QR Codes will be important. Here’s why.

This blog post has a corresponding video.

QR Codes will be important. They’re going to be the basis for this new thing called a Digital Product Passport. I’ll save you some time and explain what that is by example.

Let’s say I decided to buy a tshirt from Uniqulo. The tshirt usually has a label with size info and care instructions etc. Well that label will now have a QR Code which I can scan. It’ll take me to a third party webpage where I can get some info on the product such as:

• The timeline of the journey of its materials and their origins.
• Sustainability metrics (water usage, CO2 usage, recyclable content)
• Care instructions (e.g. tips on making the product last as long as possible).
• End of life care (e.g. where to recycle).

How do we make this trustworthy? How do we make sure the data is immutable? Why would companies adopt this? Well, there’s a significant push from regulatory bodies—particularly the EU—to make this a reality.

That’s where my next startup comes in. World Tag is a digital product passport provider focused on creating these secure and transparent digital identities for products.

And I’m not alone this time. I met my co-founder through a mutual friend of ours and we’ve done some cool stuff. We made a demo for the product and submitted our pitch to a startup accelerator.

Let’s see how this one goes. I’ll update you soon.

Marc