ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)

Permissioned Distributed Ledger (PDL); Research and Innovation Landscape

DGR/PDL-008_RaI_Landscape

General Information

• Status: Not Published
• Technical Committee: PDL - Permissioned Distributed Ledger
• Current Stage: 12 - Completion
• Due Date: 15-Sep-2021
• Completion Date: 07-Sep-2021

Standards Content (Sample)

GROUP REPORT
Permissioned Distributed Ledger (PDL);
Research and Innovation Landscape
Disclaimer
The present document has been produced and approved by the Permissioned Distributed Ledger ETSI Industry Specification
Group (ISG) and represents the views of those members who participated in this ISG.
It does not necessarily represent the views of the entire ETSI membership.

2 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)

Reference
DGR/PDL-008_Ral_Landscape
Keywords
blockchain, PDL, survey
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ETSI
3 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
Contents
Intellectual Property Rights . 4
Foreword . 4
Modal verbs terminology . 4
Executive summary . 4
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 References . 6
2.1 Normative references . 6
2.2 Informative references . 6
3 Definition of terms, symbols and abbreviations . 7
3.1 Terms . 7
3.2 Symbols . 7
3.3 Abbreviations . 8
4 PDL Research and Innovation Landscape . 11
4.1 Introduction . 11
4.2 Related Documents and Information Sources . 11
5 European Research Programmes and EU Standardization . 11
5.1 Research . 11
5.1.1 Research introduction . 11
5.1.2 Horizon 2020 . 11
5.1.3 Horizon Europe . 12
5.1.4 Other Research Funding Programmes . 13
5.2 Standardization . 14
5.2.1 European ICT Standardization . 14
5.2.2 Blockchain Standardization . 14
5.2.3 EC Rolling Plan 2021 for ICT Standardization . 14
6 PDL related Research and Innovation Activities . 15
6.1 Introduction . 15
6.2 Horizon 2020 Projects related to DLT and Blockchain . 15
6.3 Research and Innovation Programmes related to PDL . 16
6.3.1 Scope . 16
6.3.2 Research Programmes: EU . 16
6.3.3 Research Programmes: Germany . 19
6.3.4 Research Programmes: United Kingdom . 20
6.3.5 Research Programmes: United States of America . 21
6.3.6 Research Programmes: Spain . 21
7 Importance of PDL Standardization . 22
Annex A: List of EU Horizon 2020 Projects related to DLT and Blockchain . 24
Annex B: Overview Horizon 2020 Research Topics . 42
B.1 Horizon 2020 Research Topics . 42
Annex C: Overview International Research Programmes and Topics . 47
C.1 Research Programmes US . 47
Annex D: Change History . 50
History . 51

ETSI
4 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
Intellectual Property Rights
Essential patents
IPRs essential or potentially essential to normative deliverables may have been declared to ETSI. The declarations
pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, are publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be
found in ETSI SR 000 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to
ETSI in respect of ETSI standards", which is available from the ETSI Secretariat. Latest updates are available on the
ETSI Web server (https://ipr.etsi.org/).
Pursuant to the ETSI Directives including the ETSI IPR Policy, no investigation regarding the essentiality of IPRs,
including IPR searches, has been carried out by ETSI. No guarantee can be given as to the existence of other IPRs not
referenced in ETSI SR 000 314 (or the updates on the ETSI Web server) which are, or may be, or may become,
essential to the present document.
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DECT™, PLUGTESTS™, UMTS™ and the ETSI logo are trademarks of ETSI registered for the benefit of its

Members. 3GPP™ and LTE™ are trademarks of ETSI registered for the benefit of its Members and of the 3GPP
Organizational Partners. oneM2M™ logo is a trademark of ETSI registered for the benefit of its Members and of the ®
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Foreword
This Group Report (GR) has been produced by ETSI Industry Specification Group (ISG) Permissioned Distributed
Ledger (PDL).
Modal verbs terminology
In the present document "should", "should not", "may", "need not", "will", "will not", "can" and "cannot" are to be
interpreted as described in clause 3.2 of the ETSI Drafting Rules (Verbal forms for the expression of provisions).
"must" and "must not" are NOT allowed in ETSI deliverables except when used in direct citation.
Executive summary
The present document gives an overview of relevant research and standardization projects in the field of permissioned
distributed ledgers and Blockchain, in particular identifying projects from the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, the US'
National Science Foundation's programme, national programmes in the UK and Germany, in addition to worldwide
standardization activities in this field.
