Paris – July 12, 2024 – Eviden today announced ,in partnership with the IOTA Foundation, the Eviden Digital Passport solution (EDPS), “powered by IOTA” technology. This is one of the first ready-to-use blockchain-based Digital Product Passports (DPPs) on the market and the first of its scale to use IOTA’s technology as its Blockchain engine. EDPS “powered by IOTA”, around which services can be built, provides comprehensive data on a product’s lifecycle to enhance transparency, traceability, and sustainability.
This new EDPS can be used for a wide range of products across various industries, such as manufacturing, automotive, fashion and textiles, and food and beverages. It can also be used for many other cross-industry use cases such as a Media Passport for example which protects intellectual property, or a Logistic Product Passport which enables transparent documentation and reliable track & trace capabilities.
Leveraging its platform and broad industry expertise, Eviden has partnered with the IOTA Foundation, a global non-profit organization which supports the research and development of novel distributed ledger technologies (DLT), to integrate its open-source, scalable and regulatory-compliant DLT into the Digital Passport which acts as the powerful blockchain engine of the solution and provides ultimate data security and privacy.
IOTA is one of the most established Blockchain projects in the world and improves the Blockchain design to create a highly scalable DLT infrastructure which unlike alternatives, allows transactions to be added in parallel, boasts low resource requirements and fast transactions with finality in seconds.
The comprehensive data captured in the passport – covering everything from origin and materials, to manufacturing and usage, to repairs and end-of-life recycling – encourages sustainable production and consumption; assists business users in meeting regulatory requirements and standards; and builds consumer confidence by providing verified information about product safety, quality, and ethical production practices. Furthermore, the DPP facilitates continuous product improvement by comprehensively capturing consumer usage data, leading to more efficient utilization, reducing failures and warranty claims.
Battery Passport and Beyond
Today, the EDPS focuses on electrical vehicle (EV) batteries as the first of many possible product categories. The EDPS ensures that businesses can meet the EU requirements regarding the sustainability, safety, and disposal of batteries, contributing to the circular economy and simplifying regulatory compliance on a product level. With the ESPR (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation) coming into force next week and mandatory DPPs required for industrial and electric batteries starting in 2027, the demand for Digital Product Passports is expected to grow exponentially, reaching millions by the end of the decade.
However, this partnership seeks to scale-up the solution to develop other EDPS use cases, laying the foundation for strategic, long-term collaboration and building up expertise and experience with distributed ledger technologies.
Additionally, Eviden and the IOTA Foundation are looking to explore new areas where IOTA’s Blockchain technology may be applied, such as Global Digital Trade, Self-Sovereign Identity, and Data Monetization amongst others.
The EDPS helps to expand the possibilities of data and technology and promotes a sustainable product lifecycle by enabling continuous reuse and repurposing of products instead of discarding them. The goal is to lay the foundation for a circular economy, offering deep insights into every stage of the supply chain to support sustainable business models and facilitate the transition from a linear to a circular economic system.
Each passport ensures the consistency and security of the complete lifespan of the product which will actively contribute to waste reduction and resource conservation, promoting a more localized, diverse and resilient supply chain. Tracking and monitoring each element facilitates effective recycling or reuse of materials, offering not only environmental benefits but also cost savings and business resilience.
“Together with the IOTA Foundation, we are proud to announce this unique partnership and to launch a joint production-ready blockchain-based Digital Passport solution, ‘powered by IOTA’, which is aligned and in full compliance with the EU legal framework. Not only does IOTA’s DLT provide efficiency gains over traditional ways of interacting but more importantly this decentralized, transparent, and incorruptible technology creates an open, fair and secure infrastructure which builds trust” said Udo Littke, Head of Eviden Central Europe, Atos Group. “It aims to bring the highest level of transparency to help consumers and businesses make informed choices when purchasing products, as it facilitates repairs and recycling, and improves transparency about how a product’s life cycle impacts the environment. With this DPP solution, we are laying the foundation for exploring and developing other possible use cases outside of EV batteries and beyond DPPs.”
Dominik Schiener, Co-Founder and Chair of the IOTA Foundation said “This partnership leverages our unique joint benefits and creates a strong combination of capabilities, ready for the market to use. This is a long-term collaboration between Eviden and the IOTA Foundation and we will work closely together to explore further use cases in domains such as construction materials, textiles, and consumers electronics amongst others.”
