Chemchain's digital product passport for a sustainable future of the chemical industry

The chemical industry faces the challenge of manufacturing and managing its products in a sustainable way to promote a sustainable future and a circular economy. The startup Chemchain offers a solution by providing a digital product passport for tracking chemicals along the value chain. In this way, Chemchain supports chemical companies in implementing sustainable business practices and contributes to achieving the goals of the circular economy. In the following interview, COO Luca Mohammadi explains what added value Chemchain's solution offers and what goals the startup is pursuing. 

How would you explain your solution in three sentences to a professional colleague in a chemical company? 

Chemchain offers a digital product passport to track and trace chemicals along the value chain for enhanced sustainability and circularity. We leverage blockchain technology to provide a secure, transparent and immutable record of the product's journey. Off the shelf information templates allow companies to standardize the way in which they communicate with supply chain partners and to ensure compliance with emerging DPP regulations.

What problem motivated you to start the company? 

Based on our previous experiences and insights in the chemical industry, we recognized the need for a solution to enable the tracking of chemicals along the value chain from raw material to end product and to ensure that they are handled, recycled or disposed at best.  Additionally, we saw the potential for blockchain technology to provide a secure and immutable record of the product's journey reducing the risk of fraud and enhancing trust in the supply chain. Our ultimate goal is to contribute to a more sustainable future for the chemical industry and the planet. We believe in the core role to be played by the chemicals industry are first player in product value chains.

How do you convince a chemical company to set up a pilot project with you?

To convince chemical companies to set up a pilot project with Chemchain, we underline the key role that chemical companies play in promoting transparent communication and supporting sustainable and circular models. We also highlight the following unique features and added value of our solution:

• Standard DPP solution - Our solution can enable chemical companies to standardize their communication along the supply chain, reducing the burden of information requests and ensure information availability throughout the supply chain

• Selective disclosure - We allow data owner to remain in control of their data and decide when, to whom and what is shared

• Integration with company systems - We provide a standard API to integrate with existing ERPs and other company systems for a seamless integration of ChemChain 

Who are your current customer (groups) and who do you want your potential customers to be? 

Our pilots were executed with leading chemical companies such as Dow, Solvay and P&G on business cases in fashion, furniture, energy, FMCG, and pharmaceutical. We aim to expand our customer base to include more companies in the industries targeted by the emerging DPP regulatory requirements and other industries where tracking and traceability of chemicals is essential to enable sustainability and circularity.

Where do you see yourself in 3 years and how can 5-HT support you?

In 3 years, we envision Chemchain as a prominent digital solutions provider for DPPs in the chemical industry. 5-HT's support would be invaluable in helping us establish new partnerships and customers.