Continental and Security Matters Test Marker Technology to Trace Natural Rubber

Hanover, Germany, September 17, 2021. Premium tire manufacturer Continental and Security Matters (SMX), a company focused on the digitization of physical objects in the blockchain, are working together to develop and test a marker technology for natural rubber. To that end, the two companies recently entered into a collaboration agreement. The special marker technology, which has been further developed by the project partners for use in natural rubber, is intended to contribute to even greater transparency and traceability along the entire value chain of tires and technical rubber products from Continental in the future. Provided with special security features, the use of marker substances enables the invisible labeling of natural rubber with information on its exact geographical origin. With the aid of special reading devices and specially developed software, the information on the natural rubber can be read out and its origin can be precisely assigned at any time. As part of the industrialization of this technology, it would also be conceivable for the marker technology to be linked to blockchain technology, which is known to be particularly forgery-proof.

« We are testing this marker technology to ensure in the future that the natural rubber we use in our tires has been verifiably grown and sourced in a fully sustainable manner, » says Claus Petschick, Head of Sustainability at Continental’s Tires business area. He adds, « We aim to procure all our materials from responsible sources. Innovative technologies and digitalization make an important contribution to this. » Thus, by 2050 at the latest, all materials used by Continental in its worldwide tire production are to be sourced responsibly.

Extensive laboratory tests by the two project partners have been successful. For example, different marker substances currently being tested have been detected both in the natural rubber latex (« Rubber tree to rubber bale test section ») and in the processed and vulcanized natural rubber of the tire (« Rubber bale to tire test section »), and thus along the entire manufacturing process, without altering the appearance and performance of the end product.

Continental and Security Matters are now working on utilizing the new marker technology to be used on a larger scale during the process of rubber extraction. « Our collaboration shows that physical and digital tracking can be ensured through unique and immutable chemical-based barcodes in rubber products as well, » says Haggai Alon, founder, and CEO of Security Matters. He adds, « Together with Continental, we now want to use our marker technology to further improve the transparency of the natural rubber supply chain. »