Recap: Blockchain In Food Provenance – ToolChain part of efforts to make supply chains resilient

Recap: Blockchain In Food Provenance – ToolChain part of efforts to make supply chains resilient

Access to safe and nutritious food is key to maintaining physical and mental well-being as well as socioeconomic development.

Unsafe food strains healthcare systems and harms national economies, tourism and trade. The WHO estimates that food-borne diseases are responsible for 600 million people falling ill and 420,000 deaths every year and, according to market research agency Markets and Markets, the global food safety testing market will reach US$24 billion by 2023.

With rising demand for a transparent and better controlled food supply chain, producers are pressured to invest in new technology to stay ahead. Ensuring food safety however, is not an easy task. Supply chains are globally interconnected so good collaboration between governments, producers and consumers is required.

These challenges were the focus of VeChain’s 3rd webinar – hosted by Sarah Nabaa, VeChain’s VP for SE Asia & Australasia, and David Inderias, CEO of Fresh Supply Co and member of the APAC Provenance Council.

“Like building your own car” – David Inderias reveals the pointless nature of private chains

David Inderias, the vocal founder of Fresh Supply Co, isn’t known for beating around the bush. On May 13th, he co-hosted the VeChain Bootcamp alongside VeChain Southeast Asia & Australia GM Sarah Nabaa. As two founding members of the APAC Provenance Council, they were well-positioned to educate the audience on the challenges the industry faces in convincing producers and manufacturers to digitize their supply chains.

Inderias is under no delusions about the task at hand, and unlike others in the space, doesn’t have blockchain adoption as a primary concern. Instead he is focused on bringing value to his customers, whether it’s through blockchain, IoT, digital product identity services, or his ultimate wild card, improved trade finance. The APAC Provenance Council uses Mastercard and Alipay to decrease the time it takes b2b farmers to get paid for their labors, with one caveat – supply chain and provenance info must be verified. To do that, Inderias has entrusted VeChain as the main provider.

This is because he sees little value in building a private network himself, a strategy pushed heavily by large firms like IBM Blockchain and select Big Four accounting firms. He points out that companies in the past did this merely to “check a few boxes” and show their innovative side, without considering the value it brings. He compared it to building your own car, in the sense that it might be a commendable feat on its own, but leaves all kinds of questions regarding whether or not it can perform well enough out on the road. With a number of reliable and exceptional car companies on the market, why bother?

The exceptional car company in this metaphor is VeChain’s ToolChain, which Inderias claims allows him to quickly customize and iterate solutions for a wide range of producers and their vastly different needs. Sarah Nabaa recalled how at their first meeting, David was skeptical that VeChain might be a competitor – now he recognizes that they are one of the few companies with enough credibility and functionality to be trusted in the APAC Provenance Council.

Still, Inderias was pragmatic about the steps that would need to be taken. He wasn’t about to rush out and force solutions down a client’s neck, insisting that properly designing, assessing and reassessing the solution would be necessary to make sure it was done intelligently, and that it provided the most possible value to his paying customers. He laughed about cryptocurrency communities on the internet who often push blockchain projects to show transactions, stating “If you think it’s easy, why don’t you try and sell it [the solution].” He continued to say that his customers include ranchers and family-owned farms that have been operating profitably for multiple generations. “They don’t need you. They don’t think they need you. You better have a very clear explanation of why they need to change”.

Understanding that mentality is key to how Inderias runs his business, especially in an era plagued by COVID-19. He claims to be a technophile, but is aware that most of his customers aren’t. ToolChain allows him to skip the cryptocurrency and technical side and get right to the important stuff – helping his customers improve business processes.

Food supply chain strategies in post-COVID19 world

Sarah kept the pace going throughout the webinar with her own perspective on enterprise adoption. Drawing from her experience with clients, she shared the typical steps involved in a typical ToolChain project and explained how VeChain’s SaaS interface helps managers make better informed decisions.

Typical steps for a process builder project

In her view, the benefits of blockchain should not be restricted to the food industry and should rather be adopted by other industries to disrupt key areas like manufacturing, supply-chain visibility and automation, digitising chain of custodies and sustainability.

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Recap: VeChain’s 2nd Bootcamp and Jur’s 2nd Webinar go live at the same time

Recap: VeChain’s 2nd Bootcamp and Jur’s 2nd Webinar go live at the same time

On 12th May 2020, Jur and VeChain delivered their second webinars, with both starting at 10pm (UTC+8). We didn’t want you to miss out so here are the recaps. Don’t forget to watch the third instalment of the VeChain Bootcamp on May 13th at 8pm (UTC+8).

Philosophy and Technology come together to measure the risk towards the future

The Jur webinar series has been a refreshing touch to the blockchain webinar circuit – with speakers focusing on the practical application of the technology. Episode 2 was no different. Jur’s team once again introduced some elements of smart contracts and online dispute resolution to an active audience of lawyers and people with an interest in the legal field. The questions streaming in were generally about how the technology could be applied in practice, with issues such as regulation, jurisdictions, and enforcement as key concerns.

