World Economic Forum Releases COVID-19 Blockchain Supply Chain Report

Today, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released the Redesigning Trust: Blockchain Deployment Toolkit report, designed to guide organizations through the development and deployment of new blockchain solutions. It was developed through lessons from and analysis of real projects, to help organizations embed best practices and avoid possible obstacles in deployment of distributed ledger technology. It is the culmination of more than a year of global collaboration by 100+ leaders and focused on supply chain and trade use cases.

Crises such as the coronavirus pandemic, dramatically increase pressure on governments and businesses to maintain resilient supply chains. Resilience of supply chains depends on transparency and integrity, which can be improved through the responsible deployment of blockchain technology. To respond to this challenge, the World Economic Forum today launches a comprehensive toolkit to accelerate the use of responsible blockchain by leaders.

“The blockchain deployment toolkit is essential for designing solutions that work for a multitude of actors, including smaller players who may not have access to the resources required to unlock the value of blockchain technology. For this reason, the toolkit can level the playing field for small and medium-sized enterprises. There are many lessons to learn from the current pandemic and this toolkit is a starting point for improving long-term pandemic preparedness and accelerating an economic recovery led by public-private cooperation.” said Nadia Hewett, Blockchain and Digital Currency Project Lead, World Economic Forum USA.

The toolkit was created by the World Economic Forum with the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network Fellows from Hitachi, Deloitte and Saudi Aramco.

At a time when the technology is nascent and evolving, it helps accelerate alignment and understanding of the many considerations that both the public and private sectors face to deploy solutions responsibly,” says Linda Pawczuk, Global Blockchain and Digital Assets Leader, Deloitte Global, United States. “Deloitte intends to leverage the toolkit across its blockchain practice of over 2,000 professionals to guide clients across sectors and industries in developing robust blockchain networks in supply chain and finance. Further, Deloitte plans to integrate the toolkit frameworks into learning curriculums to drive a consistent approach in developing blockchain business models that account not only for strategy and product, but also for often-overlooked issues around enterprise risk, tax implications, and financial compliance.”

With these solutions, blockchain is set to tackle supply chain failures exposed by COVID-19 and boost economic recovery.