UAE khalifa University of Science and Tech launches Ankabut Blockchain

Khalifa University of Science and Technology’s managed Ankabut, the Emirates Advanced National Research and Education Network, has launched ‘Ankabut Blockchain’, a digital certificate platform for the issuance, attestation, and exchange of digital certificates for all levels of education. The integration of Educhain, a leader in UAE in education blockchain applications, by Ankabut, the UAE leader in education services and infrastructure, is significant. 

Ankabut has 26 institutional members with connections to over 67 sites throughout the UAE, and offers UAE academic and research institutions connectivity to other education networks worldwide. Managed by Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Ankabut is jointly funded by the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) through the ICT Fund. 

The Educhain blockchain ecosystem includes several leading institutions in the UAE such as Khalifa University, UAE University, and Zayed University. The integration with Ankabut provides a secure, robust, scalable platform, accessible to all academic institutions across all Emirates in the UAE. 

Ankabut Blockchain serves schools, institutions, universities, and regulators to digitize academic records and attestations. It provides applications to manage, issue, attest, share, and verify any academic record. Learners receive a digital wallet to manage their academic records from all schools, institutions, and universities in the network. 

The ecosystem moves all certificates and records fully online, from the issuance, to attestation, sharing, and verifying. It integrates blockchain applications into their processes and workflow – moving from physical processes to digital – saving time and costs for all parties, collecting data and insights, and allowing recipients to verify all documents online. 

Ankabut Blockchain is also developing new applications for digital badging, equivalencies, and credit transfers, among others, to serve both academia and government. 

Fahem Al Nuaimi, Ankabut CEO, commented; “Academia must seriously consider the next step after e-learning. As restrictions on travel continue both locally and abroad, learners are no longer able to receive and share their degrees and other accomplishments. The UAE needs to be ready for the next stage, a “2.0” moment, to securely digitize academic records, attestations, equivalencies, and credit transfers, moving fully online.” 

Mark Balovnev, CEO at Educhain, added; “We are very excited to work with Ankabut to be the partner of choice for every online certification. As the world shifts to digital, we are here to support institutions in these challenging times, to serve their learners and partners safely and effectively through digital channels.” 

Ankabut Blockchain is also in line with the UAE’s Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021, enabling all academic institutions to digitize their certificates and enabling government and regulators to play a role in the network. As the UAE looks to conduct 50% of government transactions on the federal level using blockchain technology by 2021, securely digitizing education records and attestations is a natural next step. 

Through providing a unique digital wallet for each learner, the “Academic Passport”, Ankabut Blockchain aligns with the UAE 50-Year charter, a central education file for every citizen – “documenting all the academic degrees obtained, classes and training taken, and conferences attended”.