Ripple Increases The List Of Partners For Its University Blockchain Research Initiative

By Sumedha Bose

It is a no brainer that Ripple is one of the most sought after companies in the blockchain space, with the RippleNet being an extremely payment provider, used universally.

One of the endeavours that Ripple has been highly praised for is, its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI). Launched back in June 2018, the initiative hopes to transform and develop blockchain-centric academia and research.

The initiative was launched with the hopes of encouraging academic research, technical development and innovation in the blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments space. More bodies are now coming together to help Ripple realize this dream.

It announced today that it has added 11 new universities to the UBRI program. Ripple has agreed to give $50 million in funding, subject matter expertise and technical resources to the universities that have partnered with the initiative. The 11 universities are:

1. Carnegie Mellon University
2. Cornell University
3. Duke University
4. Georgetown University
5. University of Kansas
6. University of Michigan
7. Morgan State University
8. National University of Singapore
9. Northeastern University
10. University of Sao Paulo
11. Institute for Fintech Research, Tsinghua University

Eric van Miltenburg, SVP of Global Operations at Ripple said.

“We launched UBRI back in June of 2018 to provide support for 17 different universities around the world to help progress their study of blockchain technology, cryptography, digital assets and fintech. Blockchain is an incredibly transformational technology and helping advance the best minds in the world, who are already showing interest in this field, is sure to benefit the entire ecosystem. We’ve added 11 new universities this time around and now have 29 schools involved with the program. Expanding the ecosystem to a more global, diversified network of UBRI partners will only continue to enrich these projects.”

The universities that have partnered up will provide courses on blockchain and cryptocurrency to encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs, engineers, business leaders, and other professionals to implement these technologies in various capacities.

Ripple is thereby promoting both the technology and is also adding to the market for it by allowing for more trained professionales to be integrated into the sector. Ripple is also giving back to the community as part of their ongoing philanthropic effort.