SUPPLY CHAIN
DECaDE examines the application of decentralised technologies in support of physical supply chains and business ecosystems.
We live in a highly interconnected world, with increasingly complex global supply chains forming the backbone of international trade.
However the ability to monitor inter-organisational activities has become progressively more difficult through a lack of visibility and with no single centralised trusted authority.
DECaDE focuses on how Blockchain-based solutions can provide common trusted data to improve supply chain efficiency and trust. From creating frictionless trade across borders and influencing Government Policy to finding innovative ways to bridge the digital-physical divide when tracking physical supply chains, we look towards governmental advocacy and commercial initiatives to create practical impact.
Proud that our ground-breaking work on the RFIT project, supported by DECaDE researchers, demonstrated the use of innovative technologies in reducing friction in international trade and was included in the UK Government Border Strategy.”
The Lord Holmes of Richmond MBEResearch Highlights
Creating frictionless trade at our borders
Through DECaDE’s leadership of the Reduced Friction in International Trade programme (RFIT), a blockchain based proof of concept platform emulating the wine supply chain, DECaDE researchers explored how physical supply chain use for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), can provide a common trusted data set to reduce errors and improve data visibility when managing goods at borders.
The RFIT programme was developed from of a series of workshops run with the UK cabinet office in the wake of Lord Holmes’ DLT for Public Good report and roundtable in which DECaDE investigators participated. The research confirmed that the DLT/blockchain-based platform engages all relevant parties in co-creating a trusted ecosystem through shared data and facilitates the process of trust development and improved supply chain efficiency. The work forms part of the recently published 2025 UK Border Strategy, endorsed by four senior UK government ministers.
Building on the RFIT project, our research extended to the Ecosystem of Trust (EoT) pilot programme developed with an objective to achieve ‘frictionless’ trade. The programme tested if technological capabilities, real-time data, and trusted relationships could reduce trade frictions without compromising the UK’s security or biosecurity. The evaluation report suggests that significant benefits are available, but new models are not yet ready to replace traditional systems.
Broken Chocolate – Providing Supply Chain Visibility
DECaDE explores how biomarkers can link cocoa products to the digital world, creating supply chain visibility.
An immutable ledger of biomarkers can be created using blockchain to provide a trusted source of provenance.
Multinational chocolate firm executives admit the cocoa supply chain is “broken”. Factors such as high demand and volatile prices create incentives for fraud, environmental and labour abuses. A key perpetuating factor is the difficulty of tracing cocoa and its derivative products back to specific farms due to crops being mixed so early in the supply chain.
Our previous research has highlighted the difficulty of linking the physical and digital worlds in food supply (Rogerson and Parry, 2020). This work employed biomarkers, a ‘biochemical bar code’ created from DNA extracted from cocoa plants. These provide unique identifiers for plants that also appear in their cocoa beans and survive industrial processing. The work demonstrated that a bean from an individual farm, can be identified in a retail chocolate bar made from a mixture of beans of different origins.
We envision the next stage is a distributed ledger providing provenance for a database allowing individuals to trace chocolate bought anywhere in the world. Such technology will allow companies to evidence good practice, corroborated against science-based audits.
Blockchain Implementation: Capabilities, Enablers & Barriers
DECaDE researchers under undertook a series of projects to understand the challenges of blockchain adoption.
Blockchain technology is used to address traditional supply chain management problems, such as the lack of data transparency, advanced trust mechanisms and traceability. However, in 2023 90% of blockchain-based supply chain initiatives were said to be suffering ‘blockchain fatigue’, driven by recent failures of large-scale projects.
A systematic review – was conducted to capture knowledge of blockchain applications in supply chains. The research identified 34 success factors of blockchain adoption and proposes a multi-theoretical framework to explain those factors. The work facilitates and enables blockchain technology adoption, helping supply chain practitioners shape strategy.
A mixed-method approach – analysed adoption of blockchain. Integrated qualitative data coding was used with quantitative data analysis to identify enablers or barriers to blockchain adoption. The work identified 29 common themes which were classified as enablers, barriers or ambiguous to technology adoption. Most enablers to adoption were interdependent with other factors whilst barriers were discrete. More barriers than enablers were identified in literature. The most prominent themes, capability and compatibility, were mainly discussed as barriers to adoption.
A survey of supply chain practitioners – identified challenges and best practice in adoption of blockchain systems. This research highlighted success factors and captured insights from practice into blockchain technology capability. Work will develop strategies to assist firms in appropriately implementing blockchain technology.
