About Algorand
The Turing Award winner MIT professor Silvio Micali created the carbon-free Layer 1 blockchain technology known as the Algorand protocol. Algorand now offers a robust smartcontract platform built on the Algorand Virtual Machine (AVM) and supports 10000 transactions per second (TPS) with a 2.8 second settlement finality, all based on Pure Proof-of-Stake (PPoS) consensus.
About ACE
The Algorand Centres of Excellence (ACE) program, financed by the Algorand Foundation, is committed to supporting projects in the blockchain and distributed ledger sector that have a positive social impact. Out of 77 submissions with more than 550 participants, representing 46 countries, the Algorand Foundation chose 10 centers of excellence globally. 27 foreign experts from varied backgrounds evaluated the projects.
About TUM-ACE-SUPPRA
ACE-SUPPRA (Security, Usability, Performance, and Privacy Research on Algorand) is a project of the Technical University of Munich`s Blockchain Research Cluster (TUM). The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is a network of interdisciplinary research groups that examine and advance the technical, economic, legal, and social elements of blockchain-based solutions. With a focus on the technological, economic, and social elements of blockchain platforms and the Algorand protocol, ACE-SUPPRA is interdisciplinary by default, encouraging outreach and education. The research of SUPPRA is divided into groups headed by specialists in each field: evaluation of the Algorand infrastructure with a view to enhancing its functionality and communication security; performance improvements by offloading network tasks with SmartNICs; Tokenomics and governance of the Algorand platform and beyond; smart contract features that aim to improve robustness, quality, and security as critical elements for blockchain acceptance and usability. With a heavy emphasis on education, SUPPRA organizes hackathons and workshops, supports students in creating new initiatives that have the potential to develop into commercially viable solutions, and more. A five-year grant for a research effort with educational and outreach components has been awarded to ACE-SUPPRA. Prof. Georg Carle, who oversees the Chair of Network Architectures and Services, is the Principal Investigator (PI) for ACE-SUPPRA (NET). Teams from various TUM departments are a part of the multidisciplinary project ACE-SUPPRA, which has the following Co-PIs:
- Prof. Andreas Herkersdorf – Chair of Integrated Systems (LIS)
- Prof. Florian Matthes – Chair of Software Engineering for Business Information Systems (SEBIS)
- Prof. Alexander Pretschner – Chair of Software and Systems Engineering (SSE)
- Prof. Isabell Welpe – Chair for Strategy and Organization (SAO)
The research of the involved groups covers the technical, economic, and social aspects of blockchain technology in relation to the Algorand protocol, drawing on their primary capabilities. The Algorand infrastructure is being evaluated under Prof. Carle`s chair with an eye toward performance enhancement, and research is being done on more secure and privacy-preserving techniques for Algorand users. Prof. Herkersdorf and his group focus on performance improvements using SmartNICs, which can offload some activities. The research team led by Prof. Preschner will look into smart contract capabilities in an effort to increase the resilience, quality, and security of blockchain technology. Smart contracts are a vital component of blockchain acceptance and usage. Prof. Matthes wants to provide solutions to reduce the risks and costs associated with developing smart contracts by focusing on secure usability. Prof. Welpe’s team deals with tokenomics and Algorand governance issues. Workshops and hackathons are two examples of ACE-SUPPRA’s outreach efforts.