The State of Food and Agriculture

Blockchain is an emerging digital technology allowing ubiquitous financial transactions among distributed untrusted parties, without the need of intermediaries such as banks. This article examines the impact of blockchain technology in agriculture and food supply chain, presents existing ongoing projects and initiatives, and discusses overall implications, challenges and potential, with a critical view over the maturity of these projects. Our findings indicate that blockchain is a promising technology towards a transparent supply chain of food, with many ongoing initiatives in various food products and food-related issues, but many barriers and challenges still exist, which hinder its wider popularity among farmers and systems. These challenges involve technical aspects, education, policies and regulatory frameworks.

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The rise of blockchain technology in agriculture and food supply chains

Blockchain is a technology with unique combination of features such as decentralized structure, distributed notes and storage mechanism, consensus algorithm, smart contracting, and asymmetric encryption to ensure network security, transparency and visibility. Blockchain has immense potential to transform supply chain (SC) functions, from SC provenance, business process reengineering to security enhancement. More and more studies exploring the use of blockchain in SCs have appeared in recent years. In this paper, we consider a total of 178 articles and examine all the relevant research done in the field associated with the use of blockchain integration in SC operations. We highlight the corresponding opportunities, possible societal impacts, current state-of-the-art technologies along with major trends and challenges. We examine several industrial sectors such as shipping, manufacturing, automotive, aviation, finance, technology, energy, healthcare, agriculture and food, e-commerce, and education among others that can be successfully revamped with blockchain based technologies through enhanced visibility and business process management. A future research agenda is established which lays the solid foundation for further studies on this important emerging research area.

Blockchain technology in supply chain operations: Applications, challenges and research opportunities

In 1965 Ivan E. Sutherland envisioned the Ultimate Display, a room in which a computer can directly control the existence of matter.
This type of display would merge the digital and the physical world, dramatically changing how people interact with computers.
This thesis explores flat displays, deformable displays, flexible materials, static, and mobile projection displays in dynamic environments. 
%Dynamic environments are inherent to human behavior, but pose big problems to Human-Computer Interaction since computing devices rely on many assumptions of the interaction.
Two aspects of the dynamic environment are considered. One is mobile human nature -- a person moving through or inside an environment. The other is the change or movement of the environment itself.

The initial study consisted of a mixed reality application, based on recent motor learning research. It tested if a performer's attentional focus on markers external to the body improves the accuracy and duration of acquiring a motor skill, as compared with the performer focusing on their own body accompanied by verbal instructions. This experiment showed the need for displays that resemble physical reality. 


Deformable displays and Organic User Interfaces (OUIs) leverage shape, material, and the inherent properties of matter in order to create natural, intuitive forms of interaction. We suggested designing OUIs employing depth sensors as 3D input, deformable displays as 3D output, and identifying attributes that couple matter to human perception and motor skills. 

Flexible materials were explored by developing a soft gripper able to hold everyday objects of various shapes and sizes. It did not use complex hardware or control algorithms, but rather combined sheets of flexible plastic materials and a single servo motor.
The gripper showed how a simple design with a minimal control mechanism can solve a complex problem in a dynamic environment.
It serves as an example application for merging the digital and the physical through flexible materials, embodied computation, and actuation.

The next two experiments merge digital information with the physical dynamic environment by using mobile and static projectors.
The mobile projector experiment consisted of GPS navigation using a bike-mounted projector, displaying a map on the pavement in front of the bike. We found out that if compared with a bike-mounted smartphone, the mobile projector yields a lower cognitive load for the map navigation task. 
A dynamic space emerges from the navigation task requirements, and the projected display becomes a part of the physical environment. 

In the final experiment, a person interacts with a changing, growing environment, on which digital information is projected from above using a static projector. The interactive space consists of cardboard building blocks, the arrangement of which are limited by the area of projection. The user adds cardboard blocks to the cluster based upon feedback projected from above.
Concepts from artificial intelligence and architecture were applied for understanding the interaction between the environment, the user, the morphology, and the material of the physical building system.

https://publications.lib.chalmers.se/records/fulltext/198101/198101.pdf

The Ultimate Display

El artículo tiene como objetivo evaluar el nivel de desarrollo de la capacidad de absorción realizada (RACAP) en las Pyme colombianas. Se parte de una muestra de 363 Pyme colombianas (Dane,2012), se usa una revisión de literatura con apoyo del análisis de contenido y un modelo de regresión lineal, que permiten mostrar la existencia de una correlación lineal positiva entre la adquisición y asimilación del conocimiento externo en las organizaciones objeto de estudio,. Palabras clave: Capacidades de absorción, capacidades de absorción potencial, medición de las capacidades de absorción ABSTRACT:

Measurement of potential absorption capacity in Colombia's innovative companies [Medición de la capacidad de absorción potencial en las empresas innovadoras de Colombia]

Modern supply chains have evolved into highly complex value networks and turned into a vital source of competitive advantage. However, it has become increasingly challenging to verify the source of raw materials and maintain visibility of products and merchandise while they are moving through the value chain network. The application of the Internet of Things (IoT) can help companies to observe, track, and monitor products, activities, and processes within their respective value chain networks. Other applications of IoT include product monitoring to optimize operations in warehousing‚ manufacturing, and transportation. In combination with IoT, Blockchain technology can enable a broad range of different application scenarios to enhance value chain transparency and to increase B2B trust. When combined, IoT and Blockchain technology have the potential to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of modern supply chains. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we illustrate how the deployment of Blockchain technology in combination with IoT infrastructure can streamline and benefit modern supply chains and enhance value chain networks. Second, we derive six research propositions outlining how Blockchain technology can impact key features of the IoT (i.e., scalability, security, immutability and auditing, information flows, traceability and interoperability, quality) and thus lay the foundation for future research projects.