Mantalena Kaili speaks about her interest and concerns with technology

Mantalena Kaili of the European Law Observatory on New Technology was the special guest, giving an interesting talk about the issues facing global societies and the threats that technology may pose. 5G, blockchain, and AI were all big issues, particularly with the legality & ethical considerations of using them. Kaili noted that data was the “gold of our generation” and remained the biggest topic for discussion among regulators, researchers, and watchdog groups. She conceded that technology had a dark side, and that there are many questions remaining to be answered while regulators sit in uncharted territory.

Kaili was highly focused on technology in the justice system, even recalling the teachings of Plato and remarking that justice is a very serious system to be left to humans.

“We need the tools to make work better and fairer, replace inflexible bureaucratic structures with fragile parts. We need to replace what isn’t working correctly, but not humans.”

She closed by stressing that human intelligence combined with technology is key to addressing many of the issues facing society.

A New Era of Sustainable Fashion – My Story Enabled Sustainability Practice

VeChain’s second webinar covered the importance of sustainability and the value of blockchain for socially responsible companies.

Hosted by Jérôme Grillères, VeChain’s GM of Europe, and Gabriele Manno, DNV GL’s Head of Blockchain Solutions, it was a unique opportunity to understand how VeChain’s blockchain expertise and DNV GL’s domain know-how complement each other and enables them to define and map the data collection and processes required to build the right interfaces.

Gabriele started by explaining five key challenges faced by sustainable brands:

  • Customer engagement: building meaningful interactions with an increasingly connected, tech savvy and better informed consumer profile
  • Information sharing: providing relevant data to customers and stakeholders in the supply chain
  • Brand credibility: developing products customers can trust and using them to build customer confidence and loyalty for the brand
  • Technology adoption: leveraging new technologies such as IoT, blockchain or VR to increase process efficiencies
  • End-of-life solutions: designing disposal mechanisms such as recycling or upcycling to minimise a product’s impact at the end of its useful life

The presentation followed with an overview of My Story, the benefits of building it on ToolChain and how it creates value for businesses.

The benefits of using My Story

From a marketing perspective, My Story enables brands to interact with consumers in an interactive way. By scanning a tag or QR code, customers are forwarded to a landing page where information specific to the product of interest (such as design concepts, raw materials or sustainability certifications) can be reviewed. It gives brands an additional touchpoint through which to tell a story and showcase the company’s core values and what it stands for.

Simon Sinek: “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe”

With plans to grow My Story into a more comprehensive service, additional functionalities and the option to create landing apps will be introduced. Companies will be able to gamify the purchasing process and design new programs to engage with customers. Loyalty and social schemes, for instance, could be developed to incentivise consumers who buy sustainable products or recycle and donate unused items.

From an operational standpoint, My Story provides the benefits of digital authentication, monitoring and traceability; increasing assurance efficiencies, tackling anti-counterfeiting challenges and improving product quality and channel control procedures.

Jérôme and Gabriele shared how My Story has helped brands optimise their data measurement, auditing and verification process and how it enables brands to convert data into actionable insights. Gabriele proceeded by explaining VeChain’s role in My Story and how ToolChain’s customisable interface, compatibility with different types of data sources and flexibility to build tailored verification and certification checklist templates makes it the best blockchain available to power the service.

The webinar concluded with a brief discussion on what may happen as more fashion brands adopt My Story how the ecosystem will continue to expand.

What a future sustainable fashion ecosystem could involve

VeChain101 Analysis:

The webinars show that VeChain, DNV GL, and Jur both have a clear idea of where they need to be and how they can provide value to the business world. It’s impressive to see professionals like Gabrielle Manno and Mantalena Kaili taking the time to remark on this technology. However, it’s clear that these significant industry shifts towards fashion sustainability and decentralized justice will be a gradual transition. For My Story, the results are already starting to show up in our retail outlets. On Jur’s side, their CTO Luca Daniel offered a timeline of 2-3 months before the release of their next prototype, so interested users will need to be patient. One thing is for sure, with the role these solutions will play in society, the results will be worth waiting for.

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Jur’s webinar shows glimpse at potential of blockchain within the traditional legal space

Jur’s webinar shows glimpse at potential of blockchain within the traditional legal space

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the Jur team has been relatively quiet on the PR side, claiming a focus on developing out the court hubs of their dispute resolution platform. Decentralized dispute resolution will allow blockchain-based voting on commercial disputes, such as contracts, freelance agreements, and mediation cases, among others.

On April 29th, the Jur team hosted their first ever online webinar, introducing the main concepts of the technology to a noticeably large audience of legal professionals and community members. Alice Namuli, who founded the Legal Innovation Hub in Uganda, was also a part of the presentation to talk about how the continent of Africa was approaching this topic. She helped Jur organize the event in collaboration with the Africa Innovation Law & Tech Academy, the East Africa Law Society, and LEX Africa, which is the continent’s largest legal alliance. The audience, with many members from the aforementioned legal organizations, peppered the speakers with intelligent questions tackling all phases of adoption as well as the potential societal impacts blockchain and smart contracts could have.

