Blockchain research and development company IOHK has announced two blockchain deals with leading universities in Scotland and Tokyo.

IOHK and University of Edinburgh

IOHK announced that it has established a Blockchain Technology Laboratory in the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics, in order to bring academics and students together on research and development on the blockchain, focusing on industry inspired issues.

The blockchain laboratory was launched at the university on 24 February, 2017 and will serve as the headquarters for IOHK’s network of university partnerships.

“IOHK is delighted to be partnering with the University of Edinburgh, a world-leading institution in information, cognition and computing research and teaching. The partnership will develop IOHK’s core business area, cryptocurrencies and blockchain related technologies, and nurture and develop the global talent in these areas in the United Kingdom,” Charles Hoskinson, CEO and co-founder of IOHK, stated in the release.

Prof. Aggelos Kiayias, Chair in Cyber Security and Privacy at the University of Edinburgh will serve as the director of the blockchain lab and will be responsible for collaborations with fellow academics at the university and oversee researchers and students from undergraduate to PhD level in a broad range of topics related to blockchain systems. Such research partnerships will be interdisciplinary such as cryptography and computer science, regulation and compliance, game theory, business, and others.

Offering a direct connection between developers and researchers, the blockchain laboratory aims to pursue outreach projects with entrepreneurs in Edinburgh’s vibrant local technology community. The lab will commence its recruiting and outreach immediately, with its full facility operations starting from summer 2017.

“We are very excited regarding this collaboration on blockchain technology between the School of Informatics and IOHK. Distributed ledgers is an upcoming disruptive technology that can scale information services to a global level. The academic and industry connection forged by this collaboration puts the Blockchain Technology Lab at Edinburgh at the forefront of innovation in blockchain systems,” Professor Kiayias said.

IOHK’s collaboration with the University of Edinburgh ensures that the entire funded research and development will be open source and patent-free.

IOHK and Tokyo Institute of Technology

The blockchain firm has also collaborated with the Tokyo Institute of Technology last week along with its Japanese subsidiary Input Output Japan (IOJP), and built the Input Output Cryptocurrency Collaborative Research Chair within the Tokyo Tech School of Computing.

The partnership will boost joint research and studies in cryptocurrency and blockchain related technologies with teams of researchers and professors. The collaborative effort will tackle challenges that lie ahead for blockchain in terms of basic research and engineering. It will also help in developing young professionals and educating societies about advantages of this nascent technology.

“This collaboration has two main goals: the first is developing our business area, which is cryptocurrencies and blockchain related technologies in the fundamental level. The second is to nurture and develop global talent in these areas in Japan,” Charles Hoskinson, commented.

In the Cryptocurrency Collaborative Research Chair, seminars, joint activities and academic paper submissions will be conducted where researchers will collaborate and create knowledge within the industry. The Chair is the continuation of a 6-month joint work agreement between Tokyo Tech and IOHK.

“This agreement is important because Tokyo Tech is seeking to enhance the collaboration with industries and universities in Japan and abroad by producing groundbreaking results in research and engineering which will be published in internationally renowned scientific journals and conferences,” Yoshinao Mishima, Tokyo Tech President, declared in the statement.

The Input Output Cryptocurrency Collaborative Research Chair, along with a center at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, IOHK is looking forward in establishing more blockchain research laboratories later this year and in 2018.

Various universities across the globe are expecting to take blockchain research globally. Last week, P.G.Demidov Yaroslavl State University in Russia, took the initiative in creating the international community Academic Blockchain for Research and Development. The aim of the R&D is to develop blockchain and its applications in different spheres of activities by developing educational programs, creating startups in the blockchain sphere, involving investors, among others.