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When people learn about digital product passports, the usual reaction is "How on earth will we be able to lay our hands on this kind of information? And how will we be able to know if it is correct?" Quite understandable, it will take great effort and new ways of thinking to do so.
Less common is thinking about how to handle the data, to protect it from manipulation, and to verify that the data actually originates from the proper producer and not from counterfeiters selling copies.
Creating a supply chain for data
Luckily, there are people thinking of that kind of data handling. Sweden's Blue Cromos (tech innovators) and Ahlsell (construction materials distributors) together with GS1 (international standardisation giant) do just that. They have recently secured a grant of 1.3 million SEK from the Swedish Public Innovation Agency for a project to develop what they describe as a "digital supply chain for product data" to run in parallel with the actual supply chain of products.
Looking beyond digital product passports
While the immediate trigger for this development is the digital product passports, they acrtually look beyond and see a way to handle all kinds of data and metadata for physical products, a fascinating potential for business development for anyone producing or providing products, also outside the European Union.