Backing the Blockchain: Why South Korea's Investment In Adult Education Matters

South Korea is the most recent government to show its dedication to the tech with an investment of $90 million to create blockchain specialists who steer national technology decisions and conversations.

The message from these governments is clear: upskill and educate in blockchain or be left behind.

What exactly has South Korea done? Early last month the government announced its intention to create the nation's "First batch of blockchain specialists." This is reportedly supported by the rolling out of a "Blockchain technology development strategy" course in tertiary education, which is backed by a 100 billion Korean Won investment.

While South Korea is not the first government to get involved with the blockchain in some way, it appears to be the first country to invest in the education of the technology on this kind of scale.

South Korea's decision is a major step in further investment and education of blockchain - and it is not the only government making such investments in innovation.

The private-public partnership will also focus on the development of applications based on enterprise blockchain, cyber-security, and cognitive computing, with an end-goal of creating a digital blockchain ecosystem in the island city-state.

There is a lot of education needed as blockchain has many applications in many domains.

In an ideal world, blockchain would be a subject in schools, as it's a core subject in the field of computer science with almost unlimited applications.

Why might more governments invest in blockchain education? Transparency, cost saving, opportunity and the ease of interaction between citizens using government services are all strong reasons.

Some governments are slow, and others fast in adopting blockchain technology - but the reality is that all will likely need to adopt the tech at some point.