Today, Ripple Labs announced that it is partnering with 17 universities to launch a research initiative program designed to advance the industry. Titled the “University Blockchain Research Initiative” (UBRI), Ripple is donating $50 million USD (over $64 million CAD) to support blockchain research and innovation.

Ripple aims to grow the blockchain industry

According to a blog post from the Ripple team, the UBRI aims to accelerate academic research, technical development, and innovation in the blockchain industry.

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“The initial UBRI partners represent a broad cross-section of geographies and markets, as well as a rich blend of academic disciplines.“ said Ripple, in its statement. “Now is the perfect time to support research and study in blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments at universities around the world.”

According to Ripple, it is up to the individual institutions to determine their research topics and primary areas of focus. However, Ripple claims it will partner with the institutions to collaborate on research designed to stimulate widespread innovation in blockchain technology, create new curriculums for education, and stimulate ideas and dialog among students and technologists.

One of its 17 initial partnering institutions is none other than Canada’s University of Waterloo, with others being as diverse as the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University, and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

As an example of what the initiative hopes to accomplish, Ripple gave brief mention to how the CITP at Princeton University is creating a program to study the policy impact of digital currencies and blockchain technology in the U.S. and around the world.

Ripple continues its wave of altruistic press

Ripple Labs and the team behind the Ripple payments platform have received a great deal of positive press as a result of the company’s recent wave of altruistic pursuits.

While the team specified that this donation is not being made in XRP, it is still part of the company’s recent charitable pattern.

In May, Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary used a surprise appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to make a donation of $4 million USD (over $5 million CAD) on behalf of Ripple to The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund.

On the show, Kutcher spoke briefly about the payments platform and how he and Oseary discussed the ‘ethic’ of Ripple Labs with its CEO Brad Garlinghouse. He said Ripple strives to be an ethical company that aims to give back a portion of its wealth.

Earlier in 2018, Stephen Colbert announced that Ripple donated millions of dollars worth of XRP to support underfunded classrooms and teachers through an initiative called DonorsChoose.org.

Image credit: Ripple logo

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