Why it exists
Checkmate was developed during the Made in Italy Innovation Challenge 2024, promoted by IPZS in collaboration with Codemotion. The goal was to explore practical ways to protect product authenticity and traceability for Made in Italy goods by combining digital verification with physical security elements.
Project media
Architecture
- Secure QR codes provide a low-friction entry point for consumers.
- STMicroelectronics ST25 NFC tags support product-level interaction and authenticity checks.
- Blockchain-backed events make verification and traceability easier to audit.
- A physical paper-based strip adds a tamper-evident layer by detecting changes in electrical properties when damaged.
- The system was designed around a realistic cost range, so that security could remain deployable rather than purely demonstrative.
Key features
- Hybrid physical and digital anti-counterfeiting model.
- NFC-supported verification flow.
- Blockchain-backed traceability.
- Tamper-evident paper strip concept.
- Consumer-facing authenticity interaction.
- Winner of the Made in Italy Innovation Challenge 2024.
Design decisions
The strongest design decision was not to rely on a single trust layer. Checkmate treats authenticity as a multi-layer problem: digital verification, physical tamper evidence, product traceability and user interaction all reinforce each other.