We are intruducing the key drivers behind Digital Product Passports (DPP) and their unique components. While the current focus is on proving sustainability and enabling circular economy initiatives, there are many other opportunities and use cases that can be unlocked as the scope of digital passports expands.
Proven Sustainability: Digital passports allow organizations to capture key data points and events from across the manufacturing and product creation process. Data related to resources used and emissions generated during the manufacturing process fully detail the environmental impact of the product. This allows organizations and brands to substantiate their sustainability claims to consumers while ensuring compliance with regulators and authorities.
Lifecycle Tracking: Digital passports are continuously updated with downstream events throughout the entire lifecycle of a product. From repairs to maintenance to upgrades, DPPs become a repository for storing all significant events. Importantly, information on disposal, end-of-life, and product recycling are also recorded in the DPP, providing a foundation for product circularity and remanufacturing.
Data Transparency: Digital passports provide a foundation for increased transparency and data accuracy throughout the entire supply chain, enhancing efficiency and strengthening relationships among suppliers and ecosystem participants. Processes and information exchange across the value chain are improved as DPPs enable real-time audit trails of asset and data flows.
Traceability of Provenance: Digital passports improve traceability throughout the supply chain, enabling consumers to track the origin, source, and provenance of the raw materials and resources used in their products. This proof of source builds trust between organizations and customers, while offering all parties oversight into the resources and materials used during the manufacturing process.
Ownership Verification: Digital passports powered by decentralized blockchain infrastructure allow consumers to claim immutable ownership of their product. Historical owners and exchanges between buyers and sellers can be visualized, boosting trust in resale markets. Ownership can also be easily transferred between parties to improve resale efficiency. Fast and easy verification of second-hand goods creates real opportunities for brands to unlock new revenue streams in profitable resale markets.
Combating Counterfeits: Digital passports enable consumers and brands to verify the authenticity of a product. For brands in industries where counterfeiting is a significant challenge, product passports make it easy to determine not only whether a product is authentic but also verify ownership (while protecting the owner’s personal details). Presenting the digital passport alongside the physical product enables both brands and consumers to effectively combat counterfeit markets.
Customer Experience: Digital passports can serve as an additional communication and engagement channel directly connecting organizations with their customers. Extra services, perks, and experiences could be offered exclusively through this channel, which also serves as an ideal gateway for educating customers on sustainability initiatives. Brands could go a step further and use tokenization to gamify and incentivize sustainable behavior from customers, leading to increased loyalty and retention.
