On February 8th, 2021, Marubeni Corporation (hereinafter, “Marubeni”) entered into a business collaboration agreement with Circularise B.V. (hereinafter, “Circularise”), a Netherlands-based blockchain technology scale-up, to introduce a Traceability Management Platform (hereinafter, the “Platform”) developed by Circularise to the Japanese and Asian chemicals and plastics markets. Marubeni will conduct demonstration projects for this service together with its domestic clients and after the demonstration both organizations will investigate the benefits of a joint venture in Japan to commercialize Circularise’s service.

Recently, the Circular Economy (hereinafter, “CE”) is in the spotlight due to a shortage of resources and energy triggered by mass-production, mass-consumption and mass-disposal. This is widely regarded as an important environmental and social issue. However, for building CE, it is necessary to mutually share traceability-related information on materials and services provided by each stakeholder in the circular supply chain.

This is achieved with The Platform developed by Circularise which consists of proprietary “Smart Questioning Technology” based on blockchain and zero-knowledge proofs (*1). It enables brands, OEMs and manufacturers to selectively disclose traceability-related information like recipes, specifications and processing conditions for raw materials; recycling history; evironmental indicators like carbon footprints and resource efficient data; and information on the company's compliance with SDGs and third-party certifications towards customers and regulators. The Platform does all of this while still maintaining confidentiality, thus making more transparent and sustainable supply chains. In September 2020, Circularise was selected as one of the “EU Horizon 2020” (*2) companies by the European Commission, and is recognized as a provider of solutions to promote CE.

Marubeni will invite customers in the chemicals and plastics sectors to participate in the demonstration with the Platform in order to confirm its feasibility and identify functions to be improved. At the time of commercialization, Marubeni will explore a joint venture agreement to provide the Platform in Japan and Asia. Utilizing mutual resources, Marubeni and Circularise will contribute to a sustainable society.

(*1) A method by which one party (the prover) can prove to another party (the verifier) that they know a value x, without conveying any information apart from the fact that they know the value x.

(*2) Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion in public funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) provided by the European Commission.

With blockchain technology, the Platform digitally reproduces traceability-related information and environmental indicators in conjunction with actual material movement on software, and produces a digital twin(*). Upstream stakeholders ship out a material and book material information (upload information), then downstream stakeholders reconcile the information when the material is consumed. The information tokenized by blockchain technology remains unchangeable, and as such the information transparency is highly trusted and secured. Moreover, Smart Questioning Technology enables stakeholders to selectively open material information depending on each stakeholder.

For example, in the automotive industry, when downstream stakeholders would like to get material information for plastic injection molding automotive parts, the Platform enables the stakeholders to check material information of the plastic injection molding, and evironmental index like recycle history, without having to contact the material manufacturer, the automotive manufacturer (OEM / Brands) and the processing manufacturer one by one. Since uploaders can choose who sees the information they upload, sensitive data and information can be disclosed securely and confidentially to the intended recipient only.

(*) Creating the same situation in the cyber world as in the real world, by sending real world information and data in real time.

<Circularise Corporate Profile>
Company Name	：	Circularise B.V.
Head Office	：	Wilhelmina van Pruisenweg 35, 2595 AN, Den Haag, Netherlands
Incorporation	：	Jul. 2016
Businesses	：	Development of traceability management platform
Website	：	https://www.circularise.com/