Blockchain Challenge Fund Showcase

Demonstrating the Potential of Blockchain

Curious about the untapped potential of blockchain technology? Need to separate fact from fiction and discover real-world applications? You’re in the right place.

Overview of the Blockchain Challenge Funds

Unleashing Blockchain’s Power in Wales

Blockchain Connected is at the forefront of Wales’s emerging blockchain industry. Our mission is to unite the blockchain sector, advocate for its needs, and build a brighter future by promoting its tangible impact.

As the blockchain community flourishes in Wales and global economic dynamics shift, innovation becomes more crucial than ever. Blockchain’s potential is unlimited and ubiquitous, yet it is poorly understood. While the desire to innovate grows, a gap persists between the desire to research and develop with blockchain, and organisations’ capacity to prioritise emerging technologies.

Enter the Blockchain Challenge Funds, presented by Blockchain Connected and funded by Welsh Government. The aim: to fund pioneering proof-of-concept projects and demonstrable prototypes to showcase blockchain in real-world scenarios, not theoretical ones. These Funds helped to raise awareness of blockchain, showcase its applications in a variety of industries, and empowered organisations to better understand if and how they could benefit from blockchain.

Case Study Showcase

Blockchain Proof-of-Concepts

In 2022, Blockchain Connected delivered the first Challenge Fund which focused on proof-of-concept projects to research and test the feasibility of blockchain technology in context of key cross-sector challenges.
After an incredible response, nine projects were funded. The projects span across agriculture, finance, fishing, energy, medicine, film, steel, and transport. Below, the Blockchain Innovators describe the projects in their own words.

Trust & Accountability in Railway Access Planning

Steelchain

Closing the Loop

Ffilm Werdd

Digital Traceability of Renewable Energy

Eco NFT Marketplace

Empowering OCELLOS with Blockchain

Creating Digital identities for Investors

Digital Passports for Sustainable Fishing

Trust & Accountability in Railway Access Planning

Finboot & Amey Consulting

Project summary:

“The ‘North Star Vision’ that we’re looking at developing into a final solution will be a shared platform where suppliers, contractors, project owners and any other parties involved in large scale infrastructure rail projects, can share critical information, data, works carried out, between each other.

Importantly, and where the real value of the underlying blockchain technology will come into play, it will be done a real-time environment and in a trusted, transparent, and secure way – which is where the differentiation is with your usual ‘dumb’ database technology – a Trusted, Transparent shared ecosystem for different stakeholders involved.

Through this automated and real-time communication, it brings real efficiencies to these processes within the digital ecosystem, but still maintaining and looking at improving the important safety standards as well.”

Use the YouTube video player below to select the case study video in the playlist. You can skip ahead using the icon in the top-right of the video player.

Steelchain

iov42 & Tata Steel UK

Proof-of-Concept project summary:

“Project aim: prove the value that blockchain technology has for steel traceability along the breadth of its supply chain.

The goal is to allow an individual to scan a steel product (e.g., with a smart phone) and retrieve all relevant product information. Including: date/place of manufacturing, manufacturer, ownership changes along the supply chain, quality certificates, environmental footprint.

iov42’s state of the art distributed ledger technology was used to model the specific needs of Tata steel and its supply chain. The hypothesis being tested was that there is commercial value in the data and its secure traceability.”

Use the YouTube video player below to select the case study video in the playlist. You can skip ahead using the icon in the top-right of the video player.

Closing the Loop

nChain & Celsa Steel UK

Project summary:

“Our project aims to support CELSA and the wider steel supply chain in their trajectory toward a circular economy by providing advanced availability, verification, and integrity to steel product data. Closing the Loop provides a steel product passport with an unrivalled level of data integrity, transparency, traceability, and programmability that is required to help eliminate the unforeseen economic costs incurred across global steel supply chains. By enabling widespread data capture and sharing across the supply chain, our project allows the benefits and value of the circular economy to be quantified and leveraged by CELSA and its network of stakeholders.”

Use the YouTube video player below to select the case study video in the playlist. You can skip ahead using the icon in the top-right of the video player.

