**2. Bringing blockchain into Industry 4.0**

After carrying out different proofs of concept, mainly associated with manufacturing companies, as well as analyzing other experiments carried out by third parties, we expose in a critical way which would be the main application scenarios of the blockchain technology and its benefit for industrial companies.

All the analyzed cases have been contrasted through a working meeting with several companies in order to analyze the real need and utility of them. The following are the use cases that have presented greatest utility in the experimentation process, responding to real needs not covered today in their ecosystems.

#### **2.1 Traceability**

The traceability of industrial goods throughout the entire supply chain, including even the life cycle of a product, is one of the applications that according to consulted experts in the experimentation, as well as the level of maturity of the technology in this field, is expected to have a greater impact on the short/medium term of the industry.

For any point in the chain, it is very valuable being able to have visibility of the destination and use of its components; thanks to this information the participant in the supply/value chain will be able to (i) analyze the impact of any change in the design/composition of their product, (ii) anticipate changes in consumption habits/ trends, (iii) avoid manually entering details of the products/components received by suppliers, (iv) automate complaints and warranties without the need for paperwork, or even (v) avoid reusing certificates of origin.

We are facing a known need that the big industrial players have wanted to solve on different occasions [4–7]. The large industries have designed and built traceability systems based on traditional (centralized) architectures and have made them available throughout their sectorial supply chain. However, these systems have not been widely accepted, and the only ones that continue to exist are those related to food safety that is mandatory.

The problem with the previous approaches is that the "giant" of the supply chain was the one that offered its system to the rest and was in charge of the custody and coherence of the common database.

**89**

equally.

point today.

*Blockchain: From Industry 4.0 to the Machine Economy DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88694*

This created great reticence because, even if industrial data visibility policies were implemented so that only agreed users/companies could consume certain information, there was a "demigod" in the supply chain which, due to the architecture of the system, could have visibility and exploit the information of the entire value chain. Furthermore, processing the information in a traditional system is very complicated to guarantee the sovereignty and protection of industrial data [8].

The alternative to create a similar system using traditional technologies is to create a clearing house in the supply chain, which has been done in areas such as food safety and is the only area where traceability is complete throughout the chain [9]. However, in this case the actors only submit information related to food safety and

Blockchain makes it possible to eliminate these barriers thanks to a distributed architecture in which there is no "agglutinator" of the contents. Guaranteeing through "contract" and cryptography the visibility and use of data (sovereignty of industrial data) and ensuring that all participants in the network are treated

However, we have detected that an important point in these projects is to maximize and automate as much as possible the capture of data, which is why industrial projects are considering that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) should be the origin of most of the data that are dumped in the traceability chain. Moreover, this information should be signed by means of cryptographic hardware in these IIoT

Data and its exploitation are going to be the key in this new industrial paradigm in which we are entering, promoting even service models based on data [10]. That is why it is said that data is the new industrial raw material and its sovereignty is a key

For this reason, several initiatives have arisen that could be called industrial data platform and that aim to manage and share data of industrial processes, as well as create value-added services based on them. The most evolved platforms, such as the one from the international data space consortium, which arose in Germany but is currently the leading European experimental platform, even include application/

Perhaps predictive maintenance together with other cases of data analysis and prescription are the most common and tangible cases today [12], but it is expected that really these platforms are the basis for innovative proposals of business models and industrial services that today we cannot even imagine. However, there is currently a major barrier to the adoption of such platforms, and again it is the reliability

Firstly, there are models for selling information related to industrial processes, the value of which will depend on the reliability of such data. Therefore, it is one of the reasons why blockchain begins to be a buzzword in the deliberations on the future of these platforms, since the more reliable the data, the greater will be its

On the other hand, these platforms must guarantee the sovereignty of industrial data, for which blockchain architectures/platforms that natively allow confidentiality between parties seem the most promising [13]. Current developments include data encryption models specific to each recipient or set of recipients, such as chan-

However, blockchain and smart contracts will even allow to execute algorithms

and data processing independently, offering the recipient only the result of its

cannot consult/exploit the information, so the functionality is not full.

devices, so that the reliability of the data would be extraordinary.

