Orobo, tracking value in the circular economy

Blockchain offers solutions for circular economies

The devastating effects of climate change urge us to reconsider our ways of production and consumption. A systemic change is required from our current economic model to a circular one. This motivation is compounded by the financial opportunity arising from the circularisation of production and consumption. A circular economy aims to transition from a ‘take-make-waste’ system to an ecosystem economy by ‘closing the loops’. This means limiting the environmental impact and waste of resources, increasing efficiency and profitability by creating value of what is otherwise considered wastage. This systemic change to a circular model implies the adoption of a new underlying infrastructure and  rules for value chain stakeholders that currently go ungoverned. The decentralized and transparent nature of blockchain technology offers the perfect solution.

Orobo streamlines collaboration among value chain partners

Orobo’s goal is to develop an open and decentralized platform that incentivises parties to collaborate in circular value chains. It aims to enable the easy adoption of circular business models by leveraging distributed ledger technologies, smart contracting, immutability via the blockchain and provenance tracking between stakeholders within a manufacturing scenario.

Orobo streamlines collaboration among the stakeholders by removing frictions related to trust. The company provides stakeholders with a single source of truth in the form of a distributed ledger that logs all activities in the value chain. This includes the signature of the actor and a timestamp of when the activity occurred. It also addresses the joint effort to achieve ‘circularity’ by translating the value chain’s code of conduct into a set of transparent actions. This transparency and traceability leads to accountability and financial gains for all actors in the value chain while drastically minimizing the environmental impact associated with waste processing and extraction of (fossil) raw materials on a large scale.

Orobo has won the IMDA Blockchain Innovation grant

Orobo is an initiative that we’ve begun and shaped together with Chemistry and So Now in Singapore. Early 2020, Orobo won the IMDA Blockchain Innovation grant. This grant allows us to build an MVP, where Kryha is responsible for the development of the technology. We are currently conducting user research workshops to aid in the development of the ecosystem, sharpening the value proposition and design of the UX of the platform. With a working MVP we will support multiple circular initiatives worldwide on the Orobo digital infrastructure.