by Valeria Pinto | 16 May 2023 | Blockchain, Featured, SmartAid, Track and Trust, Web3 Company Builder
Track & Trust is ready to launch soon! Here’s what’s new: Unlike many other supply chain solutions, it offers a probabilistic rather than a deterministic approach to tracking goods. In short, this means the solution captures tons of data that logistics firms are currently missing out on, with Track & Trust – Probabilistic 360° Supply Chain Tracking.
Track & Trust combines a set of modern Web3, communication, and satellite technologies and aims to address significant unsolved challenges of today’s supply chains. Combining various communication systems creates a network for the supply chain even in the most remote areas of the world.
Any kind of shipment information from such areas is highly valuable for all actors along the supply chain, such as logistic firms, their clients, the end consumer, and the operating teams on the ground. One of the current challenges is the accessibility of information in fast-changing and remote areas – an issue the Track & Trust team seeks to facilitate. While other supply chain systems deterministically produce output information by requiring a specific input, Track & Trust does not rely on standardized initial input, minimizing hurdles in gaining knowledge. Our probabilistic approach, in contrast, allows maximum flexibility. Any kind of slightest interaction with the shipment, even if it is only the scanning of a T&T QR code with a smartphone, leads to the submission of a status update. And it doesn’t matter whether logistical staff or anyone else has carried out this scan or someone not related to it.
Additionally, users are free to report on the status of the shipment or their own circumstances, meaning they can communicate through a text field and provide any extra information on the shipment on their terms, e.g. “flooded route. Took a different route, delivery delayed by two hours”. It is ultimately at the discretion of the logistics operators to multiply the effectiveness of their tracking tools to decide how and what data they use.
Leveraging Data to Drive Process Innovation
Data from the operational area is the actual raw material – logisticians can use them to complement or expand their services in a new way. This leaves room for extensions in the future, for example, on a basis of such a broad database, AI models could be trained to ultimately make predictions about the shrinkage of deliveries, stock levels, and route recommendations. Doing so creates added value for logistic companies’ customers and new competitive advantages for the company itself. Thereby, while increasing efficiency and transparency, Track & Trust holds the potential to change the logistics industry. Lastly, we feel grateful that by investing in this project, the European Space Agency underscores the overall potential of our tracking tool.
As things are beginning to take shape, stay tuned for updates on Track & Trust as it is ready for deployment by 2023!
by Kira Nezu | 26 November 2020 | Blockchain, SmartAid
Admittedly, it’s a German original: The “Adventskalender”. Every year on December 1st, children’s eyes in Germany start to shine – the Christmas countdown starts! This tradition has been going on on for decades. In the last few years, advent calendars have grown more and more elaborate, heating up the greed for consumption.
This year at SmartAid, the team thinks it’s time for an advent calendar that grounds us all in the Christmas frenzy and lets us rediscover the essentials of the Advent season.
As a result, you find here SmartAid Advent Calendar: Every day, starting December 1st to December 24th, you can perform a good deed. With a small contribution you have the opportunity to make the world a little better – by donating for food, school materials, medicine or hygiene.
This is how it works:
- Download the advent calendar as a PDF here
- Print out the pages with the cards and cut out the 24 project cards along the dotted line (optional).
- By scanning the QR code of the respective card with your smartphone (e.g. with the camera app), you will be taken directly to the project page.
- Now you can find out more about the project, set your desired amount with the controller and donate comfortably via PayPal or credit card.
The nice thing about donating with SmartAid: With the blockchain based donation tracker, you can precisely track your donation. You can adjust the amount of your donation yourself!
So, get ready for December 1st – we wish you lots of fun donating!
by Martin Schäffner | 22 October 2020 | Blockchain, SmartAid
Not even COVID-19 can stop our meetups. However, since we did not want to risk the health of our audience, we decided to hold our 22nd Blockchain Munich Meetup online. No pizza, no beer, but insightful presentations of the application of blockchain technology in the aid industry.
First up was Kyriacos Koupparis, head of Frontier Innovations, WFP’s innovation accelerator. After we briefly celebrated that the World Food Program recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, Kyriacos gave us an overview of the various blockchain projects at his organization. Starting with our beloved Building Blocks project, which supports over 600k refugees in Jordan and Malaysia with cash vouchers for everyday purchases. Our blockchain-based system saved WFT millions of USD in foreign bank transfer costs. We at Datarella are very glad to help to maximize the value which arrives at the people in need. Next to using blockchain for finance, WFT sees the high potential in the application of blockchain technology to increase supply chain traceability. Here, we also completely agree with WFP. As demonstrated with our Track & Trust project, Blockchain Technology allows bringing clarity to complex supply chains by documenting each handover in the T&T Blockchain.
