Ripple will pour $50m into R&D at 17 academic institutions, including institutions in the US, UK, India and Brazil.

Blockchain payment services provider Ripple established an R&D initiative on Monday that will donate $50m to an international group of 17 institutions for studies into blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments.

Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) will operate as a set of collaborative university partnerships focused on research, technical development and innovation. The program aims to help universities capitalise on growing demand for fintech services.

In addition to funding, UBRI will provide academic partners with technical resources and expertise. Each university will select their own research priorities.

UBRI’s international roster was assembled to reflect a wide range of geographies, markets and academic disciplines. Ripple also hopes to encourage a more diverse workforce into its target industries by working closely with on-campus initiatives.

Eric van Miltenburg, senior vice-president of global operations at Ripple, said: “Academia has traditionally been a critical driver of technical innovation.

“UBRI is an acknowledgment of the vital importance of the unique role universities will play in advancing our understanding and application of cryptography and blockchain technology.

“Much of the enthusiasm and activity to date around blockchain is disconnected from real-use cases that result in clear benefits to businesses or civil society.

“While Ripple will not dictate research parameters, we are excited to play a role in helping to support faculty and student-led projects that explore increasingly useful applications of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.”

UBRI will initially partner the following institutions:

  • University of Pennsylvania
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
  • Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy
  • University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business
  • University of Waterloo
  • University College London
  • University of Oregon
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Korea University
  • University of Luxembourg
  • Delft University of Technology
  • University of Nicosia
  • Australian National University
  • Fundação Getulio Vargas
  • University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business
  • Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
  • International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad