Fourteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

The olive oil sector has strategic economic importance in terms of production and consumption. It shows a steady increase in demand (6% annually) due to its undisputed culinary and health virtues, yet alongside excellence in production, a market emerged of inefficiently produced low quality products based on diverse supply chains, leading to forgery and adulteration that depreciate olive oil culture and harm quality and trust. With no industry standards and production design, qualified producers and distributers face challenges in tracking and tracing olive oil through its supply chain and consumers are left with low quality, not-healthy, tasteless yet expensive products. Research based on blockchain-enabled solution, shows how design can address production excellence by sketching traceability, outlining the chain from the grove to the bottle, and improved planning of information sharing. Furthermore, the designed production can integrate digital and physical aspects by combining smart technologies and advanced optimization of operations to achieve active engagement in the overall production cycle, thus enable asset transfer (provenance), cross-organizational workflow, and multiparty auditing, and help to transform efficiency, trust, and quality in the market. Through piloting MVP with local growers and producers in Spain, Portugal, France, Greece, and Israel, the designed production enabled traction to date with market validation and thus raised quality and value. The research indicates an initial and innovative economic message, which highlights the significant influence of assimilating design thinking in Agri-Tech sector to bind trust to suppliers, establish certification to clients, generate commercial value, address provenance, and protect regions.