The next speaker was Franz von Weizsäcker, Head of Blockchain Lab at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The GIZ is leveraging blockchain technology for real-world use cases. Franz presented a project in Georgia, in which the Bitcoin Blockchain is used to document hashes of land registry titles. Also, the GIZ is applying blockchain technology for supply chain solutions. On the one hand, to enable tracking the origin of organic spaces, on the other hand, for digital certification, which aims for trade facilitation at customs offices. Further, it was very interesting to learn about a community currency project the GIZ has started in Cameroon. The project was inspired by the work of the Grassroots Economics Foundation in Kenya, which uses complementary currencies to overcome the shortage of national currencies in poor communities.
Our last guest speaker this evening was Gordon Pelz, who is on the Board of Trustees of the YOU Stiftung. Gordon presented to two projects, in which the YOU Stiftung leverages blockchain technology, New Baraka and SmartAid. At the New Baraka project, a slum close to Dakar, the capital of Senegal, has been turned into attractive apartment buildings. The inhabitants of the prior slum moved into the new houses. Ownership of the living spaces will be transferred after a certain period to its new residences. Here, blockchain technology comes into play and is used to document symbolic rental payments of the previous slum inhabitants. Saving the data about the payees and payments into a blockchain serves as evidence at the time of transfer of ownership of the apartments. The second use case Gordon presented was SmartAid, our next generation donation platform the YOU Stiftung had launched together with Datarella. By today, the YOU Stiftung has collected over 1150 EUR via the SmartAid web app. The first steps of building a water well in Ghana are initiated. More details about the project status are going to be communicated soon via the project’s donation tracker. For more information on SmartAid and the water project please checkout SmartAid or our news blog news.smartaid.digital.
We were very happy to hear that blockchain technology is applied in so many real use cases in the aid industry, allowing for efficiency gains, where they are most needed. Let’s leverage the benefits of blockchain technology to make our world a better place for everyone.
We are looking forward to seeing you at our next meetup again.
by Michael Reuter | 29 September 2020 | Blockchain, SmartAid
A few days ago, we launched our new blockchain-based donation app SmartAid that allows for traceable donations to charity projects all over the world. The first charity project is YOU Foundation’s “Water for West Africa”, collecting money for the construction of freshwater wells that provide West African communities with drinking water and allows for improving hygienic standards fighting the coronavirus.
SmartAid has been designed as a web app; i.e. you don’t have to download it from an app store but you simply surf to the URL www.smartaid.digital in your mobile or desktop browser and start donating, immediately. The donation process is very simple and (should be) self-explaining: you choose the amount you want to donate, you select the PayPal or credit card payment option, and confirm your donation. Done.
Since in 2020, there are thousands of different smartphones, running on millions of different versions of operating systems, even the most simple online process can result in unexpected effects; s.a. a page not loading, or a text not showing up. Since we want to make the donation experience as pleasant as possible, we’d like to invite you, and your friends, to join us and help to improve SmartAid! Donate – you could start with just 1 EUR – and send us your feedback. Although we are most interested in potential bugs or any inconveniences you might experience, of course, we’re also very happy to hear about positive experiences while donating!
Please send your feedback to smartaid (at) datarella (dot) com
It would be great if you could support us in refining and optimising SmartAid – and our friends over at YOU Foundation will be grateful for your donations that support West African rural communities! Thank you!
by Martin Schäffner | 22 September 2020 | Blockchain, SmartAid
We are proud to announce that SmartAid is under the winning team of two EU funded Horizon 2020 programs: Blockchers and Blockpool.
SmartAid is the next generation marketing, funding and reporting tool for non-profit organizations, seamlessly connecting donors with charitable projects. Blockchain technology allows SmartAid to introduce a new era of transparency, efficiency and effectiveness within the aid industry. By drastically reducing costs, SmartAid maximizes the value, which arrives at the people in need.
The Background
Our world is facing global challenges. Next to the almost ordinary crisis, like natural disasters, the effects of climate change, and wars, we need to deal with the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, which has been tragic and costs many lives. However, while the economic consequences are going to hurt developed countries, they are going to be devastating for the developing world. Already before the pandemic, over 200 million people were assessed in need of humanitarian assistance.
To fight sorrow and misery, to create perspectives for humans living in less privileged countries and to turn our world into a better place for everyone, requires the help of the wealthy population. In the year 2019, over 25.3 billion EUR have been donated worldwide for international humanitarian assistance, almost 2 billion EUR from EU institutions alone, and over 2.5 billion EUR from Germany. (1)
The Problem
In poor countries, even small amounts of money can make the difference between sending your kid to school or sending them hungry to bed. Unfortunately, any type of costs diminish the value, which arrives at the people in need.
SmartAid addresses the high costs, arising through a lack of transparency and automation in the charity industry. Opaque and outdated systems result in high expenses for both donors and aid projects. For receiving organizations, financial reporting to their sponsors is related to substantial efforts. In return, the financiers also need to invest money to audit their aid projects. Manual reporting is not only costly but also vulnerable to human error and even fraud. Corruption is often an issue in aid-receiving countries. Furthermore, uncertainty about whether their donations indeed arrive at the intended destination might reduce the willingness of private donors to contribute.