**2.2 Interoperability and sovereignty of industrial data**

service marketplaces based on industrial data [11].

nels or private data collection in Hyperledger Fabric v1.4.

of the industrial data and its protection.

value in the market.

*Computer Security Threats*

its immutability. Blockchain allows us to operate our procedures and relationships in

The next few years will see a profound transformation of industrial processes, increasing the synchronization between different agents in the value chain, as well as extreme automation of decision-making, all thanks to the reliability offered by blockchain. It is even hoped that in the future, it will be able to transform its own business models, just as in recent decades the Internet has done, which has so far

In this chapter, we will explain the different use cases and scenarios that we consider to have greater potential in the future of Industry 4.0, starting first with generic industrial cases and then analyzing the specific cases of the energy industry. This selection has been made based on the experience of more than a dozen block-

Next, we will describe the four main generic values that we have discovered after different proofs of concept with several companies. Finally, we will discuss future lines of research linked to a new concept such as the machine economy and report

After carrying out different proofs of concept, mainly associated with manufacturing companies, as well as analyzing other experiments carried out by third parties, we expose in a critical way which would be the main application scenarios

All the analyzed cases have been contrasted through a working meeting with several companies in order to analyze the real need and utility of them. The following are the use cases that have presented greatest utility in the experimentation

The traceability of industrial goods throughout the entire supply chain, includ-

For any point in the chain, it is very valuable being able to have visibility of the destination and use of its components; thanks to this information the participant in the supply/value chain will be able to (i) analyze the impact of any change in the design/composition of their product, (ii) anticipate changes in consumption habits/ trends, (iii) avoid manually entering details of the products/components received by suppliers, (iv) automate complaints and warranties without the need for paper-

We are facing a known need that the big industrial players have wanted to solve on different occasions [4–7]. The large industries have designed and built traceability systems based on traditional (centralized) architectures and have made them available throughout their sectorial supply chain. However, these systems have not been widely accepted, and the only ones that continue to exist are those related to

The problem with the previous approaches is that the "giant" of the supply chain was the one that offered its system to the rest and was in charge of the custody and

ing even the life cycle of a product, is one of the applications that according to consulted experts in the experimentation, as well as the level of maturity of the technology in this field, is expected to have a greater impact on the short/medium

of the blockchain technology and its benefit for industrial companies.

process, responding to real needs not covered today in their ecosystems.

the digital environment in a much more safe and reliable way [3].

been the most disruptive technology in history.

chain projects in the domain of Industry 4.0.

**2. Bringing blockchain into Industry 4.0**

work, or even (v) avoid reusing certificates of origin.

the final conclusions of the chapter.

**2.1 Traceability**

term of the industry.

food safety that is mandatory.

coherence of the common database.

**88**

This created great reticence because, even if industrial data visibility policies were implemented so that only agreed users/companies could consume certain information, there was a "demigod" in the supply chain which, due to the architecture of the system, could have visibility and exploit the information of the entire value chain. Furthermore, processing the information in a traditional system is very complicated to guarantee the sovereignty and protection of industrial data [8].

The alternative to create a similar system using traditional technologies is to create a clearing house in the supply chain, which has been done in areas such as food safety and is the only area where traceability is complete throughout the chain [9]. However, in this case the actors only submit information related to food safety and cannot consult/exploit the information, so the functionality is not full.

Blockchain makes it possible to eliminate these barriers thanks to a distributed architecture in which there is no "agglutinator" of the contents. Guaranteeing through "contract" and cryptography the visibility and use of data (sovereignty of industrial data) and ensuring that all participants in the network are treated equally.

However, we have detected that an important point in these projects is to maximize and automate as much as possible the capture of data, which is why industrial projects are considering that the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) should be the origin of most of the data that are dumped in the traceability chain. Moreover, this information should be signed by means of cryptographic hardware in these IIoT devices, so that the reliability of the data would be extraordinary.