Ffilm Werdd

Stofl & Ffilm Cymru Wales

Project summary:

“Ffilm Werdd – bringing together Carbon Credits/Offsets and Blockchain for the Film Industry in Wales, providing an open marketplace where stakeholders and suppliers can be incentivised to work together in a more open and transparent way to eliminate their Carbon Footprint, promoting sustainable productions. Project results have been viewed and tested by film industry suppliers who see the potential in the PoC that has been developed. Along with Stofl’s extensive academic partners and Ffilm Cymru’s expansive network of film industry power houses ensures that continuous R&D going forward will result in a meaningful and impactful final product – Ffilm Werdd.”

Use the YouTube video player below to select the case study video in the playlist. You can skip ahead using the icon in the top-right of the video player.

Digital Traceability of Renewable Energy

Finboot & Amber

Project summary:

“Amber and Finboot have created a fully traceable ecosystem which tracks renewable energy from source to end user. This innovative solution, based on blockchain technology, matches energy generation and use, ensuring a certifiable and accurate means of proving origin.

We set-out to build a new application, powered by Finboot’s MARCO platform, that allows management of data received from renewable energy plants (such as solar or wind). Thanks to the underlying blockchain technology that we will build on, we’ll be able to provide the tools that securely record and validate this newly designed Digital Guarantees of Origin (GOs), avoiding the real problem in the industry around ‘double spending’.”

Use the YouTube video player below to select the case study video in the playlist. You can skip ahead using the icon in the top-right of the video player.

Eco NFT Marketplace

Bloci & Hendwr

Project summary:

“Creation of the world’s first online marketplace for environmental improvements and biodiversity enhancement based NFTs (non fungible tokens).

The first Eco NFT was achieved by a collaboration between Bloci Ltd (a Wrexham based blockchain technology company) and Hendwr farm (a farm near Corwen, North Wales). This first Eco NFT was to make environmental and biodiversity improvements to peatland on the farm and recoding the work on a blockchain to create the NFTs.

The company Bloci Ltd was specifically established to develop and bring to market Blockchain based products.”

Use the YouTube video player below to select the case study video in the playlist. You can skip ahead using the icon in the top-right of the video player.

Empowering OCELLOS with Blockchain

Finboot & TrakCel

Project summary:

“TrakCel are looking to empower their existing OCELLOS platform with an underlying blockchain framework, in order to immutably and transparently secure Chain of Identity and Chain of Custody.

Finboot configured one of MARCO’s no-code Apps to build an MVP which connects on the backend of OCELLOS to provide the traceability to those identity and custody processes of TrakCel’s services that require full auditability, transparency, and traceability. We then provided API documentation to TrakCel so it could support their integrations.”

Use the YouTube video player below to select the case study video in the playlist. You can skip ahead using the icon in the top-right of the video player.

Creating Digital identities for Investors

Finboot & Delio

Project summary:

“Finboot and Delio have worked together to redefine the way AML/KYC verification is carried out within the Delio platform. The aim of the project is to streamline the time and steps involved in KYC/AML verification, leading to improved internal efficiencies for Delio and a smoother onboarding experience for customers.”

Use the YouTube video player below to select the case study video in the playlist. You can skip ahead using the icon in the top-right of the video player.

Digital Passports for Sustainable Fishing

Vizidox & UWTSD

Project Summary:

“Solving Sustainable Fishing with Blockchain-based Digital Passports. Bait to plate made simple!

The seafood industry is one of the world’s largest and oldest market sectors. The industry is made up of complex legacy global supply chains creating numerous social and environmental challenges. Both illegal fishing and unreported fishing are malpractices destroying and depleting marine habitats. Enhancing provenance certainty, traceability and transparency along these supply chains could be a way to resolve these problems.

Blockchain is well positioned to achieve these goals. We wanted to prove the technology coupled with the right business logic could address these issues to unlock efficiencies at industry level.”

Watch the Blockchain Feasibility Case Study Series

Case Study Showcase

Blockchain Demonstrators

In 2023, Blockchain Connected delivered the second Challenge Fund which focused on demonstrable prototype projects to test blockchain technology in context of real-world data and processes.
Eight projects were funded, across healthcare, transport, steel, food, space, and carbon. Below, the Blockchain Innovators describe the projects in their own words.