Introduction
Clause 4 introduces research and innovation programmes relevant to permissioned distributed ledgers, in particular the
European Union's Framework Programme Horizon 2020 and its primary information repository, the Community
Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS). Clause 5.1 gives a general overview of the EU's Horizon
2020 Framework Programme, its successor Horizon Europe and the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), while clause 5.2
focuses on the legal framework for standardization and an overview of blockchain-related standardization activities.
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5 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
Clause 6 provides an overview of public research and innovation programmes and grants related to PDL, covering the
EU in more detail, and in addition national programmes in Germany, the UK and the US. Clause 7 emphasizes the
importance of PDL standardization. Annex A identifies in detail those EU Horizon 2020 projects that are related to
DLT and Blockchain, sorted by project name, while Annex B identifies for those same projects the related Horizon
2020 research topics and thematic priorities. Finally, Annex C lists US National Science Foundation (NSF) projects
related to DLT and Blockchain.

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6 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
1 Scope
The present document shows the current research and innovation programmes related to permissioned distributed
ledgers, distributed digital ledger technologies and blockchain with the goal of identifying advanced technologies and
innovative research results relevant or essential to PDL standardization.
2 References
2.1 Normative references
Normative references are not applicable in the present document.
2.2 Informative references
References are either specific (identified by date of publication and/or edition number or version number) or
non-specific. For specific references, only the cited version applies. For non-specific references, the latest version of the
referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
NOTE: While any hyperlinks included in this clause were valid at the time of publication, ETSI cannot guarantee
their long term validity.
The following referenced documents are not necessary for the application of the present document but they assist the
user with regard to a particular subject area.
[i.1] ETSI GR PDL 001 (V1.1.1): "Permissioned Distributed Ledger (PDL); Landscape of Standards
and Technologies".
NOTE: Available at
https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gr/PDL/001_099/001/01.01.01_60/gr_PDL001v010101p.pdf.
[i.2] European Commission CORDIS: "CORDIS: Projects and Results".
NOTE: Available at https://cordis.europa.eu/projects/en.
[i.3] European Commission, DG for Communication Networks, Content and Technology Call for
tenders /(25-11-2020): "(European Commission Call for tenders CNECT/2020/OP/0055),EU
Blockchain Pre-commercial Procurement, Open procedure, Tender Specifications".
NOTE: Available at https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-document.html?docId=81917;
https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/document/document-file-download.html?docFileId=95923.
[i.4] European Union Regulation (1025/2012).
NOTE: Available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32012R1025&from=EN
[i.5] ETSI Annual Report 2019, published in 2020.
NOTE: Available at https://www.etsi.org/e-brochure/Annual-Reports/AR-202012/mobile/index.html.
[i.6] EC Rolling Plan for ICT Standardization, Published April 2021.
NOTE: Available at https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/rolling-plan-ict-standardisation/rolling-plan-2021 , the
Rolling Plan addresses technology areas in need of ICT standards and explores the role that standards and
technical specifications can play in achieving the policy objectives. It reaches out to both European
Standardisation Organisations (ESOs) -ETSI, CEN and CENELEC and aforementioned global standard
development bodies that can respond to the proposed actions and support the respective policy objectives
with standardisation deliverables.
ETSI
7 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
[i.7] European Commission Horizon 2020 Work Programme /(2020-06-17): "EN Horizon 2020 Work
Programme 2018-2020, 5.i. Information and Communication Technologies".
NOTE: Available at https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2018-2020/main/h2020-
wp1820-leit-ict_en.pdf.
[i.8] European Commission European Research Council 2021 Work Programme /(2021-02-22):
"(European Commission Decision C(2021) 930 of 22/02/2021), ERC Work Programme 2021,
European Research Council".
NOTE: Available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/wp-
call/2021/wp_horizon-erc-2021_en.pdf.
[i.9] Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Federal Ministry of Finance/(2019-09-18):
"Blockchain Strategy of the Federal Government, We Set Out the Course for the Token
Economy".
NOTE: Available at https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/EN/Publikationen/Digitale-Welt/blockchain-strategy.pdf.
[i.10] T. Faisal et el.: "Automated Quality of Service Monitoring for 5G and Beyond Using Distributed
Ledgers", IWQoS 2021.
