BELFAST-based IT firm Arc-net will discover this week if has claimed a top prize at the Irish Time Innovation of the Year Awards.
The company, which employs 20 people across its offices in Belfast, Edinburgh and San Francisco, has been nominated in the Agri-Food category and is up against two other firms from Limerick and Dublin for the coveted prize. The overall winner on the night will then be selected from one of the seven category award winners.
Arc-net has developed a blockchain based traceability solution aimed at tackling the world’s £40 billion food-fraud problem.
The arc-net platform combines data collection at all points in the supply chain from farm to fork with the advanced security features of blockchain technology. Blockchain is more commonly associated with crypto-currencies such as bitcoin and other financial services applications, but it can be applied to any area where security is at a premium.
The company’s founder and chief executive Kieran Kelly believes there is more money in food fraud than there is in cocaine and existing legacy food security systems don’t work.
“Our mission is to help companies provide access to safe and authentic food for current and future generations. We use blockchain because legacy systems are ineffective," he said.
"Everyone who uses it owns it and it can’t be hacked without everyone knowing it. The data can’t be changed without everyone knowing about it. Users can see the whole supply chain in real time, this makes it very powerful."
The winners of The Irish Times Innovation Awards, which are now in their eighth year, will be announced at a high profile awards ceremony at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on Wednesday October 11. Each category winner will secure a €10,000 media package with The Irish Times and a one year digital subscription to the paper.
The overall winner of the 'Innovation of the Year' will win a high profile communications package worth in excess of €150,000.
