The BLOCK4Coop consortium gathered in Aveiro to discuss the progress and define the final activities of the project. The first meeting was held at AIDA CCI (Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Aveiro Distric).

On the first day, an internal consortium meeting was held to review the indicators and objectives of the project. Meanwhile, FVEM presented the KOONSTEL platform, a digital business metaverse where the closing session of the project will be held on November 30th.

In the afternoon, the transnational networking session was held with the following speakers:

• Arnaud Bocquillon, Deputy Director General of CIMES, presented the integration of digital technologies in the Auverge-Rhône-Alpes region and the CIMES business ecosystem.
• Juan Pedro Uribe, an ICT researcher at Ikerlan, presented successful cases of « digitisation in the industry as a first step towards the implementation of other advanced technologies. “

The value proposition of the technological developments of Ikerlan is based on the following premises: the product must be multi-country, interoperable, cyber-secure, scalable, with an added value proposition of impact, and oriented towards servitisation. He presented success stories in digitisation in the elevation, railway, industry 4.0, and energy sectors, among others.

• ORONA: Product digitisation, connectivity, predictive maintenance, and data analysis.
  • CAF: A digital train that ensures a train’s basic function while preventing it from exceeding the permitted speed on each section.
  • FAGOR: Business models based on servitisation. Smart contract where payment rules are established for a well-executed service.
  • FAGOR AUTOMATION:
  • MONDRAGON ASSEMBLY: Productivity auditable through Smart Contract. + ORKLI
  • DRILL 4.0.
• Elena Pallarés, a project technician at ITAINNOVA, presented two success stories. One on the development of a sovereign digital identity model with Blockchain technology for industrial machinery: IDMachinery, where the customer-supplier relationship is established based on reliable and truthful data while at the same time protecting the sensitive information of each company.

The second success story deals with digital identity and document certification through a blockchain platform for companies. EQUIMODAL

« They stressed the importance of knowing how to recognise the tangible needs of companies in order to develop digitisation projects tailored to their resources and business strategies, as the basis for the success of the digital transformation. “

• João Rodrigues, a researcher in cybersecurity at INOV-INESC, presented two projects on blockchain applications in supply chain traceability in the agri-food sector. The first project, Trace & Trust Hub for MED Food, aims to support the implementation of full traceability practices throughout the distribution channel, from seed to shelf, in order to achieve safer and more sustainable Mediterranean food products.

The second project, TRUSTyFOOD, aims to foster pathways between actors along the value chain for blockchain implementation in the agri-food sector.

After the presentations, the fourth Portuguese regional working group was conducted with the aim of defining the details and deepening the development of the R&D project. The working session was moderated by Miguel Taborda, senior manager of Deloitte Portugal, who presented the project idea: a cloud-based blockchain platform to develop a method/methodology for industrial traceability. The working session identified the state of the art, its progress, the objectives of the platform, and its functionalities.

In the afternoon, a visit was made to WAVECOM, a communications engineering company, where they demonstrated their latest RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology solutions and location systems.

OCTOBER 27TH

The second day was devoted to a visit to the electronics and information technology departments of the University of Aveiro. They presented the research they are developing in the fields of 3D printing of plastics and metals and the monitoring of road sections for future developments of Smart cities. Renault Portugal presented its use case for an internal platform for traceability using blockchain technology. The afternoon session consisted of a visit to the BOSCH appliances plant in Aveiro, where the consortium was guided through its vision of the future toward a smart industry.