Amid the deafening silence of official reports, an ambitious project quietly unfolds between promises, public funding, and many unanswered questions. Welcome to TrackIT Blockchain, a government-backed initiative launched by the Italian Trade Agency (ICE) to digitize – and “certify” via blockchain – the production chains of Italian SMEs, especially in the iconic sectors of Made in Italy: agri-food, fashion, cosmetics, and design.
The goal is noble: to fight counterfeiting, protect product origin, and tell the story of the supply chain to consumers using QR codes, smart tags, and digital landing pages. The means: blockchain, in its accessible and energy-efficient Polygon-based version. The operating method: a public tender worth €2.62 million (CIG: 894218085F), funded by ICE, through which nine selected tech providers (ranging from global players like EY to niche blockchain startups) deliver end-to-end traceability systems for participating SMEs.
The only official figure disclosed is €2.62 million of public funding. This number appears in ICE documentation and is confirmed by journalistic sources. It was meant to cover the full costs of implementing blockchain services for around 300 companies, later expanded to 500 SMEs due to high demand.
Doing the math: if the same funds cover 500 companies, that’s only about €5,240 per business. But if, as likely, more funds were later allocated (though no additional official resolutions have been published), the average cost per business aligns more closely with €15,000–20,000, in line with similar turnkey blockchain projects.
Here lies the first grey area: to date, no official public report clearly outlines how much has actually been disbursed, in what amounts, or with what auditing standards.
What is clear is that companies don’t pay a cent: ICE covers all the costs—software development, maintenance, web showcase, data notarization—for an 18-month period. But how much each service really costs, and what the results are? That remains unknown.
Another often-overlooked critical point is the project’s structural fragmentation. The public tender awarded the work to nine different providers, each with its own platform, processes, UX, and data structure. Each company was matched to a provider by ICE using internal criteria.
The result? No shared procedure, no common standard, no interoperability. Every SME got a custom blockchain, its own app, its own traceability model. The central TrackIT portal (https://www.ice.it/en/blockchain) is a showcase, but behind the scenes, each implementation is a stand-alone case, with limited replicability. The much-needed “Italian blockchain traceability model” doesn’t exist yet.
Looking forward, this is a serious challenge. Without a common framework, integration with EU-level Digital Product Passports or scalable industrial strategies seems far-fetched.
Yes, companies signed up: over 300 were selected by the end of 2024, with a goal of reaching 500 by April 2025. The sectors were predictable—wine, pasta, fashion, cosmetics—and some case studies (like Meracinque or Monnalisa) were held up as success stories.
However, no impact assessments have been published, and there’s a glaring lack of metrics on concrete outcomes (e.g., export growth, brand visibility, new orders) or aggregated data on how the technologies were actually used.
How many companies completed integration? How many saw real benefits? How many will continue paying for the service once ICE funding ends? At present, no public data is available to answer these crucial questions.
The final takeaway concerns Italy’s innovation culture. The TrackIT project proves that Italian businesses are willing to innovate… but only if someone else pays. Interest was high, yes, but no company invested even a symbolic amount. When the 18 months of ICE sponsorship ends, it will be telling to see how many firms will self-fund continuation.
This dynamic reveals a deeper issue: innovation in Italy is still seen as a cost, not an investment. And when public funds aren’t available, even the most promising technologies risk going nowhere.
TrackIT Blockchain is a textbook case: a solid initiative, technologically sound, well-financed. But unless we see cost transparency, common standards, and a mindset shift among entrepreneurs, the potential of blockchain for Made in Italy may end up as nothing more than a pretty digital showcase.
