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What You Can Look Forward to on the MIT Sloan Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application Program
Whether you’re an entrepreneur looking to integrate blockchain into your business or working within retail or finance, blockchain technology can offer multiple opportunities for efficiency and innovation.
Initially used within the financial sector, blockchain technology can now be applied to any industry that needs trustworthy information records. The fields with the most opportunities are banking, financial services, insurance, information technology, and information services.
You can explore the various applications in the MIT Sloan School of Management’s Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application online short course. Over six weeks, you’ll gain a deep understanding of blockchain from MIT Sloan faculty and industry experts, and find out how to use this technology within the economic environment.
By the end of the course, you’ll have gained the knowledge necessary to discover opportunities to implement blockchain technology in an efficient and innovative manner.
MIT is known as a world leader in blockchain and is home to faculty and experts that are equipped to help you develop your skills and career. According to CoinDesk staff, MIT holds fifth position in its rankings of blockchain universities. MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative, which faculty director of the MIT Sloan program Professor Christian Catalini helped launch, is said to be the “epicenter of blockchain research in the United States.”1
Speaking about the program, Catalini says, “You won’t get an easy recipe that can be applied here and now. Instead, you’ll get a toolkit that can last longer – a method for decomposing problems as they emerge, and an understanding of the key fundamentals of the technology, so you can take advantage of them.” Catalini is also the Theodore T. Miller Career Development Professor, associate professor of technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic management at MIT, and founder of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab.
“You won’t get an easy recipe that can be applied here and now. Instead, you’ll get a tool kit that can last longer.”
– Christian Catalini, Faculty Director of the MIT Sloan Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application online program
If you’ve gotten this far, you understand the power behind blockchain technology and how it holds the potential to enable widespread, transformative, and powerful change in various industries.
“The practical applications for blockchain technology go way beyond financial assets. Essentially, any type of digital asset can be tracked and traded through a blockchain,” Catalini says.
Blockchain also isn’t as complicated as it seems at first glance. Through the MIT Sloan Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application program, you’ll explore the economic capabilities of blockchain while learning how to apply the technology to solve modern-day business challenges within your industry.
You’ll learn with dynamic business professionals and industry leaders from the comfort of your home, all while earning a certificate of completion from the MIT Sloan School of Management. The trailer below offers a quick introduction to the program.
Explore bootstrapping network effects through blockchain and cryptoeconomics
According to Deloitte’s 2021 Global Blockchain Survey, 73 percent of financial executives believe their organizations will lose an opportunity for competitive advantage if they don’t adopt blockchain.2
Blockchain technology has the potential to bootstrap and facilitate a marketplace without traditional intermediaries. For example, Bitcoin, the well-known cryptocurrency that uses blockchain, can be transferred internationally without the use of banks. This means that the middleman can be eliminated, adding simplicity and elegance to the process.
The MIT Sloan program will teach you how blockchain technology reduces the cost of networking. The program enables you to recognize the implications that blockchain technology has for market structure and changes to the nature of intermediation.
Though far from exclusive to crypto assets, blockchain plays an increasingly critical role in technology and cryptoeconomics. Having a thorough understanding of the practical application of blockchain will keep you on the cutting edge of the crypto conversation. Bitcoin is just one example of how blockchain is used in the financial sector.
Gain the opportunity to propose a blockchain-based solution
A key takeaway of the program is the opportunity to propose a blockchain-based solution to a business problem within your context or organization. You’ll discover opportunities for innovation and efficiency, and find out how to apply blockchain to the benefit of your organization.
Dr. Muneer Zuhdi, head of cognitive cities and industries – MEA Enterprise at Nokia in the United Arab Emirates, took the course to gain “more insights into the different blockchain technologies and their applications” and “identify a blockchain application that can address a human need and make a difference in people’s lives.”
Investigate blockchain technology’s effects on the digital agenda
Blockchain technology offers the opportunity to interact with broader changes on digital platforms, such as the implementation of artificial intelligence or the Internet of Things. It also has implications for the entire digital agenda of a company, including data privacy and security. In module six of the course, you’ll explore the future of blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, and digital privacy. You’ll also discover how businesses use tokens and crypto assets to raise funding and launch new types of digital platforms.
Noorddin Taj, who leads the digital strategy, innovation, and architecture team at BP, was eager to participate in the program. Taj, who has been with BP for more than 14 years, participated in the program to gain opportunities to advance BP’s digital agenda.
The MIT Sloan course provides extensive networking opportunities
By enrolling in the MIT Sloan blockchain program, you’ll gain the opportunity to network with a diverse group of professionals with similar interests and career paths.
Kirsten Roy-Reid, executive manager of financial crime at AML Advisory Business Banking, Commonwealth Bank, in Sydney, Australia, is one example of a past participant who signed up for the opportunity to network with other blockchain professionals after shifting industries: “To me it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. In moving industries, I looked for blockchain courses with credibility to try and build on my existing knowledge.” Through the MIT program, she hoped to expand her knowledge and network with others that may be moving or just started in this new, evolving, and exciting space.
The MIT blockchain course is the next step in a thriving career
The MIT Sloan Blockchain Technologies: Business Innovation and Application online short course will equip you with the knowledge and skills to stay informed and in demand as technology continues to evolve.
Learn how to solve modern-day business challenges with blockchain applications.
