The University of Edinburgh and IOHK jointly established a blockchain research center with an annual investment of up to one million US dollars

Scotland’s University of Edinburgh has partnered with blockchain startup IOHK to establish a new technology research lab, which will be based at the university’s School of Informatics.

It is reported that within one year, IOHK and the University of Edinburgh plan to invest US$500,000 to US$1 million in the project.

The partnership between IOHK, an engineering firm that builds cryptocurrencies and blockchains for academic institutions, businesses and governments, and the University of Edinburgh promotes cryptocurrency research. In addition, IOHK also reached a collaboration with the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan two weeks ago.

IOHK has grown a lot in the past two years, and today it has a core office in Japan, with participants in London, other parts of Europe, Russia, South America, the United States, and China.

More such research centers are expected to open this year and in 2018, including two planned for Greece and the United States.

Blockchain Technology Lab Roadmap

It is reported that most of the investment in the blockchain technology laboratory is funded by the startup IOHK. In addition, the experimental center will be led by Professor Aggelos Kiayias, Chair of Cybersecurity and Privacy at the University of Edinburgh, and Hoskinson, Chief Scientist and CEO of IOHK.

The lab will be interdisciplinary so professors from other fields can contribute, and as it scales they will be able to collaborate with a global network of academics based in IOHK’s other lab centers (such as in Tokyo).

Speaking about the School of Informatics’ blockchain technology collaboration with IOHK, Professor Kiayias, head of the lab, said: “Distributed ledgers are an upcoming disruptive technology that can expand information services to a global level. Through this collaboration, academia and industry are connected together, and the Edinburgh Blockchain Technology Lab is at the forefront of innovation in blockchain systems.”

Jeremy Wood, co-founder of IOHK, said: “Our collaboration with the University of Edinburgh provides a unique opportunity for existing students to become the next generation of leaders in the blockchain and cryptography fields.”