QR Code + Blockchain: Solving Item Tracking Challenges in Transit

Original: https://cli.im/article/detail/1832

Blockchain is a critical breakthrough in China's independent innovation of core technologies and a key future industry being cultivated in Zhejiang Province. In recent years, Ningbo has seized the historical window and strategic opportunity presented by blockchain, focusing on "Four Pioneering Initiatives" and building "Dual Cores with Two Wings." The city has taken the lead in exploring a range of typical application scenarios both nationally and provincially, laying a solid foundation for the construction of a future industrial pilot zone and the development of emerging industrial clusters.

To encourage more enterprises to pay attention to, explore, and apply blockchain technology—enhancing their core competitiveness and moving toward high-quality development—while also promoting the broader adoption of next-generation information technologies and advancing the digital reform process, the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology launched a column titled "Striving to Create a Blockchain Industry Pilot Zone" on its WeChat public platform starting September 13. The column showcases a collection of typical blockchain application achievements.

Solving Item Tracking Challenges in Transit with Just One QR Code

What can a QR code be used for? Scanning to make payments or checking health codes? In the hands of Ningbo Linjia Network Technology Co., Ltd., a single QR code can solve the coordination challenges in cross-organizational circulation, transportation, and transfer of items.

It is understood that for a long time, items undergoing logistics transportation required coordination among multiple parties, including owners, logistics companies, drivers, and warehousing enterprises. To ensure smooth transportation, methods such as phone calls, messaging, or even manual supervision were often necessary. Each handler at every stage also had to manually record node information on paper cargo transfer documents to ensure traceability in case of issues.

"This approach not only consumes significant human and financial resources but also, due to poor sharing channels and low information transparency, increases distrust among clients, leading to frequent disputes and blame-shifting. To address this issue, we launched a QR code-based cross-organizational item transfer and trusted collaboration project," said a representative from Linjia Network.

According to the introduction, this project uses QR code technology to create a unique QR code for each item that needs cross-organizational transfer. Combined with permission controls, collaborators can scan the code to view basic information or fill in transfer records. The information is then recorded on the blockchain, making it tamper-proof and legally valid. This effectively resolves challenges related to the timeliness and credibility of information synchronization at various stages.

Taking logistics transportation as an example, when shipping goods, the cargo owner can edit the basic information of the items to generate a QR code. Upon receiving the goods, the driver can scan the QR code to verify the information and record the cargo's status in real-time by uploading location data, videos, audio, or photos. When the goods arrive at the warehouse, dynamic transfer information—such as the time, location, and recipient—is recorded. Each piece of dynamic transfer information is notarized via AntChain, making it immutable and verifiable by anyone. The notarization certificate is accessible to all and supports independent verification, ensuring data credibility across all stages.

Additionally, Linjia Network has incorporated a notifications module, allowing managers to set trigger rules and message recipients autonomously. Notifications are delivered via the WeChat public platform, ensuring that when important information is submitted, the corresponding recipients receive the message in real-time and can perform actions such as forwarding or replying, thereby improving work efficiency. Managers can even prevent falsification by setting restrictions such as geographic location, limiting access to WeChat scan-only, or adding watermarks to photos. This is akin to installing a "camera" for each recorder, ensuring data authenticity from the source and reducing management costs.

When asked why QR codes were chosen as the foundation, the representative explained: "Unlike traditional software sales methods, QR codes serve as access points for all applications and inherently possess viral attributes, enabling exponential dissemination of blockchain technology. This makes it an extremely efficient and revolutionary method for technology promotion. Each scan represents a successful demonstration of an application case. This characteristic of QR codes facilitates exposure, learning, and spontaneous word-of-mouth propagation of various blockchain application scenarios within traditional industries."

Currently, this project has been widely applied in scenarios such as logistics transportation, third-party maintenance, product delivery, and hazardous goods requisition. Over 250,000 enterprise users have enabled the default basic blockchain notarization function. More than 200 enterprise users, including Hangzhou Qingbang International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd. and Tianjin Hongyuan Electric Co., Ltd., have activated the advanced blockchain notarization function, achieving trusted cross-organizational item transfer and collaboration based on QR codes. This helps enterprises save hundreds of thousands in inefficient labor and material costs annually.

"Many may perceive blockchain as an unattainable 'ivory tower,' inaccessible to ordinary enterprises. However, our target customers have always been small and medium-sized enterprises. Any scenario involving information recording and sharing via QR codes—such as trade and retail, construction, manufacturing, education and training, and life services—can be applied," the representative stated.

Originally, this project packaged blockchain services within a QR code-based information system, reducing the cost of achieving informatization and ensuring data credibility to almost zero. Users can independently select functions to build suitable management systems, enabling rapid deployment and application in scenarios like equipment management, personnel management, asset management, logistics transportation, information reporting, and information disclosure. This allows small enterprises to benefit from the developmental advantages brought by blockchain technology.

Moving forward, Linjia Network will update project modules weekly, leveraging blockchain technology to help more enterprises achieve the last mile of informatization construction, ultimately realizing the goal of "everything has a traceable record."