The White House plans to convene executives from Amazon, Facebook, Google, Intel and 34 other major U.S. companies on Thursday as it seeks to supercharge the deployment of powerful robots, algorithms and the broader field of artificial intelligence.

Procurement teams needs to create a vision for how they are going to deal with digital transformation.

Aerospace suppliers are starting to explore blockchain technology to keep tabs on their supply chain, potentially tracking parts such as that at the center of a Southwest Airlines accident last month.

Despite the continued buzz around the potential for blockchain technology to enhance data security in the supply chain, the airfreight industry has seen a slow start to creating tangible application. But last week, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba put its word into action by premiering its own blockchain-encrypted platform, the Food Trust Framework.