IBM and NUS Collaborate to Promote FinTech & Blockchain Training in Singapore Both organizations are working to jointly develop and deliver a module on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies

Both organizations are working to jointly develop and deliver a module on
blockchain and distributed ledger technologies

SINGAPORE – 25 April 2017 – The National University of Singapore
(NUS) School of Computing and the IBM Center for Blockchain Innovation (ICBI),
a part of IBM Research, are collaborating to jointly develop a module on
financial technology, to better equip students with essential knowledge and
skill sets in this area.

Blockchain is a fast growing
area across the globe, with banking, healthcare and the government leading the
way in terms of adoption. According to studies by IBM’s Institute of Business
Value, these three industries are investing heavily in blockchain and
commercial solutions are expected to be in place in the next few years.

The
Singapore government’s strategic goal to become a Smart Financial Centre has put focus on blockchain for Singapore.
Through its Financial Sector Technology & Innovation (FSTI) scheme, the
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has committed S$225 million (US$157
million) over a five-year period to provide support for the creation of a
vibrant fintech ecosystem. Among the projects that have been backed by the
scheme is a decentralized record-keeping system based on blockchain technology
aimed at preventing duplicate invoicing in trade finance.

The new module on financial
technology is expected to be introduced in January 2018, and will focus on
blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. It seeks to equip students with
an understanding of the fundamentals of the technology behind distributed
ledgers, and its diverse use cases, from banking to digital currencies to
supply chain management. NUS faculty members will co-develop the curriculum of
the new module with IBM researchers at ICBI to enable students to learn about
the latest developments in blockchain technology, and encourage them to
contribute to developing the technology further. The module will be co-taught
by NUS academic staff and ICBI staff who will use financial technology software
such as Hyperledger Fabric, one of the five projects under the Hyperledger
umbrella, to deliver the course content. Such software will also be made
available to NUS researchers for research purposes. 

Blockchain, or distributed
ledger technology, is a distributed database of transactions shared across a
network of trusted entities. Blockchain helps create greater accountability,
transparency and potentially trust for all transactions and is currently being
used in business applications across industries including banking and financial
services, supply chain and logistics and retail.

“Our collaboration with ICBI
marks yet another important milestone in our continuous efforts to bring
industry relevant knowledge to our classrooms and at the same time inculcate
technological responsibility in our students by spearheading the development of
financial technology in Singapore, as the nation strives to become one of the
world’s key digital financial hubs. The new module forms part of the newly
enhanced Information Systems degree programme in which a new specialization in
Financial Technology has been introduced. We are confident that our graduates
will be well-prepared for the wide-ranging career opportunities in this
fast-growing sector,” said Associate Professor Hahn Jungpil, Head of the
Department of Information Systems at NUS School of Computing.

“Blockchain is one of the
most disruptive technologies in computing today, and it is impacting many
industries including financial services, trade, healthcare and supply chain.
This collaboration with the National University of Singapore School of
Computing will help prepare a future workforce that is born on blockchain,
ready to implement, improve and innovate: core skills required for Singapore to
achieve its vision as a Smart Financial Centre and Smart Nation,” said Robert
Morris, Vice President Global Labs, IBM Research.

Under the collaboration, ICBI
will provide technology support in the form of access via the IBM Cloud to the
Hyperledger Fabric blockchain framework. IBM is an early contributor to Hyperledger,
a Linux Foundation project, which now contains more than 129 member
organizations.