On the 1st and 2nd of April, 2019, over 30 people in 6 teams gathered at the ÖBB Open Innovation Factory in Vienna for a Blockchain Hackathon. Using the 0bsNetwork Blockchain, the teams were to build a solution to the challenges laid out by ÖBB utilising Blockchain. Here's a summary of each teams build!
The pitch began describing how importing products from around the world carries a CO2 burden, and posed the question.. What if we can find a way to reduce the CO2 emissions?
Green Chain Logistics built an app that allows the user (Someone wishing to ship a product from A to B) To choose the most CO2 efficient route. The user is able to compare different routes and see the CO2 savings.
The team proceeded to demo the Blockchain tracking by shipping a product across the room! The products are tracked at stages throughout the journey and this is logged to the Blockchain.
The end customer is able to use the app to scan their product, and see the amount of saved CO2 thanks to Green Chain Logistics
Similar to Team 1, The Low Carb Network aims to reduce CO2 emissions by choosing different transport options, only with this app one can see the difference between Train, Truck and Planes.
The team starts by explaining that to start to improve something, one must first measure it.. and that's exactly what Low Carb Network does.
Using large datasets, the Low Carb Network system compares different journey types by CO2 emission and offers the user the most efficient route. In addition to this, once the shipping has commenced, details about the products journey are saved to the Blockchain from a small hardware sensor.
Each package also has a QR code, which allows the various legs of the journey to join up (For example, when a product changes hands between companies, or vehicles) so the data remains consistent.
After shipping is completed, a user can scan a product to see the route it took. The team finishes the pitch by offering up ideas around how they could extend the application further by partnering with a CO2 compensation/certificate integration, or having an end customer app to calculate the users CO2 footprint.
Ubiquitous monitoring for containers, freight wagons, lorries. The team explains how transmitting data from sensors can sometimes be problematic.. High power usage, or sometimes there's no data coverage at all, for example, in the middle of the sea!
Fotec have built a low power data gathering system that works anywhere! Using a Dragino in combination with TheThingsNetwork toolset, data is sent to a service worker via satellite(!) communication which interacts with the Blockchain to log data such as Temperature and Humidity
As an extension to Fotec, this young team built the Front End / GUI for the service worker as well as some interaction with the Blockchain. The GUI allows users to query transport options as well as see all sensor information in real-time.
Less of a team and more of a person, Valentin single-handedly built FlexiRail.. An app ticketing system.
The app demonstrates how a user can purchase an amount of travel credits in app, and the system will verify that the user has traveled on the vehicle by verifying that the user is infact moving with the vehicle via GPS tracking.
On completion of the journey, the app will automatically finish the ride and the user will be charged.
Valentin went on to explain how its It's possible to charge the user per KM traveled, which should result in savings for some yet also increased revenue for the transport provider., but charging more fairly for travel.
Both travel data and payment is performed on the Blockchain.
Last but not least, we have an energetic pitch from a combination of Block42 and Infinion. The team have built a travel system that allows users to plan their journey in the most cost effective and efficient way, for example.. Take a Tram, followed by a Train, then a Scooter for the last part. You can even include food purchases within your journey!
Using Infineons new smart card technology, a user starts ones journey by tapping the card against a terminal.. Collects ones sandwich and begins ones Journey!
Once the trip finishes, the user 'checks out' using the smart card and is charged for the time of the journey.
The clever part here is the token exchanges behind the scenes, ensuring that the Tram, Train and Scooter company are paid appropriately. The user could be left with excess tokens and can go ahead and sell these on the open market or keep them for next time!
