Students and faculty around the world are emerging as major contributors to the creation of a more robust and valuable blockchain and payments ecosystem.
New business use cases are emerging with the use of the blockchain to make cross-border payments faster, lower the costs and make it more transparent.
UBRI At a glance
Ripple announced few days ago a $50 million investment in the University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI), a collaboration with top universities around the world to support and accelerate academic research, technical development and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments.
The first wave of university partners is including 17 prestigious institutions around the world, that will try to 1/ Stimulate widespread understanding and innovation in blockchain; 2/ Create new curriculum to meet high student demand for learning about blockchain or cryptocurrency; and 3/ Stimulate ideas and dialog among students, faculty, technologists and business leaders on topics of shared interest.
Use cases
As the regulatory conversation continues to evolve in the public sector, the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University is creating an UBRI program that will study the policy impact of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in the U.S. and around the world.
At The University of Pennsylvania, UBRI is supporting select MBA-MS candidates each year in a newly established Wharton-Engineering dual-degree program. This funding aims to prioritize students working on blockchain or cryptocurrency.
As part of UBRI, Ripple is also participating in MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab’s new FinTech initiative made up of a nearly a dozen companies across the financial services industry to work with groups of CSAIL’s 116+ researchers on topics like blockchain, cryptocurrencies, cybersecurity and global payments.
In Europe, Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and the University of Luxembourg are building a new blockchain research program inside their Departments of Computer Science and Engineering with the help of UBRI.
As the traditional backbone of innovation, universities uniquely offer an independence and rigor that the private sector cannot.
They also are responsible for training the workforce of the future, helping to address the demand for technological solutions and talent to solve the world’s hardest financial problems.
