A new blockchain research hub is set to launch at the University of Edinburgh following a $4.5 million investment.

Input Output Global (IOG), the developers behind the blockchain Cardano, will fund the new blockchain technology hub as part of an ongoing partnership with the university.

The donation forms part of IOG’s academic programme, designed to foster continued research to set industry standards and best practices for emerging technologies.

The Input Output Global Research Hub will aim to accelerate the development of blockchain technologies. University students and researchers are allowed to propose new projects for the technology, driving a greater industry-wide focus on fundamental research and allowing external stakeholders to explore its capabilities.

It will be led by a steering committee, featuring both IOG and university representatives, which will review project proposals and allocate funding.

Blockchain research hub

The launch builds on IOG’s existing relationship with the University of Edinburgh, having  previously established a Blockchain Technology Lab within the School of Informatics.

It also follows the successful funding and launch of the Blockchain Research Hub at Stanford University in August this year, as well as the donation of $20 million by IOG’s CEO Charles Hoskinson to establish the Hoskinson Center for Formal Mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.

Professor Aggelos Kiayias, who serves as Chief Scientist at Input Output Global and Director of the Blockchain Technology Laboratory, said the new hub will build on the success of the previous partnership.

He said: “The long-term collaboration between IOG and the School of Informatics at Edinburgh has brought forth a lot of advances to this state of the art of technology over the past five years.

“The establishment of this new research hub is a particularly welcome development and a key milestone in continuing and scaling this work across the whole university with emphasis on interdisciplinary research.”

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Proposals submitted to the blockchain research hub will include elements related to IOG products and systems, allowing the business to continue its strong focus on academic rigor and formal methods.

Commenting on the launch, IOG chief executive Charles Hoskinson said: “IOG has been working with the University of Edinburgh for some time, and I’m thrilled that this new research hub will let us continue to advance our industry.

“Working with leading institutions like Edinburgh to set up these blockchain research hubs is essential to our vision of making academic rigor an industry standard.

“Our end goal with this hub is to allow blockchain development to grow more rapidly, based on the new learnings that will emerge.”

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