP, ripe.io, IBM Food Trust, and FoodLogiQ; Wholechain and Trace Register announced this Monday that they've successfully integrated their systems at scale). If we can identify projects in other spaces, and lessons learned, that could add value. Working on this topic will also require discussing different standards (GS1, BSI, ISO, etc. - and we've had GS1 speak in the past), so there are multiple angles to cover.

    Thanks to Bobbi Muscara, we'll have a webinar on NFTs this May. It might be worth using that as the basis of a blog post.

    A "How blockchain operates for SC-TF" diagram/guide could also add a lot of value and give clarity, especially if we can clearly and explicitly connect the front end and the back end.

    If we can get Serpro and some other companies doing related work, that could help us create an EBL knowledge base. Right now I don't think we have a lot on this.

    We just put out an ebook on the value companies have gotten out of adopting Hyperledger blockchain tech. Do we really believe that companies aren't adopting it?

    Re: AI + Blockchain, we could explore the topic by adding some relevant resources to the Weekly News Digest as we see them, and maybe inviting in a few speakers on the topic.

  8. Ayhan Köseoğlu

    Hi HL SC&TF SIG , hope you are all fine ,

    this is really a good article about AI+Blockchain 

    https://medium.com/xdc-foundation-communications/the-powerful-relationship-between-blockchain-and-ai-d3efa4593455


  9. Alicia Noel

    re: Integration, I attended Farm to Plate's panel on Complying with FDA FSMA Section 204d this morning. There was a discussion of how their platform integrates with legacy systems, it does not replace them. That's an important point. I'll let them know that this is something we'd appreciate hearing more about when they come speak to the SIG. 

    1. Jeff Pribich

      Yes, a very important bridge from ERP systems to blockchain.

  10. Ayhan Köseoğlu

    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/grant-hunter-a825b94_electronic-bills-of-lading-faqs-activity-7164224137190690816-Maha?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

    1. Alicia Noel

      Hi Ayhan Köseoğlu. These would be great for the Weekly News Digest. You can post them there directly. #06 - Weekly News Digest 20240212-0218 is the page for this week.

      1. Ayhan Köseoğlu

        Hi Alicia Noel , I have done it , added the related web page ,Could you please check ?

        1. Alicia Noel

          Great! Thank you for putting it there.

          It's helpful for people who look at the digest to see the article title, so they can easily decide whether to click through. I'll usually write the title, then highlight it, press <Command + K> (on a Mac),  insert the link, then press <Save>.

  11. Ayhan Köseoğlu

    P&I Clubs ( eg IG P&I Clubs ) are definitely playing an important role for eBL especially ‘ reliable systems ‘

    1. Ayhan Köseoğlu

      1. Edward Thompson

        Ayhan- Thanks for providing this. It seems like certain countries, UK, Singapore, etc... are spearheading the eBL standardization initiative via MLETR. I am amazed at how the UK government is working pretty quickly on this project as I see new developments weekly via newsletters. (US government joke withheld)

  12. Tom Klein

    Hi Folks,  Decision MADE!

    Alicia, Jeff and I met this am to discuss these project possibilities. We have a lot of good ideas for topics, so we're thinking in order to meet the goals of value, realistically achieveable, and breadth of our work, to create some blogs ( hopefully monthly) this year.  This way we can cover multiple topics, spread the effort around and be very pinpoint on the topics value for Supply Chain & Trade Finance. 


    So that says we should create a calendar of topics and lead author (I guess it could be a video too!) for the remainder of the year. Using the above topics as your guide, start thinking about which one is important to you and how you could help create the blog for that. I'm already commiting to leading one, just not sure which one yet.  If you want to jump the gun, feel free to put your desire in these comments.

    Looking forward to success as with our 2023 eBook.


    1. Edward Thompson

      Tom- I am working with an organization called Infragard (infragard.org) and part of their blockchain team. Infragard works with the FBI in educating personnel in critical infrastructure industries (financial services, manufacturing, agriculture, energy, etc...) about potential threats in their vertical. We also educate our members on innovative technology that is being developed to enhance industries. I am scheduled to do a podcast with one of DHL's blockchain leaders on their involvement in blockchain, the various consortiums (FIT, GSBN, MLETR, etc..), etc, so I was thinking I could work on that topic if everyone thinks that is a good one to focus on- shipping/FIT/ eBL 2030. Let me know what everyone thinks?

      1. Alicia Noel

        Great suggestion Edward Thompson! A blogpost about different business-focused consortiums and what they are doing with blockchain sounds really useful.

  13. Jeff Pribich

    Great idea and information. This information would be ideal to have in our SIG. 

  14. Jeff Pribich

    Update: Currently constructing our first "Blog" article entitled:

    Why Hyperledger Fabric's Architecture is well-suited for Supply Chain Applications