Columbia University Collaborates With IBM To Set Up Two Blockchain Accelerator Programmes

By Rishma Banerjee

Columbia University, as per an IBM news release on November 19th, has collaborated with IBM on two blockchain accelerator programs, in order to help startups innovate at scale. These programmes are a part of the joint innovation center, Columbia-IBM Center for Blockchain and Data Transparency, which was established in summer. Each programme will support ten startups each and provide them with a network of business mentors, technical support, access to Columbia’s student talent and “research community,” design assistance, and IBM cloud technology resources so that they can convert their ideas into “sustainable and scalable” blockchain firms. This is sure to facilitate “meaningful enterprise blockchain adoption and drive business efficiencies across industries.”

The two programmes, each of eight weel duration have been named the Columbia Blockchain Launch Accelerator and the IBM Blockchain Accelerator. The former, which is supposed to be held in New York City, is mainly for those startups which are at the idea stage and are affiliated to either Columbia or any other NYC-based school. The latter, however, targets later-stage companies on a global scale helps them in establishing a solid business network and client base. Part of the programme will be run in-person in New York and San Francisco, and part of it will be  “in combination with virtual programming” so that participants can concentrate on their business scaling efforts. Each startup, in either of these programmes will be given around $400,000 worth of access to technology and services. none of the programmes will charge a fee for participation, or take equity for that matter.

Many colleges now are coming up with centers, schools or institutes which cater to the development of and education about blockchain technology, while IBM, is ranked second on a global scale in terms of filing for blockchain related patents, second only to China’s e-commerce giant, Alibaba.

 

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.

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