The University of Capetown, Reykjavik University, and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYU Abu Dhabi) have become the first universities in Africa, UAE and Iceland to join Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI).
UBRI is a collaboration with major international universities, aiming to bolster and accelerate academic research, technical development and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments.
Currently, there are over 35 university partners around the world dedicating themselves to blockchain research and building new use cases for fintech.
University of Cape Town
The first Africa-based partner, the University of Cape Town, has core open-payment protocols and blockchain technologies as part of its curriculum for its “FinTech and Crypto” course.
The students at the university’s School of Economics will be focusing on the research of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), studying issues like interoperability, financial inclusion and secure digital identity.
NYU Abu Dhabi
As for NYU Abu Dhabi, the students in the Social Science division will be exploring new user cases for digital assets in courses like “FinTech Innovation: Finance, Technology, Regulation” and “Crypto Economics.”
Ripple will also be a part of startAD’s Corporate Sprint Accelerator Program, a startup accelerator anchored at NYU Abu Dhabi. The sprint accelerator will enable UBRI to guide fintech and blockchain startups from all parts of the world to launch and grow into the UAE market via pilot projects with innovative corporations.
Reykjavik University
UBRI is able to facilitate academic research, technical development, and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency, fintech, and digital payments for Reykjavik University. The funding and partnership can support the School of Technology’s research on new verticals and fintech applications via blockchain.
The university and Ripple’s Iceland-based engineering hub, which cultivates the technical skills within the country, will also be working together.
