Another day and another research initiative formed in the name of blockchain technology. This time Ripple has announced a partnership with 10 new top universities for a blockchain research program.

Announced on Thursday, Ripple stated that the University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) was formed with the goal of helping the growth of the blockchain tech ecosystem.

Teaming up for this project are Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Morgan State, Kansas, Michigan and Northeastern universities in the United States as well as the National University of Singapore and the University of Sao Paulo internationally.

Just last month, Ripple also teamed up with the Institute for Fintech Research (THUIFR) at the Tsinghua University in Beijing under the banner of the UBRI.

These institutions will be supported by the resources available to Ripple’s UBRI and will conduct research, develop and launch course materials, play host to conferences as well as award scholarships for any students interested in pursuing careers in the blockchain space, cryptocurrencies, digital payments and all other related subjects.

For example, Duke and Georgetown Universities will support “expanding curriculum and teaching, research and technical projects and collaboration across disciplines” and over in Brazil, the University of Sao Paulo will receive funding to support a new blockchain innovation program.

The firm’s total amount of university partners now comes to 29 with the addition of the new schools, according to Ripple.

The initiative was launched by Ripple back in June 2018, and the company has allocated over $50 million to the project and partnered with 17 universities from across the globe at the time.

Eric van Miltenburg, Ripples SVP of Global Operations stated:

“In less than a year, our initial UBRI partners hit the ground running with the launch of new research projects, events, course offerings and more.”

He added:

“Expanding the ecosystem to a more global, diversified network of UBRI partners will only continue to enrich these projects.”

With the ever-growing interest in blockchain technology, it’s only a matter of time before the technology truly sees mainstream adoption. What are your thoughts on Ripple’s project, let us know by leaving a comment below.