## **2.2 Interoperability and sovereignty of industrial data**

Data and its exploitation are going to be the key in this new industrial paradigm in which we are entering, promoting even service models based on data [10]. That is why it is said that data is the new industrial raw material and its sovereignty is a key point today.

For this reason, several initiatives have arisen that could be called industrial data platform and that aim to manage and share data of industrial processes, as well as create value-added services based on them. The most evolved platforms, such as the one from the international data space consortium, which arose in Germany but is currently the leading European experimental platform, even include application/ service marketplaces based on industrial data [11].

Perhaps predictive maintenance together with other cases of data analysis and prescription are the most common and tangible cases today [12], but it is expected that really these platforms are the basis for innovative proposals of business models and industrial services that today we cannot even imagine. However, there is currently a major barrier to the adoption of such platforms, and again it is the reliability of the industrial data and its protection.

Firstly, there are models for selling information related to industrial processes, the value of which will depend on the reliability of such data. Therefore, it is one of the reasons why blockchain begins to be a buzzword in the deliberations on the future of these platforms, since the more reliable the data, the greater will be its value in the market.

On the other hand, these platforms must guarantee the sovereignty of industrial data, for which blockchain architectures/platforms that natively allow confidentiality between parties seem the most promising [13]. Current developments include data encryption models specific to each recipient or set of recipients, such as channels or private data collection in Hyperledger Fabric v1.4.

However, blockchain and smart contracts will even allow to execute algorithms and data processing independently, offering the recipient only the result of its

execution [14]. In the future the algorithms can be encoded in a native blockchain program—the smart contract—in such a way that the owner of the algorithms can allow the smart contract to access and process their data and generate insights about them. However, the smart contract provider will not have access to the user's RAW data; this will allow them to offer a service based on the data without the customer having to make a disclosure of such information [15].

After all, it will allow us to put in value the industrial data even without having to expose them to a third party, allowing them nevertheless to execute certain processes on them. This can even be very useful to test/train prediction models of all kinds without endangering the source data, the result of which can then be a high-value algorithm for a specific industry.

### **2.3 IIoT reliability**

One of the main benefits of the blockchain application to IIoT in which all the interviewed experts agree is precisely the decentralized architecture that blockchain can offer to IoT in general and especially to the industrial ecosystem whose requirements are more severe [16].

Currently the architecture of these systems is a classic client/server, which has a series of barriers and deficiencies for an environment such as IoT/IIoT. It is expected that the client/server architecture will not be able to respond to the exponential growth of IIoT and IoT in general; we must bear in mind that we will face an immense number of devices generating and consuming information from third parties. To get an idea of this figure, an industrial control machine or device generates hundreds of millions of data/parameters annually, and inside a mediumsized factory, we can find tens or hundreds of devices.

The cost of centralized processing and even network equipment and connectivity to support such cross traffic between different industrial systems (clients) with dependencies between them would be exponential if all these communications had to pass through a central system (server). In addition, this central system (server) would be a major bottleneck for all connected devices and a single point of failure (SPOF) which, if compromised, could generate a production shutdown of millions of euros in a single factory.

The trend is also that connected machines and factories interact outside their business environment with partners, suppliers, and customers. This brings another set of challenges at the level of identity management and device authentication. Currently within a factory, existing systems have multiple limitations because vendors deploy centralized systems that cannot interact safely and reliably with third parties, even rely on costly and complex in-house or manufacturer-controlled PKI architectures. In a global economy and in an ecosystem relationship, the problem and complexity multiply. Thus, blockchain technology has demonstrated that distributed authentication and identity management are highly efficient and feasible [17] and can solve identity management problems.

For all these reasons, we are dealing with a new paradigm in which, after moving from the traditional server model to an elastic cloud server architecture, we must evolve toward a network of devices in which blockchain is postulated as the main technological enabler. This paradigm shift would lead us toward decentralized registers that could become sectorial or even universal.

But the adoption of blockchain in the IIoT ecosystem, and IoT in general, offers another series of advantages, which although perhaps less disruptive also resolves some of the challenges and barriers to adoption of IIoT and IoT discussed above.

