Daniel Hellwig and Prof. Dr. Arnd Huchzermeier just published a book chapter on the use of fully homomorphic encryption for next-generation information-sharing for supply chain resilience. The book "Innovative Technology at the Interface of Finance and Operations" (Volume II) is edited by Professor Volodymyr Babich (Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business), Professor John Birge (The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business), and Professor Gilles Hilary (Georgetown University, McDonough School of Business).
Information-sharing facilitates the integration of supply chains and is essential for enterprises’ survival. While advancements in information and communication technology brought secure information-sharing in reach and have lowered the technological barriers to it, a chronic lack of information-sharing within and across companies remains. Companies also have a direct incentive not to share certain operational attributes (e.g., inventory levels, order sizes, wholesale prices), but the entire ecosystem would benefit should aggregated information (e.g., average inventory levels, average order sizes) become available, as that would facilitate planning, inform decisions, and limit the emergence of operational distortions that result from the bullwhip effect. We outline promising approaches and methodologies for resolving these chronic pain points by leveraging both distributed ledger (“Blockchain”) technology (DLT) and the newly emerging capabilities of fully homomorphic encryption (FHE).