Blockchain startup Citizens Reserve and Duke University will join hands in an initiative to encourage students’ interest in blockchain technology, according to an announcement on March 22.

Specifically, the program includes a new incubation laboratory on campus for students to experience working with real blockchain projects and holding related events. Instruments such as mining rigs  “will enable students to explore various blockchain mechanisms,” the firm stated.

Plus, participants of the program will have the chance to work on the firm’s recent supply chain platform dubbed SUKU, which deploys both the Ethereum and quorum blockchains.

The group of former Deloitte employees, Citizens Reserve will also collaborate with the university in designing a blockchain-focused curriculum, ultimately connecting students with ingenious experts, opening for job opportunities in the sector after graduation.

Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and the program’s faculty advisers, asserted that for academic institutions to welcome thought leaders in the blockchain industry means to equip undergrads with “hands on, industry-relevant experience.”

In a similar fashion, Yonathan Lapchik, the group’s Chief Innovation Officer and Duke’s MBA alumnus, felt it is essential to gear up students in terms of skills, connections and knowledge to promote a promising workforce in the future, now that many industries have delved into the distributed technology.