Ripple has the addition of 11 new schools to its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) that will see the firm sponsor blockchain research and activity at the various institutions, announced via a press release on February 7, 2019.
The Study of Blockchain
This has been an exciting week for blockchain within the academic world; just days after the University of Geneva in Switzerland announced its new Blockchain Development course, Ripple has with 11 Universities across the globe to foster blockchain education and adoption.
First established in 2018, the program is called the University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) and with the addition of these 11 new schools, the initiative has a total of 29 Universities that it partners with.
The new institutions in the program are Carnegie Mellon University, , Georgetown University, University of Kansas, University of Michigan, Morgan State University, , National, University of Singapore, Northeastern University, University of São Paulo and the Institute for Fintech Research, Tsinghua University.
Through this initiative, Ripple will provide resources through which the universities can expand on their curriculum to include blockchain-related topics, offer funding for research and give out awards.
The press release writes:
“These programs will increase positive awareness of the transformative impact that blockchain technology will have across various industries,”
Academic Interest
The linking of the blockchain industry to the world of academia has been going on for quite a while. and the both offer blockchain courses and the latter is in partnership with several blockchain-based firms.
The indsutry needs this, as an academic environment will foster further growth and innovations for the blockchain ecosystem, as well as help in the training of future blockchain professionals, a career path that has become high in in the last few years.
So far, the program has led to a number of impressive developments at the partner universities. In UC Berkeley, several departments expanded on their syllabus to accommodate blockchain-related material and a number of events have been held such as an upcoming blockchain UI/UX hackathon. In addition, more research has been funded. In the University of Pennsylvania, more than 600 students benefited from the scheme by having supper given for their Blockchain Club’s annual conference.
Laura Tyson, Faculty Director at Berkeley Haas Blockchain Initiative said:
“We are excited by the momentum that the Ripple UBRI Partnership has fostered at Berkeley Haas and throughout UC Berkeley in the development of blockchain, digital payments, and cryptocurrency-related research and innovation,”
Published at Fri, 08 Feb 2019 17:00:23 +0000