Trust & Accountability in Railway Access Planning

Electronic Proof of Delivery (ePOD)

The Green Economy Wales Blockchain Ecosystem

Automating value-based procurement for health technologies

A Digital Platform for Accreditation & Certification Schemes

Digital Threads for Aerospace Eco-Certification

A blockchain based health data marketplace

Paving the way for Welsh food exports on the global stage

Trust & Accountability in Railway Access Planning

Finboot & Amey Consulting

Project Summary:

“Amey Consulting and Finboot have joined forces to modernize the process of Possession Planning for the Core Valley Lines Railway. Possession Planning involves coordinating access to the railway for maintenance and repairs, a task that was previously burdened by outdated systems, manual reporting, and reliance on email communication.

The existing process was slow, intricate, and marked by challenges in decision-making and a lack of comprehensive documentation. An efficient planning process requires a clear record of changes and discussions with railway stakeholders.

To tackle these challenges, we’ve introduced a Blockchain-powered platform. This digital solution serves as a centralized hub for stakeholders to exchange Possession data and facilitate decision-making. At the same time, it ensures a secure, unchangeable record of all activities – a digital paper trail that adds a layer of accountability and transparency to the process.

Experience the evolution of Possession Planning as we usher in a new era of efficiency and traceability.”

Electronic Proof of Delivery (ePOD)

iov42 & Tata Steel UK

Project Summary:

“The project aimed to prove that blockchain can help improve multiparty trust at the point of steel goods delivery / receipt in Wales. The overarching goal was to use digital identities to create two-sided trust between the deliverer and the receiver, with digital signatures acting as an ‘electronic handshake’ to determine that the right goods have been delivered to the right place at the right time.

The benefits that ‘blockchain’ can bring in terms of notarisation, immutability and decentralisation were predicted to be critical to any tool setting out to achieve the same goals.

The innovation / R&D element of this project is designing a UI / prototype that would be used only indirectly by Tata Steel, and directly by its customers and distributors.

The project aimed to prove that blockchain can help improve multiparty trust at the point of steel goods delivery / receipt in Wales. The overarching goal was to use digital identities to create two-sided trust between the deliverer and the receiver, with digital signatures acting as an ‘electronic handshake’ to determine that the right goods have been delivered to the right place at the right time.

The benefits that ‘blockchain’ can bring in terms of notarisation, immutability and decentralisation were predicted to be critical to any tool setting out to achieve the same goals.

The innovation / R&D element of this project is designing a UI / prototype that would be used only indirectly by Tata Steel, and directly by its customers and distributors.”

The Green Economy Wales Blockchain Ecosystem

Buzzmint & Business News Wales

Project Summary:

“The Green Economy Wales Carbon Marketplace, project aimed to prove how blockchain technology can help transform the way Welsh businesses combat climate change. We started with the goal of envisaging a place where businesses can easily create, sell and buy ‘carbon credits’ – essentially tokens representing a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Our project uses advanced blockchain technology to create these tokens, allowing businesses in Wales to quickly and efficiently monetise their own renewable energy initiatives across several carbon reduction markets and for other businesses to buy them to offset their own emissions. Throughout the platforms development we focused on not simply creating a marketplace rather than a fully functional testing ground to show

how blockchain and tokenisation can revolutionise the carbon credit industry.

Developed in partnership with Business News Wales and its network of clients, our platform wasn’t just created in isolation. We collaborated directly with businesses and experts to ensure a streamlined process that Is as user-friendly as possible.”

Automating value-based procurement for health technologies

Digipharm & Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board

Project Summary:

“We harnessed the power of smart contracting to demonstrate how it is possible revolutionise the way NT-proBNP diagnostic tests may be procured by the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (CTMUHB) of NHS Wales. Instead of the traditional procurement methods, we aimed to introduce a value-based approach that ensures efficiency and transparency and enables purchasing of health technologies based on derived benefits to the health system.

Our journey began with a comprehensive data analysis of existing health data sets to understand the existing realities. This was followed

by a hands-on workshop where we defined vital contracting outcomes and key performance indicators.

