Blockchain application examples

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Blockchain in education

The “Blockchain for Education” project of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT (management of digital education certificates)

In the project “Blockchain For Education – Lifelong learning passport”, the Fraunhofer FIT is working with the Fraunhofer Academy, Fraunhofer AISEC, Fraunhofer IFAM and Fraunhofer Personnel Certification Authority to develop a blockchain-based platform for counterfeit-proof digital education certificates that meets the needs of learners, businesses, educational institutions and designated certification authorities. The primary aim is to enable cheap and efficient digital certificate management.

The team is developing a platform based on the Ethereum Blockchain that offers users flexible options for presenting their certificates while also providing management and archiving support for certification authorities. The blockchain enables tamper-proof archiving of certificates and ensures that they are permanently allocated to the correct certificate holder.

Potential application examples

• Application process: the employer can verify the authenticity of the certificates presented by applicants
• Determining skills: the platform can determine a person’s skills based on their stored and presented certificates
• Certificate authentication: certificates can be displayed and authenticated

Benefits

• Companies can authenticate the certificates presented by applicants without having to establish their own technical authentication processes
• Smart contracts are used to monitor and verify certificates’ authenticity, whether they are up-to-date, and how long they are valid for
• Certificates are tamper-proof

Organisations wishing to participate in this community platform should register their interest with the project partners. Once an organisation is approved as a member of the community, it will operate its own node in the blockchain network.

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More application examples:

Blockchain in development cooperation
Blockchain in future energy trading
Blockchain in the food supply chain
Blockchain in government and public administration
Blockchain in self-driving cars