[i.11] T. Faisal et el.: "How to Request Network Resources Just-in-Time using Smart Contracts", ICBC
2021.
[i.12] T. Faisal et el.: "AJIT: Accountable Just-in-Time Network Resource Allocation with Smart
Contracts", MobiArch 2020.
[i.13] T. Maksymyuk, M. Volosin, G. Bugar, D. Horvath, J. Gazda, M. Klymash and Mischa Dohler:
"Blockchain-Based Comprehensive Network Management in 5G and Beyond," IEEE
Communications Magazine, accepted 23 August 2020.
[i.14] C. Ngubo, Mischa Dohler: "WiFi Dependent Consensus Mechanism For Constrained Devices
using Blockchain Technology," IEEE Access (Journal), accepted 24 July 2020.
[i.15] R. Pirmagomedov, et al, and Mischa Dohler: "Applying Blockchain Technology for Users
Incentivization in mmWave-based Mesh Networks," IEEE Access (Journal), accepted 17 Feb
2020.
[i.16] Setting standards for the future.
NOTE: Available at https://www.sofie-iot.eu/news/setting-standards-for-the-future.
[i.17] 5GZorro.
NOTE: Available at https://www.5gzorro.eu/our-objectives/.
3 Definition of terms, symbols and abbreviations
3.1 Terms
Void.
3.2 Symbols
Void.
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8 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
3.3 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations apply:
5G-CORAL 5G Convergent Virtualized Radio Access Network Living at the Edge (H2020 project)
AEGIS Advanced Big Data Value Chain for Public Safety and Personal Security (H2020 project)
AGILE Adoptive Gateways for dIverse muLtiple Environments
AI Artificial Intelligence
AJIT Accountable Just-in-Time Network Resource Allocation (H2020 project)
ANITA Advanced tools for fighting oNline llegal TrAfficking (H2020 project)
API Applications Programming Interface
ATARCA Accounting Technologies for Anti-Rival Coordination and Allocation (H2020 project)
ATM Air Traffic Management
BBI-CSA Bio-Based Industries - Coordination and Support Action
BCDMA Blockchain Division Multiple Access
BDLT Blockchain and DLT
BDTI Big Data Test Infrastructure
BMBF German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und
Forschung)
BMWi German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft
und Energie)
CAPS Collective Awareness Platforms
CBDC Central Bank Digital Currency
CCF Connecting Capability Fund
CEF Connecting Europe Facility
CEITER Cross-border Educational Innovation thru Technology-Enhanced Research
CEN European Committee for Standardization (Comité Européen de Normalisation)
CENELEC European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (Comité Européen de Normalisation
Électrotechnique)
COG-LO COGnitive LOgistics Operations through secure, dynamic and ad-hoc collaborative networks
(H2020 project)
COPA COllaborative Platform for trAnsmedia storytelling and cross channel distribution of EUROPE
CORDIS Community Research and Development Information Service
CPN Content Personalization Network
CREST Fighting Crime and TerroRism with an IoT-enabled Autonomous Platform based on an
Ecosystem of Advanced IntelligEnce, Operations, and InveStigation Technologies (H2020
project)
CRUE H2020 project
CSA Coordination and Support Action
CSA-LS Coordination and Support Action Lump Sum
CUREX seCUre and pRivate hEalth data eXchange (H2020 project)
DFS Democratized Financial Services (H2020 project)
DG CNECT Directorate-General for Communications NEtworks, Content and Technology
DLT Distributed Ledger Technology
DSISCALE Digital Social Innovation in Europe (H2020 project)
DSO Distribution System Operator (of electricity)
EBSI European Blockchain Services Infrastructure
EBSIS Event Based Systems (H2020 project)
EC European Commission
ECHO European network of Cybersecurity centres and competence Hub for innovation and
Operations (H2020 project)
ECSEL-RIA ECSEL Research and Innovation Action
ECSO European Cyber Security Organisation
EECTI Spanish National Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation
EGNSS European Global Navigation Satellite System
EHR Electronic Health Record
EIC European Innovation Council
eIDAS Electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services
EIT European Institute of Innovation and Technology
ENIT Energy IT Systems
NOTE: ENIT is a spinoff company of Fraunhofer Society (German research society).
