Blockchain Europe’s first Summer School took place in cooperation with the Graduate School of Logistics from July 19-23, 2021. The focus was on “How Blockchain will change the World of Logistics” and 20 participants took part in the challenging and interactive program. In addition to classic workshops and lectures, a live case study was also offered so that what was learned could be put into practice right away. At the end, all participants were ready to start into the Blockchain era.

Top-class professors from Germany, Denmark and Singapore introduced blockchain technology and its application areas through lectures. This was followed by the live case study in cooperation with Spark! Living Lab from the Netherlands. The challenge: How can the company Lamb Weston/Meijer reduce its carbon footprint across the entire supply chain by 25 percent compared to the previous year. Four interdisciplinary teams took on the challenge and developed four very different solution concepts in a short period of time. Blockchain was, of course, a fundamental part of the solutions concepts.

In the end, it was very difficult for the sponsor of the Live Case Study to determine a winner. “I am positively surprised. I would not have thought that such qualitatively good results, in such a short time are feasible,” thanked Mathijs Tomeij from Lamb Weston. In the end, Team 2 won by a hair’s breadth with its CO2 token. The company is now considering putting a combination of all the concepts into practice.

The participants are now part of the Graduate School of Logistics’ established PhD network and can participate in an overarching PhD seminar for blockchain PhD students. Some ideas for joint scientific publications have emerged and new sparring partners have been found.

“I will be back next year. The week was an intense experience and I learned a lot,” stated one of the participants.