Blockchain offers us a decentralized record of information, which is also reliable and unalterable. That is why besides avoiding the single point of failure

**91**

*Blockchain: From Industry 4.0 to the Machine Economy DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88694*

unknown devices or different organizations.

based on third party information sources.

logical attack) for forensic analysis.

able to erase any trace once the cyberattack is executed.

the machine code of our industrial devices.

**3. A new energy industry**

record [18].

in the data.

of traditional systems, it offers us a more resilient system, not only in terms of system availability, which increases exponentially by avoiding the single point of failure, but also in terms of information, since it provides us with a reliable

Offering a reliable record of information due to its immutability and ensuring non-repudiation of operations are an enabling factor for transactions between

As we have mentioned before, one of the biggest barriers to adopting a higher level of automation in the industrial environment is precisely the mistrust of data, especially data from third parties. Although the industries themselves in many cases do not rely on automating some critical processes based on their own information due to potential sabotages or failures, it is impossible to think that they will do it

Blockchain offers reliability over our own information—thanks to the integrity and strong authentication of our issuers—as well as over information provided by third parties. Such reliability will allow greater automation and avoid many of today's low value-added manual processes that are provoked by a lack of confidence

The decentralization of information and its immutability are also a major advantage for critical industrial infrastructures (chemical, energy, etc.). According to the latest recommendations for critical infrastructure protection like the European Critical Infrastructure Protection (ECIP) or NIST Cybersecurity Framework, they should be able to guarantee the custody of their data in the case of any fortuitous incident (natural disaster, system failure) or deliberate incident (physical and/or

Nowadays, this custody of information in case of cyber incidents is practically impossible to achieve since the attacker usually stays inside the system 146 days before executing the attack or being detected [19], and one of its objectives is to meticulously study the infrastructure not only to maximize its impact but also to be

This is why traditional backup systems and data replicas are usually eliminated during the attack; however, if the infrastructure was connected to a blockchain network, the attacker would have to completely erase each and every one of the nodes of the distributed blockchain network to make their footprints disappear, something totally unthinkable. In fact, during all the time that the attacker remains investigating, the infrastructure is erasing his trail, so a simple periodic comparison of the logs of the infrastructure itself against its unalterable copy in blockchain could alert us of the existence of an intruder in the network or detect any change in

However, although blockchain is postulated as the solution to IIoT's architectural design problems, it must be kept in mind that current solutions and ledgers must evolve in order to respond to the needs of IIoT devices in real time (low latency, bandwidth, message size). That is why in the blockchain, ecosystem begins to emerge new developments and technologies aimed at overcoming this barrier [20–22]. If this is achieved, the potential market and technological impact could

In the last years, the energy sector has initiated a major transformation of the electricity grid, the industrial infrastructure responsible for transporting and distribution electricity from the generation plants to the consumer. The smart grid

lead to the long-awaited paradigm shift we were talking about earlier.

*Computer Security Threats*

**2.3 IIoT reliability**

ments are more severe [16].

of euros in a single factory.

execution [14]. In the future the algorithms can be encoded in a native blockchain program—the smart contract—in such a way that the owner of the algorithms can allow the smart contract to access and process their data and generate insights about them. However, the smart contract provider will not have access to the user's RAW data; this will allow them to offer a service based on the data without the customer

After all, it will allow us to put in value the industrial data even without having to expose them to a third party, allowing them nevertheless to execute certain processes on them. This can even be very useful to test/train prediction models of all kinds without endangering the source data, the result of which can then be a

One of the main benefits of the blockchain application to IIoT in which all the interviewed experts agree is precisely the decentralized architecture that blockchain can offer to IoT in general and especially to the industrial ecosystem whose require-

Currently the architecture of these systems is a classic client/server, which has a series of barriers and deficiencies for an environment such as IoT/IIoT. It is expected that the client/server architecture will not be able to respond to the exponential growth of IIoT and IoT in general; we must bear in mind that we will face an immense number of devices generating and consuming information from third parties. To get an idea of this figure, an industrial control machine or device generates hundreds of millions of data/parameters annually, and inside a medium-

