Purpose/significance The complexity of knowledge cluster nodes in industrial clusters determines the difficulty of knowledge management in industrial clusters, and the unique advantages of blockchain ...technology provide a good research idea for knowledge management within clusters. Method/process Through literature research, the article systematically explainedthe composition and characteristics of industrial cluster knowledge network nodes, and based on the four basic processes of knowledge management, it discussed in detail how to use blockchain technology to promote knowledge management in industrial clusters，and the application model of blockchain technology in the process of knowledge management in industrial clusters. Result/conclusion The technical characteristics of blockchain provide practical technical solutions for the processes of knowledge creation, knowledge storage/indexing, knowledge transfer, and knowledge application in industrial clusters, and provide a new entry point for solving know
Blockchain has the potential to improve the efficiency and transparency of maritime businesses and operations. Nevertheless, few studies have been conducted to identify the key challenges and ...critical success factors (CSFs) of blockchain implementation in the maritime industry. A case study approach based on Singapore’s maritime industry is adopted. Four interviews are conducted to establish the face validity of the survey questionnaire before data are collected from 30 maritime professionals from Singapore’s maritime industry. In addition to analytic hierarchical process (AHP), a fishbone diagram and PESTEL analysis are also adopted to organize and discuss the results. The results show that there are six key challenges and six CSFs for blockchain implementation. Using a fishbone diagram, the six identified challenges along with 13 personal concerns are categorized into five dimensions related to people, methods, organization, external environment, and technology. The CSFs are sufficient capital, staff training, ease of local legislation, support from the shipping community, support from the senior management, and professional consultation and assistance. This study implicates marine policy formulation in relation to subsidies and investments, blockchain talent and knowledge acquisition, and workforce training and education to accelerate blockchain implementation in the maritime industry.
•Analyze challenges and critical success factors (CSFs) of blockchain implementation.•Challenges concern people, methods, organization, external environment, and technology.•CSFs are capital, training, legislation, shipping community, and senior management support.
With the soaring value of bitcoin and frenzy over cryptocurrency, the blockchain technology that sparked the bitcoin revolution has received heightened attention from both practitioners and ...academics. Blockchain technology often causes controversies surrounding its application potential and business ramifications. The blockchain is a peer-to-peer network of information technology that keeps records of digital asset transactions using distributed ledgers that are free from control by intermediaries such as banks and governments. Thus, it can mitigate risks associated with intermediaries’ interventions, including hacking, compromised privacy, vulnerability to political turmoil, costly compliance with government rules and regulation, instability of financial institutions, and contractual disputes. This article unlocks the mystique of blockchain technology and discusses ways to leverage blockchain technology to enhance supply chain resilience in times of increased risks and uncertainty.
•Potential enablers to blockchain technology (BT) adoption in Indian Agriculture Supply Chain (ASC) are identified.•Relationships among the enablers and their inter-dependencies established using ...combined ISM and DEMATEL methodology.•Traceability of the agricultural products was found to be the key enabler for adoption of BT in ASC.•Other enablers include auditability, immutability, and provenance.•This study is first of its kind on adoption of BT in Indian ASC.
Blockchain Technology (BT) has led to a disruption in the supply chain by removing the trust related issues. Studies are being conducted worldwide to leverage the benefits provided by BT in improving the performance of the supply chains. The literature reveals BT to offer various benefits leading to improvements in the sustainable performance of the agriculture supply chains (ASC). It is expected that BT will bring a paradigm shift in the way the transactions are carried in the ASC by reducing the high number of intermediaries, delayed payments and high transaction lead times. India, a developing economy, caters to the food security needs of an ever-growing population and faces many challenges affecting ASC sustainability. It is therefore essential to adopt BT in the ASC to leverage the various benefits. In this study, we identify and establish the relationships between the enablers of BT adoption in ASC. Thirteen enablers were identified from the literature and validated by the experts before applying a combined Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology to envision the complex causal relationships between the identified BT enablers. The findings from the study suggest that, among the identified enablers, traceability was the most significant reason for BT implementation in ASC followed by auditability, immutability, and provenance. The findings of the study will help the practitioners to design the strategies for BT implementation in agriculture, creating a real-time data-driven ASC. The results will also help the policymakers in developing policies for faster implementation of BT ensuring food safety and sustainable ASCs.
The recent advancement in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in terms of manufacturing processes, and communication and networking technology has led to a rise in their usage in civilian and commercial ...applications. The regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US had earlier limited the usage of UAVs to military applications. However more recently, the FAA has outlined new enforcement that will also expand the usage of UAVs in civilian and commercial applications. Due to being deployed in open atmosphere, UAVs are vulnerable to being lost, destroyed or physically hijacked. With the UAV technology becoming ubiquitous, various issues in UAV networks such as intra-UAV communication, UAV security, air data security, data storage and management, etc. need to be addressed. Blockchain being a distributed ledger protects the shared data using cryptography techniques such as hash functions and public key encryption. It can also be used for assuring the truthfulness of the information stored and for improving the security and transparency of the UAVs. In this paper, we review various applications of blockchain in UAV networks such as network security, decentralized storage, inventory management, surveillance, etc., and discuss some broader perspectives in this regard. We also discuss various challenges to be addressed in the integration of blockchain and UAVs and suggest some future research directions.
