A Non-Fungible Token Solution for the Track and Trace of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain
Industry 4.0 is leading society into a new era characterized by smart communications between consumers and enterprises. While entertainment and fashion brands aim to consolidate their identities, increasing consumers’ participation in new, engaging, and immersive experiences, other industry sectors...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/8/4019 |
| _version_ | 1797436993588690944 |
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| author | Ferdinando Chiacchio Diego D’Urso Ludovica Maria Oliveri Alessia Spitaleri Concetto Spampinato Daniela Giordano |
| author_facet | Ferdinando Chiacchio Diego D’Urso Ludovica Maria Oliveri Alessia Spitaleri Concetto Spampinato Daniela Giordano |
| author_sort | Ferdinando Chiacchio |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Industry 4.0 is leading society into a new era characterized by smart communications between consumers and enterprises. While entertainment and fashion brands aim to consolidate their identities, increasing consumers’ participation in new, engaging, and immersive experiences, other industry sectors such as food and drugs are called to adhere to stricter regulations to increase the quality assurance of their processes. The pharmaceutical industry is inherently one of the most regulated sectors because the safety, integrity, and conservation along the distribution network are the main pillars for guaranteeing the efficacy of drugs for the general public. Favoured by Industry 4.0 incentives, pharmaceutical serialization has become a must in the last few years and is now in place worldwide. In this paper, a decentralized solution based on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which can improve the track and trace capability of the standard serialization process, is presented. Non-fungible tokens are minted in the blockchain and inherit all the advantages provided by this technology. As blockchain technology is becoming more and more popular, adoption of track and trace will increase tremendously. Focusing on the pharmaceutical industry’s use of track and trace, this paper presents the concepts and architectural elements necessary to support the non-fungible token solution, culminating in the presentation of a use case with a prototypical application. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:11:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f7e821537666419abdb0256c48c8a930 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:11:35Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-f7e821537666419abdb0256c48c8a9302023-12-01T00:43:31ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172022-04-01128401910.3390/app12084019A Non-Fungible Token Solution for the Track and Trace of Pharmaceutical Supply ChainFerdinando Chiacchio0Diego D’Urso1Ludovica Maria Oliveri2Alessia Spitaleri3Concetto Spampinato4Daniela Giordano5Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyDepartment of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyDepartment of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyDepartment of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyDepartment of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyDepartment of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, University of Catania, 95125 Catania, ItalyIndustry 4.0 is leading society into a new era characterized by smart communications between consumers and enterprises. While entertainment and fashion brands aim to consolidate their identities, increasing consumers’ participation in new, engaging, and immersive experiences, other industry sectors such as food and drugs are called to adhere to stricter regulations to increase the quality assurance of their processes. The pharmaceutical industry is inherently one of the most regulated sectors because the safety, integrity, and conservation along the distribution network are the main pillars for guaranteeing the efficacy of drugs for the general public. Favoured by Industry 4.0 incentives, pharmaceutical serialization has become a must in the last few years and is now in place worldwide. In this paper, a decentralized solution based on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which can improve the track and trace capability of the standard serialization process, is presented. Non-fungible tokens are minted in the blockchain and inherit all the advantages provided by this technology. As blockchain technology is becoming more and more popular, adoption of track and trace will increase tremendously. Focusing on the pharmaceutical industry’s use of track and trace, this paper presents the concepts and architectural elements necessary to support the non-fungible token solution, culminating in the presentation of a use case with a prototypical application.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/8/4019track and traceserializationblockchainsmart manufacturingsupply chainWeb3 |
| spellingShingle | Ferdinando Chiacchio Diego D’Urso Ludovica Maria Oliveri Alessia Spitaleri Concetto Spampinato Daniela Giordano A Non-Fungible Token Solution for the Track and Trace of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Applied Sciences track and trace serialization blockchain smart manufacturing supply chain Web3 |
| title | A Non-Fungible Token Solution for the Track and Trace of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain |
| title_full | A Non-Fungible Token Solution for the Track and Trace of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain |
| title_fullStr | A Non-Fungible Token Solution for the Track and Trace of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Non-Fungible Token Solution for the Track and Trace of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain |
| title_short | A Non-Fungible Token Solution for the Track and Trace of Pharmaceutical Supply Chain |
| title_sort | non fungible token solution for the track and trace of pharmaceutical supply chain |
| topic | track and trace serialization blockchain smart manufacturing supply chain Web3 |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/8/4019 |
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