Turning Pilots into Progress

New Partnership to Make UK Trade Faster

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TL;DR:

The IOTA Foundation is partnering with Teesside University to apply TWIN technology in real-world processes as part of the Digital Trade Testbed. Pilots have already demonstrated that digital trade infrastructure delivers earlier, better data. Four UK Government officials have been seconded to the IOTA Foundation to lead further testing.

Customs and border procedures remain a top barrier to UK imports and exports. A major survey found that 45 % of UK firms cite customs procedures and documentation as the biggest obstacle, ahead of tariffs or regulation. Outdated systems, repeated data entry, and re‑work mean that the border now acts like a “tax on efficiency”, particularly for SMEs struggling with limited digital capability.

The IOTA Foundation is helping the UK tackle these challenges. In partnership with Teesside University at the Digital Trade Testbed – the UK’s first real-world environment for testing and deploying digital trade solutions – we’re applying TWIN technology to provide a faster, smarter, and more transparent infrastructure. The initiative can transform how trade moves across borders and unlock billions in economic value for UK traders.

Four UK Government trade officials have already been seconded to IOTA for 12 months, working side by side with our team to pilot multiple technology solutions based on IOTA technology and explore how digital tools can make trade smoother and more efficient.

Backed by £3.5 million in Freeport seed capital (UK government funding to support early infrastructure in special economic zones around ports), the Testbed will combine digital tools such as the Trade Worldwide Information Network (TWIN) – the digital supply chain platform powered by IOTA – with physical solutions like autonomous vehicles and geo-locating devices. It will see real-world deployment at Teesside’s seaport and airport

A Vote of Confidence from Government

The secondment of government officials to IOTA marks an extraordinary level of institutional trust. UK Government trade authorities are embedding personnel within the IOTA Foundation, working hands-on to develop and deploy solutions that will reshape how Britain trades with the world.

These secondees are working with industry partners, port authorities, and border agencies, building on the UK Government Border Trade Demonstrator trials delivered in 2025, now expanding through the Digital Trade Testbed in Teesside.

The Problem: Late Data, Costly Delays

International trade today operates on outdated infrastructure. Critical supply chain data frequently arrives late in a shipment’s journey, leaving border authorities with minimal time to identify errors before goods reach ports. The result is manual, resource-intensive processes involving thousands of emails and phone calls daily, with compliant goods routinely held at borders while paperwork is corrected.

The UK Government Border Trade Demonstrator trials proved these delays are largely avoidable. When supply chain data can be shared digitally with appropriate trust mechanisms, errors can be identified and resolved before goods ever leave the warehouse.

The Solution: Earlier, Better Data

The 2025 UK Government Border Trade Demonstrator trials combined the UK Government’s open-source Information Sharing Network with TWIN. The results were transformational: critical supply chain data reached UK authorities up to 20 hours earlier than under existing processes.

Border agencies gained the visibility they needed to allocate resources effectively, identifying non-compliant consignments while allowing legitimate trade to flow smoothly. Currently, a chicken shipment might be declared simply as ‘meat’ with no detail on origin or type. Using TWIN, port health authorities can access granular, verified information earlier in the supply chain: what type of meat, from which farm, processed when and where, transported under what conditions. Errors become visible while there’s still time to correct them.

The economic stakes are enormous. According to ICC UK’s Roadmap to Digitalise UK Trade, full digitalization could deliver £25 billion in trade growth and £224 billion in efficiency savings, with a 35% efficiency gain for SMEs. A 2024 London School of Economics study estimates that trade digitalization could boost UK GDP by 1.3%.

“There is a clear need to radically improve how trade processes work today,” said Dominik Schiener, Co-founder and Chair of the IOTA Foundation*. “The pilots we’ve delivered with the UK Government show how open, interoperable digital infrastructure can provide earlier access to high-quality data – giving border agencies the time and visibility they need to keep goods moving safely and efficiently.”*

Connecting Global Economies Through Open Infrastructure

TWIN represents IOTA’s vision in action: blockchain infrastructure that connects global economies, enabling the coordination of data, assets, and identities to unlock innovation and growth. The platform provides open-source APIs that integrate with existing trade infrastructure, allowing freight forwarders, customs authorities, and supply chain participants to share verified information in real time.

*Using the example of poultry exports from Poland to the UK, the diagram shows how supply-chain data and regulatory documents are collected by freight forwarders, shared via application programming interfaces (APIs) with the TWIN digital trade pipeline, and made available through the UK Government’s Information Sharing Network. This allows government agencies and port health authorities to access verified supply-chain events and documentation earlier in the process, from production and health checks through to port operations and import, saving time and money as well as reducing risk of costly errors.*The TWIN platform automatically captures and consolidates consignment and journey information, such as commercial documentation, export and import declarations, certificates, dispatch data, temperature monitoring, port entry and exit events. It will also enable key documents to be digitally signed and recorded on the IOTA distributed ledger to ensure immutability. Crucially, TWIN is designed as a neutral, interoperable infrastructure that can coordinate data exchange across any border.

Turning real world trade into onchain activity

For IOTA’s ecosystem participants and developers, the Digital Trade Testbed will be of special interest. As of January 2026, live trade transactions processed via TWIN are anchored on the IOTA mainnet, representing sustained, non-speculative network usage driven by real economic activity.

Our partnership with Teesside University demonstrates that distributed ledger technology, deployed thoughtfully with clear use cases and genuine stakeholder collaboration, can solve real problems and create substantial economic value. The UK is showing the way forward, and IOTA is proud to be a technology partner in this transformation.

Learn More

For technical details on how TWIN works, download the TWIN whitepaper (caution: very technical!)

Interested in partnering with IOTA on trade digitalization or other distributed ledger applications? Contact us to explore collaboration opportunities.