In addition, the costs related to foreign fiat currency transfer are exorbitantly high. Bank fees, which eat up to 30% of the transaction volume, are no rarity. Furthermore, once donations are transferred and covered into the local currency, funds are exposed to high inflation risk, possibly making them worthless within weeks. Last but not least, measuring the impact of a donation today is very costly and can be only vaguely estimated through long term studies and surveys.
The Solution
Transparency and automation allow the creation of efficiency gains. SmartAid eliminates unnecessary cost drivers, caused through manual reporting systems, in the charity and non-profit industry.
In the current development phase, SmartAid uses a pull approach to mirror donations in fiat currency, like Euro, on the SmartAid blockchain. A PayPal API connects the traditional fiat payment world with our blockchain system, where all funding streams are documented tamper-proof, transparent and in historical order. For each donor, an individual token contract is deployed, a matching amount of tokens minted, and transferred to an address, representing the beneficiary’s bank account. By representing individual donations through a unique – thus distinguishable token, full transparency about the usage of each donor fund can be provided. This allows users of SmartAid to trace the journey of their very own donation. Certainly, also, outgoing payments are documented on the SmartAid Blockchain fully automated via the PayPal API without the costs and risks of manual accounting.
In future development stages, SmartAid can switch to a push approach. In that case, aid projects can use tokens received in multiple ways and leverage their utility. Tokens will be redeemable as vouchers at the SmartAid platform for national currency.
Further, these value units are going to be transferable to addresses, representing cost centres within an organization. Also, tokens will be usable as a medium of exchange between the charity organizations, aid implementing projects and final recipients without intermediaries, bank fees or inflation risks and fully transparent. Lastly, it will be possible to create new project tokens, leveraging a donor fund backed reserve to increase the liquidity.
The digital documentation of newly created project tokens allows non-profits and their financiers to automatically measure the impact and the value created by a donation. This will allow an effective fund allocation in the future, maximizing the generated value.
Why Blockchain
Blockchain technology allows SmartAid to document transactions in a transparent, tamper-proof, and trustless way. Distributing copies of the ledger, which keeps track of the past and current state of the SmartAid ecosystem, makes it secure and eliminates the risk of any single actor manipulating the history. Also, blockchain allows creating and managing new vouchers aka. tokens in a secure manner at neglectable costs.
Join SmartAid
If you want to learn more about SmartAid, check out our previous posts. Please feel free to contact us if you want support SmartAid by becoming a sponsor or have interesting project proposals.
(1) http://devinit.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GHA-report-2019.pdf
by Michael Reuter | 14 September 2020 | Blockchain, SmartAid
Last week, Datarella and YOU Foundation have launched SmartAid, the first digital donation app that allows for traceable donations based on blockchain technology. SmartAid offers immediate support in crisis situations and lets its donors track their donations until they reached beneficiaries. SmartAid’s first project is “Clean Water for West Africa”, a charity project initiated and managed by YOU Foundation, led by UNESCO Special Ambassador Dr. h.c. Ute-Henriette Ohoven.
Why Donating Must Be Changed!
Time and again, potential donors wonder how difficult it still is, to donate to the right cause, and in an efficient and fun way. Often, you can’t donate using your mobile, or can’t even donate online. Then, you would donate to a certain general topic, rather than to a specific project. Last, but not least, as a donor, you can’t track and trace the path of your donation. Many potential donors are put off by clunky, complex, and intransparent donation processes. Given a huge amount of spare money many people in the rich parts of our world have available for being spent to a good cause, this is a wasted opportunity.
Enter SmartAid!
Efficient, and easy-to-use, the blockchain-based web app does not only make donating fun, but offers fervently desired transparency of the money flows: Right after having donated between 1 – 199 Euro, the donation will be stored on the SmartAid blockchain. The donor receives a tracking code to trace her donation until it reaches its destination. This so-called “traceable donation” is a world first. Secure and immutable blockchain technology guarantees that all donations will reach the right beneficiary by making the flow of money transparent to the donor.
Security, Transparency, and Fun
Donating via SmartAid is not only secure, efficient, and transparent – it’s fun! A direct connection to a donor’s credit card or PayPal account allows for an easy process that even lets donors share their donations via Social Media, thus motivating others to share this experience and jointly support the charity project.
“For a long time, we at YOU Foundation have been looking for a way to enable individuals to donate to our charity projects all around the world. Therefore, we can’t wait to see SmartAid in action!”, says Ute-Henriette Ohoven, founder of YOU Foundation.
“Since 2015, we at Datarella have been working on Blockchain projects with our corporate partners, such as Bosch, Siemens, BMW, Merck, and international humanitarian organizations, such as the UN World Food Programme WFP, or UK Aid. We are very happy to launch SmartAid, together with YOU Foundation, and we are highly curious how donors will perceive the new transparency of their donations”, adds Michael Reuter, CEO of Datarella.
Now – feel free to donate! www.smartaid.digital
