In a survey conducted by management and technology consulting company BearingPoint , 47 out of 80 managers from the sector stated that their company is considering using blockchain. It is currently used for finance (36%), as well for sales (34%) and purchasing (32%). The last two areas are believed to harbor the greatest future potential, followed by supply chain management. Companies primarily hope that blockchain will help them improve their processes and cut costs and are also counting on its potential for product and sales innovations. In an interview with trade and business magazine ‘CHEManager ’, Professor Michael Henke, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML, describes the possible practical advantages of blockchain for the pharmaceutical and chemical industry: He says that it is perfect for making the complex pharmaceutical logistics process transparent when it comes to tracking and tracing and that it could enable damage to be identified in real time. Blockchain could also prove useful in the chemical industry’s supply chain, where different raw materials are mixed, for instance. It can guarantee 100% traceability.

A further interesting finding from BearingPoint’s survey is that half of the chemical and pharmaceutical companies surveyed are in the process of implementing smart contracts, with a further 15% already using them.