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How will blockchain impact the manufacturing sector ? Kate O ’ Flaherty compares the reality with the hype .

It is the distributed ledger system that enables cryptocurrencies , but blockchain technology offers new use cases across multiple vertical industries .

Within the Internet of Things ( IoT ), blockchain ’ s applications go beyond security and authentication to asset tracking and the exchange of smart contracts , which give devices a way of handshaking and exchanging information according to mutually agreed rules .

Indeed , the claimed potential of the technology to boost efficiency in supply chains , for example , has resulted in a number of projects and pilot programmes that focus on the IoT .

The Trusted IoT Alliance – a consortium of companies that includes Bosch , Cisco , Gemalto , and Skuchain – was formed in September 2017 to focus on how blockchain and the IoT can intersect for business advantage .

Recently , AI and blockchain technologies have been combined by Fetch . AI to create autonomous ledgers that can act as smart agents on behalf of a person , organisation , or technology .

Yet more than most new technologies , blockchain is surrounded by hype on the one hand and criticism on the other . For every claim that blockchain forms the basis of a new data commons , there is another saying that it is slow and inappropriate for 90 percent of the tasks that it is being proposed for . And for every claim that it forms a new , more secure bedrock for tracking goods and services , there are voices suggesting that it is a flawed technology .

Is the hype real ?

Innovative ventures certainly abound – using blockchain to track and authenticate contracts , for example , and both physical and digital assets – while even some blockchain experts express reservations about the technology and suggest that it urgently needs to evolve .

So , taking all of this into account , what will the real impacts be on the manufacturing sector ?

There are multiple uses for blockchain in manufacturing . According to Shaan Mulchandani , global security strategy and blockchain leader at Aricent , blockchain-based processes and smart contracts can facilitate automated security and compliance checks as part of the manufacturing / building process . iom-uk . internetofbusiness . com