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/11/7/161/pdf

Leveraging the Internet of Things and Blockchain Technology in Supply Chain Management

This study reviews Internet of Things (IoT) research in supply chain management (SCM) and logistics. A thorough review and bibliometric analysis were conducted to analytically and objectively unearth the knowledge development in IoT research within the context of SCM and logistics. The analysis started with the selection of 807 journal articles published over a two-decade period. Then, the articles were analyzed according to bibliometric parameters such as year of publication, sources, authors, and institutions. A keyword co-occurrence network was used to cluster the pertinent literature. Results of the review and bibliometric analysis reveal that IoT research has attracted significant attention from the SCM and logistics community. Three leading journals published widely on IoT and the fifteen most productive authors are identified. Based on the keyword co-occurrence clustering, the IoT literature in SCM and logistics is focalized on RFID technology, Industry 4.0 technologies, reverse logistics, and additionally covers various industries, such as the food, retailing, construction, and the pharmaceutical sector. The study provides researchers with a better understanding of IoT research in SCM and logistics and existing knowledge gaps for further research. Practitioners may benefit from the review to keep abreast of the current discussions and applications of IoT in diverse industrial sectors. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current review is one of the few attempts to investigate IoT research in SCM and logistics using a comprehensive set of articles published during the past two decades.

Internet of Things research in supply chain management and logistics: A bibliometric analysis

Blockchain technology has emerged as a promising technology with far-reaching implications for the food industry. The combination of immutability, enhanced visibility, transparency and data integrity provides numerous benefits that improve trust in extended food supply chains (FSCs). Blockchain can enhance traceability, enable more efficient recall and aids in risk reduction of counterfeits and other forms of illicit trade. Moreover, blockchain can enhance the integrity of credence claims such as sustainably sourced, organic or faith-based claims such as kosher or halal by integrating the authoritative source of the claim (e.g., the certification body or certification owner) into the blockchain to verify the claim integrity and reassure business customers and end consumers. Despite the promises and market hype, a comprehensive overview of the potential benefits and challenges of blockchain in FSCs is still missing. To bridge this knowledge gap, we present the findings from a systematic review and bibliometric analysis of sixty-one (61) journal articles and synthesize existing research. The main benefits of blockchain technology in FCSs are improved food traceability, enhanced collaboration, operational efficiencies and streamlined food trading processes. Potential challenges include technical, organizational and regulatory issues. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our research and present several ideas for future research.

Blockchain Technology in the Food Industry: A Review of Potentials, Challenges and Future Research Directions

The purpose of this study is to investigate the potentials of blockchain technologies (BC) for supply chain collaboration (SCC).,Building on a narrative literature review and analysis of seminal SCC research, BC characteristics are integrated into a conceptual framework consisting of seven key dimensions: information sharing, resource sharing, decision synchronization, goal congruence, incentive alignment, collaborative communication and joint knowledge creation. The relevance of each category is briefly assessed.,BC technologies can impact collaboration between transaction partners in modern supply chains (SCs) by streamlining information sharing processes, by supporting decision and reward models and by strengthening communicative relationships with SC partners. BC promises important future capabilities in SCs by facilitating auditability, improving accountability, enhancing data and information transparency and improving trust in B2B relationships. The technology also promises to strengthen collaboration and to overcome vulnerabilities related to moral hazard and shortcomings found in legacy technologies.,The paper is mainly focused on the potentials of BC technologies on SCC as envisioned in the current academic literature. Hence, there is a need to validate the theoretical inferences with other approaches such as expert interviews and empirical tests. This study is of use to practitioners and decision-makers seeking to engage in BC-collaborative SC models.,The value of this paper lies in its call for an increased focus on the possibilities of BC technologies to support SCC. This study also contributes to the literature by filling the knowledge gap of how BC potentially impacts SC management.

Potentials of blockchain technologies for supply chain collaboration: a conceptual framework

The proliferation of sophisticated e-commerce platforms coupled with mobile applications has ignited growth in business-to-consumer (B2C) commerce, reshaped organizational structures and revamped value creation processes. Simultaneously‚ new technologies have altered the dynamics of brand marketing‚ enabling a broader reach and more personalized targeting aimed at increasing brand trust and enhancing customer loyalty. Today‚ the Internet allows marketers to penetrate existing markets, create new online marketplaces and to generate new demand. This dynamic market engagement uses new technologies to target consumers more effectively. In this conceptual paper, we discuss how blockchain technology can potentially impact a firm’s marketing activities. More specifically, we illustrate how blockchain technology can empower the consumer-centric paradigm and foster disintermediation‚ combat click fraud, reinforce trust and transparency, enable privacy protection, empower security and enable creative loyalty programs. We present six propositions that will guide future blockchain-related research in the area of marketing.

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Abderahman Rejeb

Papers

Leveraging the Internet of Things and Blockchain Technology in Supply Chain Management

Internet of Things research in supply chain management and logistics: A bibliometric analysis

Blockchain Technology in the Food Industry: A Review of Potentials, Challenges and Future Research Directions

Potentials of blockchain technologies for supply chain collaboration: a conceptual framework

How Blockchain Technology Can Benefit Marketing: Six Pending Research Areas