Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) have the potential to play a key role in unlocking more decentralised, trusted, traceable, user-centric digital services whilst prompting new business models which benefit society and contribute to sustainable economic growth.
To support blockchain and DLT in overcoming barriers to scale, the European Commission created a global forum, the International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA), that assembles industry, start-ups and SMEs, policy makers, regulators, civil society and standards developing organisations. ERTICO – ITS Europe has long recognised the potential of DLT to address challenges in mobility and assumed a leading role in the creation of INATBA which aims to unlock the power and spread the benefits of Blockchain and DLT more widely across businesses and society.
DLT refines inter-company processes which ensure all participants share the same process relevant data, process specification and the process state and that events and business actions are tamper-proof recorded, signed and automatable. It can also play a primary role to reduce reconciliation, manual labour, extensive non-digital messaging for process coordination and eventually decentralise digital cooperation and supply chains.
Blockchain and DLT are both synonymous with finance use cases and their application in mobility still constitutes a grey area. Already last year, ERTICO started working on their application to mobility. During the International Transport Forum in Leipzig, ERTICO held a session entitled “Is blockchain the answer to cybersecurity?”, while a Blockchain workshop was also organised at the 25th ITS Congress in Copenhagen, attracting over100 attendees.
ERTICO is also the driving force behind the proposal to establish a Mobility Sectoral Committee, which could inform ERTICO Partners about the potential which can be unleashed and the myriad of benefits which can be reaped from Blockchain and DLT, ultimately contributing to solve key mobility challenges. It enhances collaboration and dialogue between stakeholders across the sectoral spectrum, thus identifying existing implementations and barriers, develop consensus on harmonized solutions, develop guidelines and support the definition of standards. ERTICO’s zest for the sectoral committee stems from the need to debunk myths and deflate the hype which shrouds these technologies. This avoids false expectations and identifies the right use cases of Blockchain and DLT. The Committee can attract new private and public members from the mobility sector, and identify existing Blockchain/DLT based applications, services and initiatives. The outcomes of past workshops organised by the ERTICO partnership are excellent cornerstones to build on.
ERTICO wants to pursue a leadership role in raising awareness and in the deployment of disruptive technologies which can solve mobility challenges. In this way, ERTICO Partners can be strategically positioned as frontrunners in the deploying DLT-based applications and services. This can contribute to bring together a wide mobility stakeholder community working on common challenges and the promotion of blockchain and DLT.