From the onset, it was obvious that this audience was different from most other blockchain events. They took an avid interest in Chief Legal Officer Raffaele Battaglini’s presentation on smart contracts, and engaged Legal Engineer Luigi Cantisani on issues of human rights and the internet. The speakers pointed out how access to internet was quickly becoming a basic human right in the eyes of many governments, which should pave the way for technology to become a foundation of worldwide justice systems. They also discussed the need for trustless oracles to be the touchpoint between real-life and the internet, leading to more complete data and fairer rulings.

A lot of questions centered around the enforcement of online dispute resolution, as people might not be so quick to comply with a ruling delivered over the internet. Cantisani addressed this by talking about how this required the embedding of smart contracts into ODR and escrow services. On the Jur platform, after a dispute is resolved, funds will be transferred automatically, making non-compliance a non-issue.

CEO Alessandro Palombo gave the active audience a definition of a dApp, and talked about how these could impact economic business relationships. Palombo is a big believer in the the power of decentralization, explaining how many apps and services will shift to this model in the future, cutting out middlemen, reducing corruption, and lowering costs in the process.

CMO Federico Angeloni moderated the event and was impressed with the turnout. “We were pleasantly surprised by the very warm welcome that the African audience has reserved for us. In a flash, we realized the topicality of the problems we carry out and we can’t wait to expand the reach of our events to get more and more professionals interested in legaltech.”

The issue of cryptocurrency

One issue of keen interest to the VeChain community revolved around the topic of the JUR token and stablecoins. A question from audience member ‘Jeremy’ asked how the platform intended to handle volatility, and whether or not stablecoins would be used. Jur’s CTO Luca Daniel responded by stating:

“In the legal industry, there is a huge need to be user-friendly with as little friction as possible. If you want to submit a case to one of the hubs on the Jur platform, you need to be able to do that with your fiat currency. What the platform will do under the hood is translate and convert your normal currency into JUR tokens. You won’t be able to see that, unless you want to dig deeper and see the exchange rate that was applied. You don’t need to know how to manage a wallet or know how blockchain works. If you are a blockchain expert and want to dig deeper, you can see the transaction of course, but that’s our approach.”

“With regard to the volatility, it won’t matter if the price fluctuates, if I pay the dispute fee of $3,000 dollars, that’s going to be $3,000 today, and $3,000 dollars tomorrow. The system will do the conversion of the tokens. On the other hand, that point you made about a stablecoin is essential when talking about an escrow. When you have an escrow and are in a commercial relationship with another party, you need to transfer money from one end to the other, and you do that with a smart contract, it’s very important that the money escrowed is in a stablecoin.”

It’s no secret that a stablecoin is needed on the VeChain network, but it remains to be seen how that is put into place. In the past, the speculation surrounded a Euro-based stablecoin, as part of VeChain’s close connections with regions like San Marino and Italy. While that speculation has cooled off of late, knowing that Jur is planning on using one may be an indication that the plan is still in place.

Legaltech in Africa

Last to take the stage was guest host Alice Namuli. She mentioned that in Africa, legaltech adoption falls into two categories: Legal technology that enhances the way law firms deliver services, and technology that improves citizen’s access to justice. She noted that most law firms are adopting various technologies to ensure that they deliver timely services and to ensure they cut down their costs.

Alice Namuli side-by-side with Jur CEO Alessandro Palombo

“So many big law firms in the last 3 or 4 years have also caught up and are now using all kinds of products ranging from simple AI to advanced AI. On the continent, we have many legal innovators who are building tools, platforms, and systems. The biggest disadvantage is that many people don’t know about them so it becomes a little bit difficult to use them.”

“On the access to justice side, services range from ensuring that as many people on the continent are able to access justice and making the legal justice system more transparent and less costly. That’s why I’m very interested in platforms like Jur, but we don’t have anything on the continent yet like Jur. The biggest challenge we have now is that many lawyers haven’t been able to fully appreciate this [legal technology platforms], and they are either rejecting them or they are just not willing to adopt them. So many people have been denied justice because of the backlog or because our justice systems just don’t work at all. So we are very interested in the alternatives. We are very pleased to have this training or session [The Jur Webinar] where we can learn about what’s available and how we can use them.”

The feedback in the chat box shows that Jur has the ability to engage and connect with their legal audience

Final thoughts and key takeaways

For many regions, the issue of how small and medium law-firms can get access to affordable tools is a major question. Unlike many legaltech platforms for large law firms that come with a exorbitant licensing fee, platforms like Jur are much cheaper to use. The nature of Africa’s many different legal systems shows a huge potential use case for blockchain, a way to bypass the slow, costly, and even corrupt traditional courts. It’s one area where Jur can not only gain traction, but can also provide a much-needed social service that benefits less fortunate regions. It would be refreshing to see an instance of blockchain used for this cause, and could bring a lot of exposure and goodwill to the blockchain industry as a whole. It’s clear from the webinar that Jur has a professional team with a product that resonates with the legal community, and not just the cryptocurrency community and token holders. The challenge for Jur now will be on execution, to actually make this idea a reality.

To watch a replay of the webinar, head on over to YouTube: Link.

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