Lead Cardano developer company Input Output Global (IOG) announced a partnership with U.S. Ivy League university Stanford. The blockchain company will provide $4.5 million in funding for the next 3 years for the Stanford IOG Research Hub.

The initiative was presented by Charles Hoskinson, inventor of Cardano and CEO at IOG, and Aggelos Kiayas Chief Research Scientist at IOG in an event held on August 29th at the Fisher Wing on Stanford’s Alumni Center. The collaboration was called a “logical next step in the work” of IOG.

The company uses a peer-reviewed and academic research-supported approach to the development of Cardano. IOG believes this guarantees users more safety and mitigates the risk of building projects and applications on top of a blockchain.

In that sense, the company claims that its peer-reviewed approach “ensures more rapid growth”. The partnership with Stanford will promote its approach by combining IOG’s experience in the sector with the knowledge of researchers from the university.

The Stanford IOG Research Hub will be governed by a steering committee. This entity will cooperate to agree on a research program, open submission calls from researchers and academics to receive funding, review the submitted proposals, choose those fit for their program, and review their outcomes.

Hoskinson celebrated the partnership and its potential to benefit crypto and blockchain development:

We’ve been dedicated to vigorous research since the inception of the business and our work forms the foundations on which Cardano has been built. Working with leading academic institutions like Stanford to set up these blockchain research hubs is key to our vision. With the Research Hub, blockchain development can grow even faster, based on the new learnings that will emerge, and the hub will add a new layer of validity to our sector that we haven’t always been afforded.

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Cardano Contributes To The Development Of Blockchain Technology

According to the announcement, the Stanford IOG Research Hub steering committee is composed of a multidisciplinary team of specialists from the University and the blockchain company. The committee’s Chairman is David Tse, a Professor of Engineering at Stanford.

During the kickoff event, Tse said:

I am grateful for this support. The Research Hub will be a significant boost to enhance the interest in both fundamental and applied blockchain research at Stanford.

The first proposals call for potential research funding has been opened with a deadline proposal set for November 2022. Kiayas Chief Research Scientist added:

Advancing the state of the art in distributed ledger systems is essential for realizing the full potential of blockchain technology. This is what the Research Hub at Stanford is contributing to. Input Output is a pioneer in the blockchain space both in terms of producing as well as supporting foundational and applied research. Being able to give other academics the ability to undertake their own research means we can work together to make even greater progress.