How can the digital product passport be implemented to create transparency, enable new business models and remain tamper-proof? This question was addressed by the project partners of the research project 'Digital Product Passport for Reliable Information Exchange in the Supply Chain (DiPP)' at a project meeting held at the Innovation Campus Lemgo. Current research results were discussed, experiences from expert committees were shared, and the status of practical implementation on the CinITo demonstrator was reviewed.
Digital product passport as the basis for a sustainable circular economy
The DiPP project is researching solutions for the 'digital product passport'. Against the backdrop of political and regulatory developments, it is widely regarded as a vital foundation for achieving a sustainable, resource-efficient circular economy. The aim is to make information on products and raw materials transparent, traceable and tamper-proof throughout the entire value chain.
Prof. Dr. Henning Trsek is heading the project at inIT, working alongside his “Interconnected Automation Systems” working group. In this role, he regularly convenes the project consortium to present current project developments, discuss new ideas, and coordinate future steps.
A central research focus is the development of tamper-proof quality certification. This will enable companies to reliably provide quality information throughout the supply chain and develop new data-driven business models based on this information. Additionally, concepts are being developed to enable products and raw materials to be traced across all stages of the supply chain. Together, these measures offer both companies and consumers a high degree of transparency in the form of a digital product passport.
Strong consortium of research and industry
The project is supported by an interdisciplinary consortium of research and industry partners. In addition to inIT, the project partners include Endress+Hauser, Arvato Systems, NTT DATA and Melitta Professional. They contribute their technical expertise and practical experience to the project and help to ensure that research is aligned with real industrial requirements.
Furthermore, inIT researchers play an active role in various expert committees and networks within the scope of the project, including the Industrial Digital Twin Association (IDTA), the Open Industry 4.0 Alliance, and the DKE. Regular project meetings provide an important framework for synchronising findings from standardisation, association work, industrial practice and research.
CinITo demonstrator brings research to life
The concepts developed in the project are showcased at the CinITo robot coffee bar, among other locations. Visitors receive a digital product passport with each coffee, showing them how information about the product, its origin and quality is provided digitally.
New hardware was added to CinITo for the project meeting. This will enable the concept of tamper-proof quality certification to be implemented automatically via the robot in future, and will allow the developed approaches to be tested further in terms of practical application.
The project meetings aim to bring together new ideas from research, practice and standardisation, and coordinate the project's work in parallel. Personal exchange is key to translating research results into a comprehensive overall solution.
Next steps in the project
‘Over the next few weeks, the various components being developed in parallel within the project will be brought together. The main focus will be on testing and further developing the digital product passport and tamper-proof quality certification concepts into a comprehensive solution,' explains Philip Sehr, research associate working on the DiPP project.