B2T2
Blockchain Based Tracing and Tracking
The B2T2 project started in September 2020 under the Early Bird mechanism and will last up to the end of 2021.
The distinctive characteristic of B2T2 is that of coupling an advanced technology like Blockchain with a complex scenario such as that of ports and transportation. Our ambitious goal is to deliver local/global innovation by designing and implementing a prototype of a platform able to compete at a global level with the other initiatives currently proposed. The critical point is to identify the requirements of the application domain that appear to match the solutions offered by Blockchain technology: in fact, one of the main objectives of B2T2 is to identify real use cases where Blockchain technology, or Blockchain-like technology, actually gives a competitive advantage.
The project includes companies operating in two port communities, namely Genoa (Italy) and Valencia (Spain), through SIS, a company that has been serving the category of Freight Forwarder of the Port of Genova for decades, Fundación Valenciaport, a Research Institution of the Port of Valencia, and Infoport, a private company that has been providing products and services to port operators in Valencia for decades.
In addition, the project also includes Telecom Italia, the incumbent Italian telecom operator, which has an extremely solid background in research and innovation in the area of networking and distributed systems.
Fundación Valenciaport is an Applied Research, Innovation & Training center providing services to the port and logistics cluster. This initiative of the Port Authority of Valencia has enjoyed the collaboration of notable businesses, universities, and institutions from the port community. Since its establishment, FV has developed projects in more than 60 countries, primarily Mediterranean nations, as well as from the rest of Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Among its many activities, it promotes the design, implementation, and execution of R&D&I projects in the port logistics sector, encourages the structuring of the port logistics community, fostering cooperation within the sector, and favors active cooperation with other port communities around the world.
Infoport is an information technologies and consulting company created in 1998 focused on ports, shipping, and logistics domain. Infoport supports client’s business needs and contributes to boost their competitiveness developing technology solutions for efficient management and optimization of processes.
Sis is a software house operating in the port and logistic sector since 1988. Since 1997 it has been the technological partner of Hub Telematica, a company owned by the Shipping Associations and the Shipping Agents of Genoa: Sis designed and built the telematic node of Genoa created to offer operators the connection with the Ministry of Finance for the processing of telematic customs declarations. During its thirty years of activity, it has created its own integrated information system for Shipping Houses, Freight Forwarders, Transporters and Logistics Operators, called Seven. Among the others features, Seven provides applications for the management of customs warehouses and the production and management of customs documents, import and export practices, waybills, electronic invoicing, offers and customer/supplier quotations.
TIM is the leading group in Italy and Brazil in the ICT sector. It develops fixed, mobile and cloud infrastructures and data centers and offers services and products for communications and entertainment, placing itself at the forefront of digital technologies. It was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies, the most prominent of which was Società Italiana per l'Esercizio Telefonico S.p.A. (known as SIP), the former state monopoly telephone operator in Italy. The Group uses specialized factories that offer integrated digital solutions for citizens, businesses, and public administrations, also in partnership with groups of primary importance.
TUIT is a startup founded as part of the B2T2 project by Trasporto Unito, one of the most powerful associations of Truck Fleet Companies in Italy, Sis, DocSpace and EIT Digital. The TUIT platform was created with the aim of simplifying, facilitating, and aggregating the IT, digital and technological dialogue between road haulage and logistics hubs, with the progressive creation of additional services.
DocSpace is a startup company originated from the research developed by the Software Platform Group of the Research Center on Computer Platform Engineering (CIPI), at the University of Genoa (Italy). Its objective is to empower people to process data and do analytics using regular office tools. It provides products and services to support Collaborative Analytics, Real Time Data Analysis, Data Exchange Certification, Self Service Business Intelligence. DocSpace’s technologies focus on Cloud Computing, Edge Computing, End User computing, security, and blockchain.
Currently, a Deliverable (Early Bird Deliverable 2020) has been produced at the end of 2020. This document is essentially divided into 3 different sections:
The first section of the deliverable includes the information regarding the Activity Management, describing in detail the role of each project partners, the agreements, and the meetings held;
The second section summarizes the contribution of activities carried out in 2020 and, more specifically, describes the application context (i.e., the nature and the processes that take place in ports and modal shift nodes and more in general in transportation), the type of operators involved, and the flows of information and services that accompany transportation, and moreover provides an analysis focused on technology, with specific reference to the Blockchain based projects developed (or under development) in Genova and Valencia, as well as to international Blockchain based projects (e.g. Tradelens, backed by IBM and Maersk);
The third section describes the activities carried out to create the startup company that the project promised to create.
TUIT is a startup founded by Trasporto Unito, one of the most powerful associations of Truck Fleet Companies in Italy, Sis, DocSpace and EIT Digital. Its telematic platform has been created to provide Trucking Companies with a single reference in the Technological field, in relations with the Port Community Systems compatible with digital dialogue, or with the Community Systems, in order to simplify and normalize entry and exit of vehicles from gates and operational areas, generally for full traceability of truck processes.
Thanks to TUIT’s technological solutions, company software systems used by Road Hauliers to organize the operation of their drivers and the daily planning of journeys, can exchange information and digital documents through various configurable methods (web service, SFTP, mail), with customizable routes and with the insertion of travel missions, using its portal also via mobile devices.
A further ambitious goal of TUIT is to become a fundamental digital and document transmission representative for the information systems of the most important port logistics, interested in benefiting from a single and effective telematic interface with the hundreds of Trucking Companies that operate daily in the Terminals and Logistics Deposits.