The project resulted in the creation of a contract simulator for contract model testing. We also developed an intuitive user interface specifically for diagnostic technologies. A smart contract was deployed to showcase the capabilities of the technology in regards to accurate processing of data and subsequent results.”

A Digital Platform for Accreditation & Certification Schemes

iov42 & Prime Certification

Project Summary:

“The project aimed to prove that blockchain can help improve trust in the accreditation and certification schemes of the halal meat industry in Wales. The overarching goal was to deliver trust via strong digital identities, data integrity, transparency and authenticity.

The purpose-built data sharing platform has been designed to generate permanent, secure historical records for accreditation bodies, certification bodies, inspection bodies, testing laboratories, the regulators, local authorities, their suppliers and customers and support product provenance tracking and halal compliance. This type of technology is critical in addressing challenges throughout the supply chain, ensuring a product is halal compliant, from farm to fork.

The innovation / R&D element of this project is designing a UI / prototype for the halal meat use case, and testing the application of iov42’s core model of identities, assets, claims and endorsements against the use case. This represents a first of its kind project for Europe.”

Digital Threads for Aerospace Eco-Certification

Zenotech & National Composites Centre

Project Summary:

“To financially motivate the investment in technology solutions that reduce the carbon impact of global air travel, carbon credits and carbon offsets can be traded based on the emissions saved by new aftermarket aerospace products.

The new “FlyGreen” system from Zenotech provides a web-based portal allowing users to track carbon emissions and offsets and provides a digital platform based on blockchain for generating a market. The system records materials, manufactured aircraft parts, carbon impact and offset impact on an immutable distributed ledger. It tracks the flights that the part is flown on to model the offsets generated by having that component fitted on a given airframe.

This provides verification of the claimed carbon offsets that airline operators make by installing a drag reduction package on an airframe.

The challenges of usability and longevity have been successfully tackled in this project, allowing us to take the next step towards international commercialisation.”

A blockchain based health data marketplace

Cardiff Metropolitan University & Balsamee Ltd

Project Summary:

“Our pioneering project, “A blockchain-based health data marketplace to enhance prediction, prevention, personalisation, and participation in the Healthcare 4.0 era,” transforms healthcare through innovative technology and collaboration. With the rise of non-communicable diseases and the potential of Healthcare 4.0, we aimed to empower individuals by enabling them to monetise their wearable-derived health data securely. This revolutionary marketplace, created through a dynamic partnership between Cardiff Met and Balsamee Ltd, combines blockchain technology and a sharing economy model.

We aimed to prove that individuals could take ownership of their health data, benefiting from personalised insights while contributing to medical research. Our research and development focused on developing a secure app for data acquisition and a data marketplace that allows patients to share their data with researchers, healthcare professionals, and policymakers. Through this project, we demonstrate the power of AI-driven insights in healthcare and pave the way for a more connected, predictive, and personalised future of medicine.”

Paving the way for Welsh food exports on the global stage

ubloquity & Rhug Estate

Project Summary:

“Rhug Estate has partnered with blockchain specialist ubloquity on a supply chain project to enable the frictionless movement of quality lamb products to export markets.

The new system replaces manual ‘in person’ veterinary checks with remote digital checks – revolutionising supply chain assurance, making the export process simpler, cheaper, and more efficient.

Together, ubloquity and Rhug reimagined a streamlined system, then alongside Vetaverse and AWS created a user-friendly interface for a vet to log into and conduct the necessary regulatory checks, or assign a CSO (certification support officer) under their remote supervision. The digitised process includes the introduction of video calling, digitised forms, with simple tick boxes to complete the necessary on-farm attestations, and GPS-enabled functionality to record precise location.

All the data collected is then hashed and stored on the ubloquity blockchain to create a trusted chain of custody for officials to access in a secure and permissioned way.”

