UCT and Interledger are shaping the future of Fintech. UCT has developed a fintech curriculum designed to train students in open-payment technology. Thanks to grant funding, UCT established the Financial Innovation Hub—a dynamic space where students can gain hands-on experience with open financial technology.
Join institutions like UCT and apply for the NextGen Education grant today 
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shorturl.atThe Interledger Foundation - Interledger-NextGen Higher Education, 2025 Call for LoIInterledger-NextGen Higher Education, 2025 Call for LoI
Interledger Foundation (ILF) is welcoming Letters of Intent (LOIs) from educational institutions with a vested interest in nurturing a talent pipeline of builders, innovators and advocates for inclusive digital financial systems.
The Interledger-NextGen Higher Education program aims to adequately prepare tomorrow’s open-source, open-payment, and digital financial inclusion workforce. To do this, the Interledger Foundation is looking for educators in higher education institutions to build campus and classroom programs, ranging from research, curriculum development, training, community-building, and technological innovation, amongst other initiatives, that will establish learning, investigative and practical exposure for its students to open-payment technologies with the potential to disrupt the economic landscape.
About the LOI Request
Applicants will be asked to upload a 2-page PDF outlining the proposed project’s objectives, its intended impact, and the estimated budget/grant amount being sought with an indication of what the majority of the budget will be spent on. More specifically, insights on the proposed program, including a high-level description of the activities to be undertaken, e.g., course offering, curriculum reboot/development, etc. The proposed project/initiative should be built on diversity, equity, and inclusion principles and support the Interledger Foundation's thrust to foster an empowering ecosystem for digital financial inclusion.
The project should indicate some level of investigation, integration, student exposure to the Interledger Protocol, and engagement with the ILF ecosystem. The proposed initiative should focus on developing skills in open payment technologies, social impact, entrepreneurship, and international development research. Successful projects must have a theory of impact.
Eligibility
Educational institutions to include public and private two to four-year institutions, institutional systems or consortia of institutions, and university-affiliated research centers or laboratories. Applying universities must align the proposed initiative with their undergraduate or graduate departments of computer science, information technology, business, sustainable development, or related fields.
We are accepting only one letter of intent per institution.
Project Timeline & Grant Amount
Grant funding of up to USD 50,000 is available for a 12-month timeline to cover both work on the proposed project and any costs associated with event participation, training, or software development.
Resources
Interested applicants can download the Application Guidelines which provides a comprehensive overview of the grant requirement, process, guidelines and list of resources about Interledger Foundation, and its related technologies.
You may also preview the work done by the following previously funded universities - Bowie State University (USA) and the University of Cape Town (South Africa).
Additional Key Information
We've decided to keep the LOI process open and accept submissions on a rolling basis. On that basis, the Interledger Foundation will be accepting letters of intent from interested universities up to Friday, October 3, 2025 at 11:59 pm (EDT).
We invite you to connect with us via our various communication channels, Community Forum, and Interledger Slack for more details on this grant opportunity.
For specific grant related questions, please contact the program team at programteam@interledger.org. Please include "Interledger-NextGen Higher Education Grant LOI: Inquiry" in the subject line.
Public & private higher education institutions
Open Payments are the future. Yet, many students lack exposure to open financial systems and digital finance technologies.
