Chinese University Forms Blockchain Research Center

The Research Institute of Information Technology (RIIT) of Tsinghua University (THU) has established a partnership with a subsidiary of China’s institutional financial firm to set up a blockchain research center.

This development was made known in a press release published just recently.

The RIIT has inked an agreement with Sheng Ying Xin Management Consulting Co., Ltd., a contractually controlled and supervised company of China Internet Nationwide Financial Services (CIFS). The two groups would join together to do research and work on fundamental blockchain innovations and models for establishing enterprise-level applications in several industries.

The blockchain-based applications would tackle different challenges currently being faced by Chinese firms. The introduction of blockchain into Chinese businesses seeks to advance transparency and traceability in supply chains, logistics, the pharmaceutical field, and agricultural products, just to name a few of the fields.

CIFS CEO and chairman Jianxin Lin said that the new agreement would be significant step for the firm in terms of its business approach, offering a shift from traditional financial service to concentrate more on fintech. Lin said that fintech will be “the main driver of the next phase of our [CIFS] growth.”

Bin Yang, Vice President of THU, noticed that blockchain applications in different fields have become a “vital national strategy for all countries,” saying that distributed ledger technology would hasten China’s economic transition and modernize industry standards. He added that the “digital transformation has only just begun,” and it would bring a “number of positive impacts for the society.”

Created in 1911, Tsinghua University is one of the most prominent research universities in Beijing, China, and a member of the elite C9 League of Chinese universities. In May, THU set up the Youth Education Chain League and introduced China’s first blockchain innovative experiment platform.