By Business & Finance 
University College Cork (UCC), State Street and Zhejiang University (ZJU) in China have announced today a collaboration to launch a technology centre at UCC.
The collaboration expands State Street’s relationship with both universities and will initially focus on emerging technologies and how they are impacting the financial services industry.
The technology centre will initially engage 20 students from both UCC and ZJU focused on key areas including virtual crypto currency and investor behaviour. The partnership will include a research exchange program for students between the two universities. In addition, UCC will also look into establishing an associated master and doctoral programmes.
Susan Dargan, head of State Street’s Global Services Offshore business, commented: “This is an exciting new initiative that will enable us to more deeply understand emerging technologies and the impact on our businesses and our clients. Ireland is becoming synonymous with disruptive technologies, with numerous centres of excellence here. This partnership is a testament to our history of innovation and bringing together academia and business.”
Simon Harris, Irish Minister of State with responsibility for International Financial Services, added: “I congratulate State Street on their initiative in fostering links between prestigious Irish and Chinese academic centres. This new technology centre is a major milestone in State Street’s long-standing relationship with UCC.”
Professor Ciaran Murphy, dean of Cork University Business School, UCC, said: “We are delighted and proud that State Street has selected Ireland and University College Cork as the location for their European technology centre. We are aware that other cities and universities in Europe were considered. In joining with our colleagues in Zhejiang University we are collaborating with one of the top three universities in China. We are confident that the centre will create a unique global research experience for our students and will help Ireland to be at the forefront of fintech research.”
