Blockchain in pharma logistics: SPbU students
The participant of the “SPbU Start-Up 2018” — Elait team — have come with an idea as to how to perform temperature monitoring when temperature-sensitive products are transported and automate the agreement between a supplier and a recipient.
About 25% of medical products, according to the World health Organisation, is transported violating the security measures. The data is proved by the results of the survey among the Russian companies that was carried out by the Elait. The transportation of the temperature-sensitive products (thermo logistics) can affect both quality and security: the medical products that are incorrectly transported can harm a patient’s health.
“We have questioned a number of the Russian companies about how many medical products are incorrectly transported, what these products are insured against, and whether a supplier and a recipient don’t trust each other, — said the leader of the team and master students in Applied Mathematics and Informatics Leonid Markizov. — Our results showed that it was a burning issue”.
Today, there are two types of temperature transducers. The first one is installed into the boxes where the goods are transported and you can take the measurements only when you open the box. They are highly accurate and sensitive, yet you can know whether the goods were transported incorrectly only when the goods are delivered. On the contrary, when you use the second type of the transducers, you can take measurements any time you like, yet they have low accuracy as they measure temperature in the container or in the truck.
Our solution is a system that consists of transducers and a mobile application. By using the mobile application, you can connect to the transducers that are installed in the boxes and transmit accurate measurements during transportation.
Leader of the team and master students in Applied Mathematics and Informatics Leonid Markizov
All necessary requirements are downloaded into the blockchain database and the information is available to both parties and cannot be altered or deleted. It increases trust between a supplier and a recipient. How well the goods are transported influences how much money you are going to get for your services.
“We use smart contracts that are a blockchain technology to automate signing a contract and transactions, — said the leader of the team, — The party A orders a service with the party B, put a deposit on the account of the smart contract and, if the terms and conditions are violated, the payment is undone. Or on the contrary: if everything goes smoothely, the party B get the deposit”.
Now the team is developing the MVP (a minimum viable product — a prototype of the transducers and application) and searching for the companies to test the product. Before the final round, the team is planning to test its product on the market and overcome the possible errors. Then they are going to implement the project.
The Elait team comprises three memebers: the leader of the team Leonid Markizov monitors the workflow, negotiates with the mentors and organisers of the competition; Roman Potekhin, a student in Physics, is responsible for software development of the MVP and finding the parts for the prototypes, and Danila Kanilichenko, a student in International Relations, is responsible for finance.