Singapore to Train Students on Blockchain

Singapore has been really serious about fostering fintech. The Lion City has been inking fintech deals right and left, it’s been rolling back VC restrictions to promote startup financing, it’s been giving fintech grants that have been called “aggressive,” and its way ahead of most countries in testing new technologies, like blockchain.

As such, the city-state is now on the cusp of grabbing the world’s fintech crown from London. Is it resting on its laurels though? Nope:

The National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Computing and the IBM Center for Blockchain Innovation (ICBI), a part of IBM Research, announced on Tuesday they are collaborating to develop a module on fintech, which is set to better equip students with essential knowledge and skill sets in this area.

That’s right, according to Crowdfund Insider, Singapore now wants to nurture fintech not only in the startup world, but in the nation’s classrooms as well. Here’s what Associate Professor Hahn Jungpil, Head of the Department of Information Systems at NUS School of Computing, had to say about it:

“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.”

The module is slated to be released on January 2018, and will focus primarily on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. Your move, Hong Kong.

Photo: Khairul Nizam