Between navigating current events, world inflation, and our daily lives, it’s sometimes hard to focus on anything but the present. However, in my role as the President & CEO of the Interledger Foundation, I feel a part of my mandate is to traverse through the noise and distractions of today in order to forge a path for the next generation to build a better world than what currently exists. Our entire mission focuses on making financial systems more open and equitable for all, so what better way than to bring in those who are responsible for building our tomorrow?
I had an initial thought around launching an education initiative to enable students the opportunity to learn about the Interledger Protocol and open source technology, build a project, and unlock access to potential funders to further develop their ideas. We started off with a pilot program with one very surprised (and I’d like to think, delighted) class at Bowie State University, and set off on realizing an idea that only lived as musings in my mind.
Since then the program has grown and evolved in ways I could not have imagined. We have brought two cohorts of students to our annual Summit, inspired previously untapped career paths, and expanded our reach to other universities, including an entire innovation hub at the University of Cape Town.
Today, we are pleased to launch an open call for universities around the globe to participate in the Interledger NextGen Higher Education Program
Interledger Foundation Launches NextGen Higher Education Grant - Tech | Business | Economy
Interledger Foundation seeks to nurture a talent pipeline of builders and advocates for inclusive digital financial systems.
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Our world is rapidly changing, which is not a surprising statement to anyone - we can see it happening all around us. And while there’s no way to know exactly how it will look in the future, we know for certain that technology will continue to play an increasing role. Therefore, in addition to traditional class time, we aim to provide access to real-world opportunities and use cases that expose students to the most innovative solutions being developed in the Open Payments realm.
By putting Interledger on Campus, we are aiming to build different kinds of career pathways for students, and an entryway to the networks needed to succeed in this space. We also intentionally create a cross-disciplinary environment where students from a range of fields – economics, finance, business, and technology – come together to collaborate and innovate. Since we are building more open and interoperable digital financial solutions, it only makes sense that we expand this effort in our educational programming. Everything we do is built on our values of openness, inclusion, and innovation.
If you think an initiative would be valuable to students, feel free to share this opportunity with universities that may want to work with us to shape the next generation of leaders.
Please share our Grant Application Guide with prospective universities to access information on the grant process, requirements, resource list, and other details essential to applying for this opportunity. Or simply, share this blog post with the direct link so they can Submit a LOI Application
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