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9 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
ENVRI PLUS Environmental Research Infrastructures Providing Shared Solutions for Science and Society
(H2020 project)
EPES Electrical Power and Energy System
EPSRC Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
ERA European Research Area
ERC European Research Council
ESFRI European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures
ESI Europe Energy Savings Insurance in Europe (H2020 project)
ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute
EU European Union
EUOS EU Observatory for ICT Standardisation (H2020 project)
EV Electric Vehicle
EVEARA H2020 project
FENTEC Functional Encryption Technologies project (H2020 project)
FET Functional Encryption Technologies
FINSEC Integrated Framework for Predictive and Collaborative Security of Financial Infrastructures
(H2020 project)
FISHY Coordinated framework for cyber resilient supply chain systems over complex ICT
infrastructures (H2020 project)
FOrLedger Blockchain-based Middleware Platform for Food Tracking Ledger Builder
FTI Fast Track to Innovation
GDC Genetic Data CUBE (H2020 project)
GDM Data Marketplace deployment (H2020 project)
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation
GOIN H2020 project
GRECA H2020 project
H2020 Horizon 2020
HEIF Higher Education Innovation Fund
HEP Higher Education Providers
HMCS Handheld Molecular Contaminant Screener (H2020 project)
HPC High-Performance Computing
IA Innovation Action
ICARUS Aviation-driven Data Value Chain for Diversified Global and Local Operations (H2020
project)
ICN Information-Centric Networking
ICONET New ICT infrastructure and reference architecture to support Operations in future PI Logistics
NETworks (H2020 project)
I-Corps Innovation Corps
ICT Information and Communication Technologies
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IMI2-RIA Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 - Research and Innovation Action
INEA (European Commission's) Innovation and Networks Executive Agency
INNOSUPSME Innovation Support for SME
IoT Internet of Things
IP Intellectual Property
IRTF Internet Research Task Force
ISO International Organization for Standardization
ITA Innovations and Technologies Analysis
KIOS CoE KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence
KYC Know Your Customer
LAN Local Area Network
LPS Laptop Pocket Server
MDOT Medical Device Obligations Taskforce (H2020 project)
MH-MD My Health - My Data (H2020 project)
MSCA Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
NECOS Novel Enablers for Cloud Slicing (H2020 project)
NeTS Networking Technology and Systems
NFV Network Functions Virtualisation
NGI Next Generation Internet
NGO Non-governmental Organisation
NIMBLE Collaboration Network for Industry, Manufacturing, Business and Logistics in Europe (H2020
project)
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10 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
NIS Network and Information Systems
NRG-5 Enabling Smart Energy as a Service via 5G Mobile Network advances (H2020 project)
NSF National Science Foundation
PARITY Pro-sumer AwaRe, Transactive Markets for Valorization of Distributed flexibilITY enabled by
Smart Energy Contracts (H2020 project)
PCCE Pricing carbon with a dedicated currency to empower economic agents (H2020 project)
PCHP PeachPie Compiler Platform (H2020 project)
PCP Pre-Commercial Procurement
PDL Permissioned Distributed Ledger
PHP PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
PLM Project Lifecycle Management
PPP Public-Private Partnership
PV Photo-Voltaic
RCM Rail-Care Maintenance
RESISTO RESIlience enhancement and risk control platform for communication infraSTructure
Operators (H2020 project)
RIA Research and Innovation Action
RISE Research Center on Interactive Media, Smart System and Emerging Technologies (H2020
project)
SAGRIS Sentinels-based Agriculture Information Service Component (H2020 project)
SaTC Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace
SBIR Small Business Innovation Research
SDN Software Defined Network
SELIS Towards a Shared European Logistics Intelligent Information Space (H2020 project)
SERUMS Securing Medical Data in Smart Patient-Centric Healthcare Systems (H2020 project)
SESAR-RIA Single European Sky ATM Research - Research and Innovation Action
SGA-CSA Specific Grant Agreement - Coordination and Support Action
SHAR-Q Storage capacity sharing over virtual neighbourhoods of energy ecosystems (H2020 project)
SIEM Security Information Event Management
SKIN Short supply chain Knowledge and Innovation Network (H2020 project)
SLA Service-Level Agreement
SMASH Smart Sharing (H2020 project)
SME Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise
SME-1 Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise Instrument Phase 2
SME-2 Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise Instrument Phase 2
SME-2b Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise Instrument (grant only and blended finance)
SMESEC Protecting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises digital technology through an innovative
cyber-SECurity framework (H2020 project)
