SuppliedTrust: A Blockchain-Based Governance Framework to Establish More Trust in Consumer Products

This research study was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung [BMBF]) from 2021 to 2023 and focused on increasing end-customer trust in industrially manufactured products. The project was part of the “2 + 2 Projects” series, which aims to strengthen international cooperation and the exchange of knowledge between two countries by involving one industry and one research partner from each participating country. The main objective was to ensure transparency and traceability of product quality by documenting tests performed during manufacturing in a blockchain and making the test results accessible to consumers in an abstracted form. The research involved the implementation of a system in which information was provided from different sources and devices. This enabled an immutable record covering the entire history of the product along the supply chain. Trustworthiness should be increased by using a trustworthy technology as data storage. This was ensured by analyzing existing cybersecurity standards and examining their applicability to blockchain technology. The application of this technology offers end customers the opportunity to gain detailed insights into the testing history of their specific product by simply scanning a QR code. Graphical Abstract Blue logo featuring a shield with a water droplet and a keyhole inside, next to the text "SuppliedTrust" in blue.