Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) is adding three more names to its list of partner institutions.
In a blog post, the company says it is teaming up with the University of Zurich, ETH Zurich, Ryerson University, and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). The addition of four institutions brings the total number of UBRI partnerships to 37 universities.
According to Ripple, UBRI is supporting the University of Zurich’s Center for Sustainable Digital Finance which would conduct research on the digitization of financial services in partnership with multiple stakeholders including regulators, businesses, financial companies, and consumers among others.
Meanwhile, UBRI’s joint effort with ETH Zurich aims to unlock the potential of blockchain in Switzerland.
“ETH Zurich, meanwhile, is researching information security and cryptography, as well as new concepts and systems for payments… UBRI also provides technical support for the university’s efforts to integrate secure, multi-party computation techniques into blockchain protocols and model smart contracts. Many of these activities take place in collaboration with the Zurich Information Security & Privacy Center (ZISC).”
In Canada, UBRI is working with Ryerson University’s Cybersecurity Research Lab (CRL) to develop a payment feature for Mosaïque – a digital wallet specialized in the real estate industry. CRL director Atefeh Mashatan says he sees the collaboration as an opportunity to fast track the development of the project.
“We see our partnership with UBRI as an opportunity to leverage Ripple’s expertise in blockchain innovation to build a token-based payment rail for Mosaïque.”
Meanwhile, in Mexico, UBRI and ITAM will develop new courses to put students in a better position to meet the country’s increasing demand for digital services as Ripple anticipates that the use of blockchain in Mexico will continue to grow in the coming years.
Ripple’s UBRI is part of the startup’s social impact program: Ripple for Good.
The initiative has allocated $100 million toward supporting institutions that are accelerating and expanding global financial inclusion.
