The project was launched in January 2019 to run for 44 months with funding totalling EUR 4.9 million. It aims to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from sectors such as healthcare access blockchain technology. Nine partners from five north-west European countries are involved in the project.

The areas of application for blockchain are virtually unlimited. Industries have therefore been identified for the BSTART project that could particularly benefit from blockchain technology – the agricultural and food sectors, logistics and healthcare. After all, blockchain is regarded as one of the major innovations in making it possible to exchange and store all kinds of information quickly and securely. Data for payments, for instance, can be stored locally in databases. It is considered to be tamper-proof, as it isn’t just the data itself that is automatically documented but also all transactions.

This technology can be used wherever data is exchanged and stored. However, the outlay for carrying out the relevant conversions of corporate processes has so far been very high and an almost insurmountable obstacle for many SMEs.

BioRegio STERN Management GmbH is one of nine partners. It will be working in the field of health with the French cluster Medicen Paris Region. The aim is to ascertain the potential of blockchain technology for SMEs and make it easier for them to get started. Ultimately, blockchain should help them transfer data securely.