“Blockchain” has a good chance of becoming the (non-)word of the year. As the leading project partner of the SME 4.0 Competence Centre for “Textiles Networked!”, you support German medium-sized textile and fashion companies in digitalisation. Where do you see a particular need for action?

Dr. Uwe Mazura, Managing Director of the Confederation of the German Textile and Fashion Industry, Berlin

“It must never be about banishing new technologies into the realm of non-words. On the contrary. We must first understand how they work and what they mean. That is why at this year’s annual general meeting in Berlin we also looked at blockchain and invited an expert on its practical application in business. Knowledge about data and the new uses of data are especially important for us SMEs. We cannot allow global concerns to take power over data away from us, thus robbing us of one of the key technologies of the future. This is also the principle behind the work in our competence centre “Textiles Networked!”, which is incredibly well accepted by companies nationwide. Our medium-sized companies are stepping into digitalisation step by step. For us, the potential for blockchain lies in forgery protection for brands and products, and in the question of how and with what effort supply chains can be transparently understood. But here we are all just at the beginning!”

The interviews in the column “Question Time“ embody the opinion of the respective interview partner and do not represent the position of the Bremen Cotton Exchange as neutral, independent institution.