Halifax-based blockchain company Peer Ledger has teamed up with two international partners to produce a platform that will hasten the delivery of medical supplies and needed goods during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company said Thursday it has partnered with the Washington, D.C.-based nongovernmental organization RESOLVE and Israeli artificial intelligence company Truvi to collaborate on the project.

The parties are using blockchain and artificial intelligence in a digital tool that will allow essential services like healthcare providers and food companies to rapidly source the gear they need to keep working during the pandemic. That may include personal protective equipment, or PPE, medical products, or food supplies.

Peer Ledger has developed a platform called MIMOSI Connect , which will enable targeted connections and matchmaking between the groups that need such equipment and those that supply it.

“MIMOSI Connect efficiently solves a number of their challenges in scaling up and managing the growing number of network transactions among suppliers, makers, and healthcare organizations,” said Peer Ledger Founder and Co-CEO Dawn Jutla in a statement. “RESOLVE’s experience and efforts in building valuable community partnerships are extraordinary and we look forward to empowering their amazing network partners.”

Peer Ledger originally developed MIMOSI as a tool to track gold shipments as a means of battling conflict metals, or precious metals that are mined to finance wars, often using slave labour. The company has now adapted its original platform into MIMOSI Connect.

Atlantic Canadians Collaborate to Manufacture PPE During Crisis

MIMOSI uses blockchain – the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies – to identify metals as they pass through the supply chain, from the mines to the smelters to the end-users. It’s important work because the metals industry wants to ensure conflict metals don’t make their way to the global market.

Paul Robichaud, Peer Ledger’s Vice-President of Customer and Product, said the new platform is needed because there is no efficient way for Canadian and U.S. manufacturers to know who needs PPE or other gear or how to get it to them. As well as matching producers and buyers, MIMOSI Connect also helps to sort out how the product is shipped.

Peer Ledger is offering MIMOSI Connect free to groups that need it until the end of September as its contribution to the fight against the COVID-19 virus.

Truvi's AI technology will be used ensure each buyuer receives the equipment it needs for its specific situation. For example, the Truvi solution can determine whether an N95 mask or an N2 mask is is needed in a specific context.

RESOLVE is an NGO that specializes in bringing groups together to provide a rapid response to critical problems. In the past it has worked with others to address such issues as conflict minerals, food safety, and the Ebola outbreak. Its aim is that its short-term responses develop into scalable, long-term solutions.

Jutla, who is also a business and technolgoy professor at Saint Mary's University, said that RESOLVE’s reach is extensive enough to bring other groups into the partnership, including MakersRespond.org, Open Source Medical Supplies, Project Northern Lights, and RESOLVE Canada.

“The COVID-19 crisis will only be addressed if we act differently, make different decisions, and forge new partnerships,” said RESOLVE President and CEO Stephen D’Esposito. “RESOLVE and Peer Ledger are committed to bending markets and supply chains for good, and working with businesses and non-profits to keep healthcare workers, communities, and local businesses safe.”