•Use of blockchain remains limited despite it promises.•Boundary conditions should be met before blockchain can be used.•Blockchain technology requires standardization and data governance.•Blockchain ...use requires organizational transformations.•Blockchain can result in more information sharing.
Traceability of ingredients in food supply chains has become paramount in a world in which markets become global, heterogeneous, and complex and in which consumers expect a high level of quality. The food supply chain consists of many organizations having different interests and are often reluctant to share traceability information with each other. Blockchain has been advocated for improving traceability by providing trust. Yet, practice proved to be more stubborn. The goal of this paper is to identify boundary conditions for sharing assurance information to improve traceability. Four cases in the food supply chain have been investigated using a template analysis of 16 interviews. Eighteen boundary conditions categorized in business, regulation, quality and traceability categories have been identified. Some boundary conditions were found in all supply chains, whereas others were found to be supply chain specific. Standardization of traceability processes and interfaces, having a joint platform and independent governance were found to be key boundary conditions before blockchain can be used. Our findings imply that supply chain systems have first to be modified and organizational measures need to be taken to fulfill the boundary conditions, before blockchain can be used successfully.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy trading, which allows energy consumers/producers to directly trade with each other, is one of the new paradigms driven by the decarbonization, decentralization, and ...digitalization of the energy supply chain. Additionally, the rise of blockchain technology suggests unprecedented socio-economic benefits for energy systems, especially when coupled with P2P energy trading. Despite such future prospects in energy systems, three key challenges might hinder the full integration of P2P energy trading and blockchain. First, it is quite complicated to design a decentralized P2P market that keeps a fair balance between economic efficiency and information privacy. Secondly, with the proliferation of storage devices, new P2P market designs are needed to account for their inter-temporal dependencies. Thirdly, a practical implementation of blockchain technology for P2P trading is required, which can facilitate efficient trading in a secured and fraud-resilient way, while eliminating any intermediaries’ costs. In this paper, we develop a new decentralized P2P energy trading platform to address all the aforementioned challenges. Our platform consists of two key layers: market and blockchain. The market layer features a parallel and short-term pool-structured auction and is cleared using a novel decentralized Ant-Colony Optimization method. This market arrangement guarantees a near-optimally efficient market solution, preserves players’ privacy, and allows inter-temporal market products trading. The blockchain layer offers a high level of automation, security, and fast real-time settlements through smart contract implementation. Finally, using real-world data, we simulate the functionality of the platform regarding energy trading, market clearing, smart contract operations, and blockchain-based settlements.
•Decentralized P2P energy trading platform composed of market and blockchain layers.•Pool-structured market layer offering inter-temporal market products.•Novel decentralized market clearing method based on ACO.•Smart contract integrated in blockchain layer for secure real-time settlements.•Energy trading platform simulation based on real network data.
A duopoly maritime transportation system with two ocean carriers providing cargo transport services between two sea ports is investigated in this paper. Pricing game models are developed to describe ...the competitive relationship between the two ocean carriers with/without blockchain adoption. Empty container repositioning is characterized in the models. Through model analysis, the pricing equilibria are derived. Using theoretical analysis and numerical studies, we find that (1) only when the fixed cost of blockchain is low do carriers adopt blockchain technology; (2) regardless of whether or not the competitor adopts blockchain technology, the carrier is better off by adopting it; (3) when both participants choose to adopt blockchain technology, the impact of blockchain on actual demand is not always positive unless the original operational costs are relatively high; and (4) sometimes, empty containers caused by demand imbalance in the two transportation directions are helpful in increasing the carrier’s profit.
Blockchain is an emerging digital technology allowing ubiquitous financial transactions among distributed untrusted parties, without the need of intermediaries such as banks. This article examines ...the impact of blockchain technology in agriculture and food supply chain, presents existing ongoing projects and initiatives, and discusses overall implications, challenges and potential, with a critical view over the maturity of these projects. Our findings indicate that blockchain is a promising technology towards a transparent supply chain of food, with many ongoing initiatives in various food products and food-related issues, but many barriers and challenges still exist, which hinder its wider popularity among farmers and systems. These challenges involve technical aspects, education, policies and regulatory frameworks.
•Discussion of the impact of blockchain in agriculture and food supply chains.•Presentation of many ongoing existing projects and initiatives.•The maturity level of these projects is analyzed.•Blockchain is a promising technology towards a transparent supply chain of food.•Existing challenges involve accessibility, governance, technical aspects, policies and regulatory frameworks.
The internet of things (IoT) enabled a common operating picture (COP) across the various applications of modern day living. The COP is achieved through the advancements seen in wireless sensor ...network devices that were able to communicate through the network thereby exchanging information and performing various analysis. In IoT, the exchange of information and data authentication is only done through the central server there by leading to the security and privacy concerns. Chances of device spoofing, false authentication, less reliability in data sharing could happen. To address such security and privacy concerns, a central server concept is eliminated and blockchain (BC) technology is introduced as a part of IoT. This paper elaborates the possible security and privacy issues considering the component interaction in IoT and studies how the distributed ledger based blockchain (DL-BC) technology contribute to it. Applications of BC with respect to focused sectors and category were clearly studied here. Various challenges specific to IoT and IoT with BC were also discussed to understand blockchain technology contribution.
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