SOFIE Secure Open Federation for Internet Everywhere (H2020 project)
SOTER cyberSecurity Optimization and Training for Enhanced Resilience in finance (H2020 project)
SPHINX Universal Cyber Security Toolkit for Health-Care Industry (H2020 project)
STMS Smart Tyre Management System for Safer, Greener and More Economic Transport (H2020
project)
STTR Small business Technology Transfer
TALENT SWARM H2020 project
TCBL Textile and Clothing Business Labs Transformative Business Models for the Textile Clothing
Sector (H2020 project)
TEN-T Trans-European Transport Network
TNT Truth-not-Trust (H2020 project)
TOKEN Transformative Impact Of BlocKchain tEchnologies iN Public Services (H2020 project)
TOOP The Once Only Principle
TRESCA Trustworthy, Reliable and Engaging Scientific Communication Approaches (H2020 project)
TSO Transmission System Operators (for electricity supply)
TWG BLOCK Technical Working Group BLOCKchain (of StandICT.eu project)
UK United Kingdom
US United States
VAT Value-Added Tax
WLAN Wireless LAN
ZSM Zero touch network & Service Management
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11 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
4 PDL Research and Innovation Landscape
4.1 Introduction
The present document discusses the current research and innovation programmes related to permissioned distributed
ledgers, distributed digital ledger technologies and blockchain with the goal of identifying advanced technologies and
innovative research results relevant or essential to PDL standardization. Without limitation to other research and
innovation initiatives, the present document focuses on PDL research and innovation activities funded under the
European Union's Research and Innovation Framework Programme Horizon 2020.
4.2 Related Documents and Information Sources
The present document relates to the Permissioned Distributed Ledger (PDL) Landscape of Standards and Technologies
Annex B: List of EU funded Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Projects on Blockchain and/or Distributed Ledger
(ETSI GR PDL 001 [i.1]).
For the identification of Horizon 2020 Research Projects related to blockchain and DLT the Community Research and
Development Information Service (CORDIS) [i.2] has been used. CORDIS serves as the European Commission's
primary source of information on results from projects funded under the European Research Framework Programmes.
CORDIS itself is governed and funded as part of the EU Horizon 2020 research framework programme.
The CORDIS public repository with Horizon 2020 project information held by the European Commission provides
search functionalities that have been used to identify projects that have blockchain or distributed ledger technologies in
any of their objectives, work program, deliverables, results or publications mentioned.
5 European Research Programmes and EU
Standardization
5.1 Research
5.1.1 Research introduction
In Europe, research and innovation has a high priority. The EU provides funding for research projects in Europe within
the EU-Framework Programmes for Research. These Programmes have been established since 1984 with the overall
objective to strengthen the competitiveness and growth of the European market.
5.1.2 Horizon 2020
th
Horizon 2020 is the 8 EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. Reflecting on the growing importance
of innovation from previous EU Framework Programmes for Research the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme has a
strong focus on Innovation. In particular Horizon 2020 has implemented instruments for scaling-up the ICT innovation
ecosystem in Europe. Support for ICT innovation plays a central role in Horizon 2020 together with the creation of
better framework conditions for innovation in Europe through ICT standardization. The ICT innovation strategy is to
ensure that the rapidly changing ICT technology directly transforms into substantial benefits for European citizens and
society.
Horizon 2020 is funding research projects covering the whole innovation chain from foundational research towards the
preparation of market-ready products. With a total budget of about 80 billion euros over a runtime of seven years, i.e.
from 2014 to 2020, Horizon 2020 has been one of the largest research and innovation funding programmes worldwide.
• Horizon 2020 is structured into the three research and innovation programme priorities: Excellent Science
• Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies
• Societal Challenges
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12 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
An overview of the overall EU Horizon 2020 signed grants over the period from 2014 to 2020 is provided in Figure 5.1,
whereby the information was retrieved from the EU Horizon Dashboard website https://webgate.ec.europa.eu.

Figure 5.1: Overview on EU Horizon 2020 signed grants by signature year and end year
5.1.3 Horizon Europe
Horizon Europe is the successor of Horizon 2020 and will be the largest EU Research and Innovation Framework
Programme following up on the implementation and maintenance of well-established programmes from Horizon 2020
with a budget of around 95,5 billion euro over a runtime of seven years from 2021 until 2027.
