Carnegie Mellon University

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September 29, 2017

INI partners with Bitclave to improve the search experience

Christa Jones
  • Director of Marketing and Communications

INI associate director Patrick Tague is Chief Technology Officer at BitClave

BitClave, the company that is disrupting the traditional ad tech market, is proud to announce its partnership with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). This fall, BitClave is sponsoring a practicum project for graduate students in the College of Engineering’s Information Networking Institute (INI) at CMU Silicon Valley. The practicum pairs teams of students with corporate, research and government sponsors to work on groundbreaking ideas that shape our future in everything from computing and mobile systems to things like ad tech and software development.

“Community is essential for any project to be successful. The CMU tech community has been very welcoming to our team and supportive of our mission. They’re always forward-thinking and I think they see a lot of promise here,” says Alex Bessonov, CEO at BitClave.

BitClave will be bringing its extensive knowledge in blockchain and cryptocurrency to work with INI’s mobility and information security students on disruptive advertising technology. While providing the students a rich learning experience, this collaboration will benefit the BitClave’s platform as well. For instance, one such project will help to improve anonymization and ranking system of BitClave Active Search Ecosystem (BASE). BitClave’s software engineers will be working in collaboration with INI students to improve the user’s search experience while still offering a comfortable level of anonymity.

"Bridging the gap between theory and practice, the practicum affords INI students the opportunity to innovate in the wild alongside experts in the field," said Dena Haritos Tsamitis, director of the INI. "A startup like BitClave provides exposure to entrepreneurial, startup culture and frontier technologies like blockchain, while also enabling students to apply classroom knowledge to solve real-world problems."

Patrick Tague, CTO at BitClave and associate director of the INI, is excited about the possibilities, stating,“Carnegie Mellon has long had a reputation as a leader in technology, so disruptive tech like blockchain is naturally very appealing. Combining blockchain with ad tech has a lot of potential, and I think it gets people excited.”

BitClave is a startup company using blockchain to eliminate ad service middleman and create a direct connection between businesses and customers. BitClave is building a decentralized search engine that helps its users truly find what they are looking for and get compensated every time they click on search results for products and services from their favorite brands, making third-party advertising networks unnecessary and annoying ads a thing of the past.

On the BASE, customers exercise full control over their identity, deciding who has access to their data while earning CATs each time businesses use their data to make them offers. Through this platform, businesses can serve personalized, relevant offers directly to users who have already expressed interest in their products and services, significantly increasing their return on advertising spending.

Partnering with companies like BitClave is one way that the INI's students in Silicon Valley benefit from hands-on, industry experience at the epicenter of high-tech innovation. The INI's advanced, specialized curriculum combines rigorous technical topics, practical industry-oriented topics and real-world project experience to empower students to be the movers and shakers of the tech industry, whether launching a start-up, joining an enterprise R&D team or fighting cyber-crime.

For the full press release, click here.

Information Networking Institute (INI):
The Information Networking Institute (INI) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) educates and develops engineers through technical, interdisciplinary master’s degree programs in information networking, security, and mobility that incorporate business and policy perspectives. Founded in 1989, it is an integral part of the College of Engineering, and a collaboration of the School of Computer Science, the Tepper School of Business and the H. John Heinz III College. With an advanced, specialized curriculum combining computer science, electrical and computer engineering, software engineering, and information systems, the INI’s programs uniquely position graduates for next-generation careers at the pulse of the tech industry. For more information about the INI and its programs, visit the INI website.

About BitClave:
BitClave is a startup building the next generation of decentralized search focused on delivering the best experiences for web users. Powered by the privacy and security of blockchain technology, BitClave is creating a search engine that connects users directly with what they’re looking for, turning browsing into finding. By removing the middlemen in the digital advertising ecosystem, BitClave gives users control over their data and connects them directly with the businesses they’re looking for. www.bitclave.com