The cost of centralized processing and even network equipment and connectivity to support such cross traffic between different industrial systems (clients) with dependencies between them would be exponential if all these communications had to pass through a central system (server). In addition, this central system (server) would be a major bottleneck for all connected devices and a single point of failure (SPOF) which, if compromised, could generate a production shutdown of millions

The trend is also that connected machines and factories interact outside their business environment with partners, suppliers, and customers. This brings another set of challenges at the level of identity management and device authentication. Currently within a factory, existing systems have multiple limitations because vendors deploy centralized systems that cannot interact safely and reliably with third parties, even rely on costly and complex in-house or manufacturer-controlled PKI architectures. In a global economy and in an ecosystem relationship, the problem and complexity multiply. Thus, blockchain technology has demonstrated that distributed authentication and identity management are highly efficient and

For all these reasons, we are dealing with a new paradigm in which, after moving from the traditional server model to an elastic cloud server architecture, we must evolve toward a network of devices in which blockchain is postulated as the main technological enabler. This paradigm shift would lead us toward decentralized

But the adoption of blockchain in the IIoT ecosystem, and IoT in general, offers another series of advantages, which although perhaps less disruptive also resolves some of the challenges and barriers to adoption of IIoT and IoT discussed above. Blockchain offers us a decentralized record of information, which is also reliable and unalterable. That is why besides avoiding the single point of failure

having to make a disclosure of such information [15].

sized factory, we can find tens or hundreds of devices.

feasible [17] and can solve identity management problems.

registers that could become sectorial or even universal.

high-value algorithm for a specific industry.

**90**

of traditional systems, it offers us a more resilient system, not only in terms of system availability, which increases exponentially by avoiding the single point of failure, but also in terms of information, since it provides us with a reliable record [18].

Offering a reliable record of information due to its immutability and ensuring non-repudiation of operations are an enabling factor for transactions between unknown devices or different organizations.

As we have mentioned before, one of the biggest barriers to adopting a higher level of automation in the industrial environment is precisely the mistrust of data, especially data from third parties. Although the industries themselves in many cases do not rely on automating some critical processes based on their own information due to potential sabotages or failures, it is impossible to think that they will do it based on third party information sources.

Blockchain offers reliability over our own information—thanks to the integrity and strong authentication of our issuers—as well as over information provided by third parties. Such reliability will allow greater automation and avoid many of today's low value-added manual processes that are provoked by a lack of confidence in the data.

The decentralization of information and its immutability are also a major advantage for critical industrial infrastructures (chemical, energy, etc.). According to the latest recommendations for critical infrastructure protection like the European Critical Infrastructure Protection (ECIP) or NIST Cybersecurity Framework, they should be able to guarantee the custody of their data in the case of any fortuitous incident (natural disaster, system failure) or deliberate incident (physical and/or logical attack) for forensic analysis.

Nowadays, this custody of information in case of cyber incidents is practically impossible to achieve since the attacker usually stays inside the system 146 days before executing the attack or being detected [19], and one of its objectives is to meticulously study the infrastructure not only to maximize its impact but also to be able to erase any trace once the cyberattack is executed.

This is why traditional backup systems and data replicas are usually eliminated during the attack; however, if the infrastructure was connected to a blockchain network, the attacker would have to completely erase each and every one of the nodes of the distributed blockchain network to make their footprints disappear, something totally unthinkable. In fact, during all the time that the attacker remains investigating, the infrastructure is erasing his trail, so a simple periodic comparison of the logs of the infrastructure itself against its unalterable copy in blockchain could alert us of the existence of an intruder in the network or detect any change in the machine code of our industrial devices.

However, although blockchain is postulated as the solution to IIoT's architectural design problems, it must be kept in mind that current solutions and ledgers must evolve in order to respond to the needs of IIoT devices in real time (low latency, bandwidth, message size). That is why in the blockchain, ecosystem begins to emerge new developments and technologies aimed at overcoming this barrier [20–22]. If this is achieved, the potential market and technological impact could lead to the long-awaited paradigm shift we were talking about earlier.