Horizon Europe is set out to strengthen research and innovation in Europe further and to drive the digital transformation
for supporting the creation of innovative services and new markets and to provide more targeted solutions to global and
societal challenges. Horizon Europe has the objective to create impact more effectively through a clear mission
orientation and a strategy towards active engagement and involvement of society and citizens as well as stronger
dissemination and exploitation of research and innovation results. With an exclusive focus on civil applications the
specific programme implementing Horizon Europe is structured into the three priority areas:
• excellent science;
• global challenges and European industrial competitiveness; and
• innovative Europe.
The 'Excellent Science' work programme comprises 'European Research Council' (ERC), 'Marie Skodowska-Curie' and
'Research Infrastructures' actions set up to strengthen excellent European science and technology through more
investments into individual and highly skilled researchers and leading-edge innovations.
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13 ETSI GR PDL 008 V1.1.1 (2021-09)
The 'Global Challenges & European Industrial Competitiveness' work programme is set-up to advance the industrial
competiveness and innovation capacities of the EU. It encompasses funding of research activities through clusters
relating to global challenges (i.e. 'Health'; 'Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society'; 'Civil Security for Society';
'Digital Industry and Space', 'Climate, Energy and Mobility'; 'Food, Bio economy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and
Environment') and also includes support activities by the 'Joint Research Centre' for policies.
The 'Innovative Europe' work programme is grouped into 'European Innovation Council' (EIC), 'European Innovation
Ecosystems' and 'European Institute of Innovation and Technology' (EIT) activities. The Horizon Europe Research and
Innovation Programme is based on the Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area (ERA).
In order to provide solutions to major societal challenges, research and innovation missions will be an integral part of
the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. Missions and related actions will be launched under Horizon Europe in the
five areas:
• 'Adaptation to climate change including societal transformation'
• 'Cancer'
• 'Climate-neutral and smart cities'
• 'Healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters'
• 'Soil health and food'
The missions will be implemented through a range of dedicated actions from research projects, policy measures towards
legislative initiatives thus complementing the scope and effectiveness of individual actions and contributing to the
Sustainable Development Goals, to the goals of the European Green Deal and the Beating Cancer Plan.
5.1.4 Other Research Funding Programmes
The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) run by the European Commission's Innovation and Networks Executive Agency
(INEA) is a fund for European infrastructure investments in transport, energy as well as digital projects leveraging not
only intra- but also cross-border connectivity within and between the EU member states. CEF funding and grants are
organized through calls for proposals are particularly set out to support the adoption of the CEF Building Blocks.
CEF Building Blocks are most commonly needed digital services based on European legislation and standards helping
to implement the development and adoption of the required digital infrastructures in a more efficient way by using
existing technologies and synergies. The European Commission's Directorate-General for Communications Networks,
Content and Technology (DG CNECT) is responsible for managing the Digital Agenda and is defining the CEF
Building Blocks. Among the currently available CEF Building Blocks including eID, eDelivery, eInvoicing, eSignature,
Context Broker, eArchiving, eTranslation and the Big Data Test Infrastructure (BDTI), in the context of DLT related
Research and Innovation programmes the CEF Building Block European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI)
needs to be highlighted. The goal of the CEF EBSI also described in ETSI GR PDL 001 [i.1] is to provide cross-border
pan-European public services using blockchain technology with the highest standards of security and privacy.
In November 2020, the EC launched a call for tenders on EU Blockchain Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) [i.3] for
novel, innovative distributed ledger or blockchain solutions helping to establish the future European Blockchain
Services Infrastructure for the European Citizens in compliance with the EU legal framework (i.e. GDPR, eIDAS and
NIS Directive). In particular the PCP call is set out to support a number of new types of use cases with high-volume and
high-velocity requirements improving interoperability, security, robustness and sustainability of EBSI. The European
Blockchain PCP will award Research and Development service contracts to a number of blockchain solution providers
for the development of innovative solutions covering all phases from design, prototyping towards installation and
testing. Among others these solutions should provide for identification and traceability of objects, and the management
of their data, automation of tasks through smart contracts, also relevant interfaces for the exchange and interoperability
with external solutions e.g. IoT and AI , improving scalability and providing security levels addressing new cyber
threats, addressing potential use cases like digital product passport within the circular economy, tracking of digital
records and associated rights or other IoT use cases. Through the European Blockchain PCP call for tender around
7 contractors, which may include consortia, will be funded progressively in three different phases of 3, 6 and
12 months. The first phase launched in April/May 2021.
