Japanese Electronics Manufacturer Sony Corp (SNE, SON.L) announced today that they have developed a modern educational platform based on block chain technology in a tie-up with International Business Machines Corp. (IBM). Sony Global Education, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese Conglomerate, has developed this new IBM blockchain based educational platform. This innovative digital system will allow students to store and manage educational records using blockchain technology.
Cloud-based Platform
This new system will ensure that student records cannot be falsified and facilitates reliable disclosure of educational data to authorized 3rd parties. It’s a cloud-based platform that will assist inefficient tracking and managing of student records. Sony plans to deploy this system in both primary and higher education institutions to help teachers track the learning progress of students. President of Sony Global Education, Masaaki Isozu was impressed by the positive impact of Blockchain technology in a wide range of industries including Educational sector. He told that blockchain will help in secure storage of educational data and to share among authorized users.
IBM BlockChain
This IBM blockchain based digital platform running on IBM Cloud can consolidate and manage the educational data of students from several institutions. It can also be used to establish transparency of the scholastic achievements between schools and students. Students can store their digital academic transcripts securely using blockchain and it can be shared among authorized users. This education system is powered by the popular blockchain framework Hyperledger Fabric 1.0, hosted by The Linux Foundation.
Trial in Global Math Challenge
Sony plans to roll out this service to schools in early 2018 and will trial it in the upcoming 5th Global Math Challenge which is a worldwide contest organized by Sony Global Education every year. This contest which tests the logical reasoning of the students has witnessed more than 250,000 participants from 85 nations across globe. Sony plans to use their newly developed system for recording the test results of the contest in a blockchain so that it will be reliable and difficult to forge.
Sony is currently evaluating the applications of Artificial Intelligence and blockchain to improve the educational sector. It also looks forward to applying blockchain technology in other areas like logistics and supply chain and is exploring new use cases.