After POSTECH and Yonsei University announced the establishment of an all-encompassing model of cooperation between the two universities last year, the joint development of the future-oriented Block chain Campus has made progress.
Apart from opening courses for each other, developing a joint degree program and supporting joint research projects, POSTECH and Yonsei University are both determined to use blockchain technology—widely recognized to play an integral role in the 4th Industrial Revolution—to bring down boundaries throughout both campuses.
Developing a blockchain-based system does not require a huge infrastructure and the technology gap in this area is narrow. While there is still a possibility that Korea’s universities and companies may lead the global market in blockchain utilities, the establishment of a blockchain campus is a fresh start.
To secure leading research capabilities in the blockchain sector, the two universities plan to encourage students and graduates to establish and introduce blockchain-based systems, open research centers, organize education courses and support blockchain related start-up programs.
POSTECH first introduced ‘Engram’, which is a blockchain-based knowledge content sharing system, and ‘Voting’, a blockchain-based voting system. Engram was developed by ‘Brains’, a start-up company founded by POSTECH students and graduates. Based on blockchain technology, knowledge contents that are made by students are shared, and makers of high-quality content are compensated with the virtual currency; ‘neuron’. One neuron is said to be worth about 1,000 KRW. Students can use their virtual currency to eat meals at restaurants in POSTECH or to buy stationery and daily necessities from campus stores. Also, the system is designed to make it difficult to distribute fake news or information. Engram is expected to be widely used as a hub for sharing knowledge with Yonsei University in the future. ‘Voting’ is a system for collecting votes or surveys. With blockchain technology, it has the advantage of ensuring transparency and integrity by storing and sharing voting results in disperse ways.
If these two systems are successfully established, POSTECH plans to introduce more blockchain-based systems. Blockchain systems will be implemented when issuing student ID and certificates and managing donations.
President Kim Doh-Yeon remarked that “blockchain technology has innovative and destructive power that can create a whole new industry with concepts that have never been seen before.” He stated that,“at a time like this, it is very meaningful for POSTECH and Yonsei University to jointly design the future of core technologies and lay the foundation for educational research on them so that students can be prepared for such technologies.”