Connect with the Innovators

Learn more about the companies behind the projects

  • Bloci Carbon – BlociCarbon offers a transparent, ethical approach to carbon offsetting in partnership with Welsh farms. Our blockchain technology ensures validation of carbon credits and fosters cyclic reinvestment in carbon reduction and biodiversity.
  • Buzzmint – Buzzmint enables brands to quickly and easily mint tokens utilising blockchain technology and creating functional and engaging campaigns for their loyal community.
  • Cardiff Metropolitan University – This multidisciplinary research centre aims to establish Cardiff Met at the forefront of blockchain research and the industry 4.0 revolution by undertaking cutting-edge research on blockchain and other distributed technologies – like the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence.
  • Digipharm – At Digipharm, we believe in the power of value-based procurement to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs for health systems.
  • Finboot – Accelerating digital transformation, realising value and building trust through blockchain. MARCO – The world first Enterprise Connectivity Platform.
  • iov42 – The identity platform for building trust. We ensure organisations, governments and societies can coordinate confidently in the digital space by enabling trusted, transparent and secure transactions.
  • nChain – Transforming the world from Web2 to Web3. We empower your Web3 transformation with best-in-class blockchain technology, development, applications, and consultancy.
  • Stofl – Transitioning to the decentralised data centric world where blockchain forms the foundation of the new tokenized economy.
  • ubloquity – ubloquity specialises in creating the foundational platform required to underpin a digital trust network. Our blockchain technology captures multiple sources of data, processes and verifies that data, enabling the trust ecosystem to function, while delivering value to each participant in the network.
  • Zenotech – We deliver market-leading high-performance computing tools and consultancy services for businesses in the aerospace, automotive, civil and renewable energy sectors.

Challenge Categories

Supply Chains | Net Zero | Circular Economy | Digital Record & Identity

Solving Public & Private Sector Challenges

New technologies represent a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to one another. This Challenge aims to deliver small scale, fully funded prototypes that will provide case studies using real-world data to evidence how blockchain technology can meet cross-sector challenges.

Participants will apply the versatility of blockchain technologies to key categories, in order to empower essential areas of concern with cutting edge solutions.

Blockchain can provide:
Transparency | Trust | Security | Efficiency | Traceability

Supply Chains

Although many supply chains are able to operate in almost real time, there are key areas where processes and records can be improved. Regulatory requirements and consumer demand are asking for better traceability and security. To combat this, industry leaders are already exploring and implementing blockchain technologies. Are you remaining competitive in the digital world?

Circular Economy

A true circular economy in Wales will boost efficiency and profitability as well as help reach environmental sustainability. The ability to track and trace all components of an economy, such as plastic, creates a data challenge. In order to be fully circular, information must be kept throughout all stages with little or no information loss. Could blockchain provide an efficient, immutable solution for all parties to use?

Net Zero

In Wales, our aim is to reach Net Zero by 2050. All sectors need to reduce and eliminate emissions. Long-term well-being for Wales means recognising the limits of the environment and therefore prioritises sustainable solutions. Vitally, only what is measured can be managed. This makes data and records essential for everyone tackling Net Zero. Is blockchain technology the solution?

Digital Identity & Record

Digital adoption has been accelerated by the pandemic and this has huge implications for digital identity and key records in healthcare, education, land registry, and more. Security and trust are key for these areas. Can blockchain provide the answer?

Who Could Participate in the Challenge Funds

  • As fully-funded Welsh Government programmes, whilst open to participants across the UK and EU, one participant of each collaborative application had to be based in Wales.
  • This Funds were open to Challenge Owners and Innovators already working together, who need support to push their innovative ideas.
  • This Funds were also open to Challenge Owners and Innovators who weren’t yet working together, to collaborate on new ideas and deliver a prototype.
  • The Funds were independent of each other – Demonstrator projects did not have to be involved in the first fund to be eligible, and they were still eligible if they had.
  • Funding was provided to the Blockchain Innovator to deliver a demonstrable prototype using real-world data, in collaboration with their Challenge Owner.

 

The Challenge Fund process

Organisations with pressing ideas and issues to solve would share project ideas as Challenge Owners
> Blockchain Innovators could then connect their innovative solutions with Challenges
> Combined, a Challenge Owner and Innovator applied to secure funding to build their proof-of-concept or demonstrator
> An independent panel of judges, both private and public sector, reviewed the applications
> Shortlisted applicants made a final live Pitch to the judges on Pitch Day
> Funding was provided to the selected Innovators to deliver the project with their Challenge Owner

BROUGHT TO YOU BY