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5.2 Standardization
5.2.1 European ICT Standardization
There are a number of ongoing individual as well as joint efforts and programs to bring innovative solutions and
research results related to distributed ledger technologies and blockchain into standardization activities of the major and
relevant standardization organizations. The following clauses highlight a few research and standardization support and
coordination activities bringing together the relevant research and standardization communities.
A description of the related SDOs and their scope of work can be found in ETSI GR PDL 001 [i.1] Landscape of
Standards and Technologies.
The European Union Regulation (1025/2012) [i.4], adopted by the European Parliament and by the Council of the EU,
established the current legal framework for standardization. It entered into force on 1 January 2013. The three European
Standardization Organizations, CEN, CENELEC and ETSI are officially recognized as the competent authorities in the
area of voluntary technical standardization, including ICT.
ETSI GR PDL 001 [i.1] provides some overview of various standardization activities. Regarding all activities in ETSI,
the annual report [i.4] covers past results to end of 2019 and the ETSI work programme 2020-21 gives an overview of
ongoing an upcoming activities.
5.2.2 Blockchain Standardization
Within ETSI, the key group for distributed ledger technology is ISG PDL (source of the present document).
Within CEN/CENELEC, the key group is CEN/CLC/JTC 19 for Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies.
There are several activities of the EC to monitor and promote distributed ledger standardization, for example:
• EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum https://www.eublockchainforum.eu.
• European Blockchain Partnership https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/blockchain-partnership.
• EC Roundtable ICT Vertical and Horizontal Projects for Blockchain Standardization.
• StandICT.eu EU Observatory for ICT Standardisation (EUOS), TWG BLOCK
https://www.standict.eu/discussion-groups/twg-block-blockchain/302.
5.2.3 EC Rolling Plan 2021 for ICT Standardization
Standardization is a means, not an end. In particular, standards are an essential component of European policies for the
digital transformation. The EC publishes annually, in collaboration with stakeholders and standardization bodies, a
"Rolling Plan" review of standards areas which are relevant to current policies and that identifies where possible gaps
where further work would be advisable [i.5]. In particular, the Rolling Plan 2021 contains a special five-page section
"Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies" which concludes with a list of eight requested actions.
Particularly relevant for the ISG PDL work are Actions 5 and 6:
• ACTION 5: Standardization of the operation and reference implementation of permissioned distributed ledgers
and distributed applications, with the purpose of creating an open ecosystem of industrial interoperable
solutions.
• ACTION 6: Standards Development Organizations active in blockchain/DLT standardization to liaise and
coordinate to take advantage of synergies and maximize resources, including with relevant public and private
partnerships.
Additionally, the following points are clearly within the scope of ISG PDL:
• ACTION 1: The standardization community should continue analysing possible standardization gaps and
reflect on best way to fill them. [.]
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• ACTION 3: Continue identifying use cases which are relevant for EU (including EU regulatory requirements
like from GDPR, ePrivacy, eIDAS, TOOP, etc.) and submit them to relevant standardization bodies, including
CEN-CENELEC and ETSI, and also ISO, ITU.
• ACTION 7: A general framework for Governance of the European networks based on DLT should be
developed to allow the flow of smart contracts between different networks.
• ACTION 8: ESOs to develop the standards needed for the introduction of a programmable Euro (CBDC) and
token economy (upcoming MiCA Regulation), in particular to ensure interoperability with smart-contracts,
legacy systems, etc.
6 PDL related Research and Innovation Activities
6.1 Introduction
In this clause an overview of public research and innovation programmes and grants related to BDLT/PDL research
topics and related thematic priorities and challenges is provided. Starting from an European level with the Horizon 2020
Research Programme and the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020, Information and Communication
Technologies [i.6], is analysed with respect to research topics and programme objectives related to PDL application
domains.
The focus of the following clauses is then on selected national research and innovation funding programmes and
projects related to BDLT/PDL; in particular there is an overview on recent as well as upcoming BDLT related public
national research programmes and investments in the US; UK, Germany, and Spain.
Readers should be aware that no overview remains current very long and this clause can only provide a partial insight.
6.2 Horizon 2020 Projects related to DLT and Blockchain
A comprehensive list of EU Horizon 2020 Projects related to DLT and blockchain can be found in the Annex A, Table
A.1 of the present document. The information on the projects in this table has been retrieved from the CORDIS data
base. The majorit
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