IIIT Hyderabad launches Advanced Certificate Program on Blockchain Technologies

IIIT Hyderabad launches Advanced Certificate Program on Blockchain Technologies
(L-R) K. Sridhar, Chief Business Officer, TalentSprint Prof. Sunil Aggarwal, Facuty, TalentSprint; Dr. Santanu Paul, MD & CEO, TalentSprint; Dr. P. J. Narayanan, Director, IIIT-Hyderabad; Prof. Sujit Gujjar, Faculty, IIIT Hyderabad; Prof. Kannan Srinathan, Faculty, IIIT Hyderabad & Prof. Ramesh Loganathan, Prof of Practice, Co-Innovations, IIIT Hyderabad; at a press conference to announce IIIT Hyderabad & TalentSprint, taking their partnership to next level to empower professionals with cutting-edge Blockchain expertise, on Wednesday at IIIT Hyderabad Campus, Gachibowli.

IIIT Hyderabad in association with TalentSprint has announced the launch of an Advanced Certificate Program on Blockchain Technologies and Solutions.

This closely follows their earlier executive education program on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, which has attracted over 800 participants within six months of its launch.

Gartner has identified Blockchain as one of the top disruptive technologies of 2018. World Economic Forum survey suggests that 10 percent of global GDP will be stored on Blockchain by 2027. According to an industry study, there is a 700% increase in demand for Blockchain professionals globally. NASSCOM estimates that Blockchain has the potential to create value of up to $5 Billion in India in the next 5 years. Even central policy making organizations such as NITI Aayog haveidentified Blockchain as a key enabler of national infrastructure.

This Advanced Certificate Program will enable deeper understanding of Blockchain technologies and how to leverage the same for building complex solutions for distributed multi-entity applications, integrated financial systems, supply chain and other industry applications. The three-month program will be delivered by faculty from the Blockchain Research CoE and practitioners from TalentSprint, with extensive hands-on assignments and capstone project.

According to Dr. P.J. Narayanan, Director, IIIT Hyderabad, “We have been selected as one of the university partners for Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) initiative, along with Princeton University,Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), and University of California, Berkeley. Our Blockchain Center of Excellence will focus on advanced research. This deeper understanding is the basis for the executive education program in association with TalentSprint.” He said, this is another new program we are launching. Blockchain has been in the news a lot, it’s a very new technology, its been known for last ten years, which is not a long time. It’s a practical technology being popularized by cryptocurrency, which is the most visible or glamourous application. The underlying technology of Blockchain is much more far reaching. It is a great technology and IIIT has strengths in the underlying technology, we have been running courses on Blockchain for our students. We also want to reach out to others, with the knowledge and expertise we have, especially the professionals here. Last program in AI ML, we launched is making waves now, we already have 800 students in these programs, which are doing very well now. So,the time for Blockchain has come, we have strengths in it. We and TalentSprint have designed a program together. Don’t know the catchment area for this course, as unlike AI ML, this is a little more niche. IIIT wanted a partner for this, Talent Sprint did a fantastic job with AI ML Program, so we are jointly working on this.

Speaking to media here, Dr. Santanu Paul, MD & CEO, TalentSprint, said, Blockchain is a technology whose time has come. For some Blockchain is the internet of money, for others it is the automation of trust. This executive program with IIITHyderabad Blockchain Center of Excellence can make India a major hub of expertise for Blockchain technologies and solutions. It will be an immersive program delivered by a joint team of leading academics and practitioners.” He said,according to World Economic Forum, 10% of global GDP will be stored on Blockchain by  2027, it has potential to create $5 Billion value in India in the next 5 years says NASSCOM and also there is going to be 700% growth in demand for Blockchain EngineersIn the years to come Blockchain will disrupt all sectors, Financial Services, Government, Supply Chain, Healthcare, Pharma & Biotech, Legal, Education etc.He said, Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger for maintaining a permanent and tamper-proof record of transactional data. A Blockchain functions as a decentralized database that is managed by computers belonging to a peer-to-peer network. It is a convergence of many established disciplines.

Sridhar, Chief Business Officer, TalentSprint, said,TalentSprint conducted a survey with a sample of 1500 professionals and found that the demand for Blockchain expertise is catching up with AI/ML, high interest was from professionals in the 25-30 age group; professionals having up to 5 years’ experience werekeener, 70% of those with interest were professionals working in IT/BFSI. However, the awareness among women professionals about blockchain was low. He said, this program is for working Professionals, having hands on coding experience of minimum 1 year, seeking to master Blockchain technologies and are lokking for role-change in disruptive Blockchain technologies.

As announced earlier, IIIT Hyderabad is one of the 17 global members of Ripple’s UBRI. IIIT Hyderabad is using its UBRI grant to expand its Blockchain Center of Excellence, which is focused on academic research, technical development, innovation and executive education.

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Neel Achary is the editor of Business News This Week. He has been covering all the business stories, economy, and corporate stories.