The Bundestag Budget Committee has given the green light for financial support for blockchain technology in various sectors. The measures include the use of modern technologies in agriculture, research projects on smart contracts in consumer protection and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain in the process automation and autonomy of companies. This emerges from a press release from today, November 17th.
3.6 million euros for blockchain in the agricultural sector
In the area of agricultural technology, blockchain is primarily intended to help efficiently monitor the nitrate content in the soil. “A lack of real-time information is often the reason for over-fertilization,” says FDP politician Frank Schäffler. As a member of the Bundestag, he campaigned for the financial subsidy. The plan: A sensor network provides real-time mineral data via a dashboard for farmers and authorities. An AI analyzes this data to predict soil development for the coming years.
To this end, the Budget Committee has provided funding of 3.6 million euros for the development and testing of the agricultural technology system. The coalition has set itself the goal of sustainable, future-proof agriculture that is managed economically and in harmony with ecological aspects. “With the budget committee’s decision, we are taking another important step,” said Schäffler.
Blockchain is intended to optimize consumer protection and process automation
In addition, a research project on the topic of smart contracts in consumer protection will receive funding. Smart contracts can use blockchain technology to automatically trigger a specific action after a payment has been received, according to the theory. This is already common practice in the DeFi sector. A total of 900,000 euros would be available for this project over the next three years, in particular to analyze and answer legal questions.
The “transparency and security against manipulation of smart contracts are intended to strengthen consumer rights,” says the statement. However, smart contracts do not yet run completely error-free: vulnerabilities in the programming often lead to hacker attacks.
The Bundestag has made available a further five million euros for the automation of production, logistics and supply chain management. Several research institutes have started the research and development project called “SKALA (Scalable AI and Blockchain Solutions for Automation and Autonomization in Value Networks). The Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics IML coordinates the project.
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“SKALA comes at the right time. The synergies between AI and blockchain technology open up potential for digital networking,” says Schäffler, explaining the initiative. It is currently unknown which specific blockchains will be used.
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