What is the University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI)?
UBRI is a partnership between Ripple and top universities around the world to support academic research, technical development and innovation in blockchain, cryptocurrency and digital payments. Ripple is providing both financial and technical resources to university partners and collaborates with faculty and students on research and technical projects.
How are partners selected for UBRI? What are the criteria?
Ripple is partnering with a carefully selected set of universities from around the world that are at the forefront of teaching, research and innovation in blockchain, distributed computing, cryptocurrency, cryptography, digital payments and related subject areas.
Current partners are academic institutions: 1) with existing centers of practice and faculty and students who are already active and productive in related subject areas; 2) that are experiencing high demand from students and have related student-driven activities; 3) that bring a variety of perspectives from across a range of academic disciplines and technology; and 4) that contribute to the program’s overall geographic diversity.
The NUS FinTech Lab, an experiential learning lab under the NUS School of Computing, are invited by Ripple (key partner) to submit an application for its upcoming event UBRI Connect (University Blockchain Research Initiative) on 21-22 Sept 2022 in UCL, London.
UBRI Connect is an annual event that connects scholars, researchers, and thought leaders in the UBRI network to showcase blockchain initiatives, share knowledge, and inspire future research.
The conference topic for this year will include:
– Financial inclusion – Decentralized Finance (DeFi) – NFTs
– Sustainability – Blockchain use case demo – Carbon Markets
– Security, Privacy, Scalability, Interoperability, Mutability of Blockchain
– Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC)
By bringing together academia and enterprise, UBRI Connect aims to provide an outlet to source new innovation and expand on current implementations.
From the NUS FinTech Lab and Fintech Society, 2 projects were shortlisted and awarded to present / speak in the UBRI Connect London.
Following are the brief details of each projects and projects member:
1. ScaNUS (Fintech Lab)
Project Synopsis:
With over 42% of NFT buyers viewing NFT technology as a “get-rich-quick” scheme, the need to educate the public about alternate and more productive applications for the technology is quite apparent. We aim to address this issue through our platform, ScaNUS.
ScaNUS enables customers to record their engagement with advertisers and event partners, like posters, videos, and other content, onto the blockchain, collecting NFT rewards that they can redeem as discounts at F&B vendors.
With the greater security and verification methods that the blockchain offers, F&B outlets are protected against fraudulent redemptions, as we enter the food metaverse.
2. DAO (Fintech Society)
Project Synopsis:
A DAO acts as a form of venture capital fund with a decentralized management structure.
Through this project, the problem NUS FinTech Society aims to address is incentivising education and attendance to FinTech society trainings and events.
What does our learn-to-earn model mean?
In an effort to capitalize on the creativity of our members, our DAO helps to consolidate and iterate on ideas to propel our society forward. The DAO’s tokens incentivise our members to contribute to our projects and events, pushing us closer to our society’s vision.