International Centre for Culinary Arts in Dubai Leverages Hedera to Become the World’s First Culinary School Using Blockchain Certification

Designed and integrated by Flexsin, for ICCA and supported by The HBAR Foundation, the pilot leverages EarthID's digital ID wallets and Verifiable Credentials (VCs) and the Hedera Consensus Service (HCS) to create blockchain-based certificates that ensure data integrity for all students, helping to reduce fraud whilst bringing further credibility to their qualification.

ICCA’s new blockchain certification platform leverages transcripts issued by the ICCA as a VC, stored in a non-custodial wallet in the form of a certificate of course completion. The course graduate then has the power to store their certificate directly in their mobile wallet and share it across all educational, business, and social platforms as immutable proof of course completion.

By leveraging VCs, ICCA enhances privacy in the certification process by letting the user choose the amount of data that is exposed and who to, all whilst enabling the prevention of fraud through the cryptographic nature of VCs. The ICCA platform further leverages the HCS from Hedera, the open source, leaderless proof-of-stake network, so all certification is tracked on the blockchain to further ensure data integrity. By leveraging highly scalable technologies, the ICCA plans to introduce the platform to other leading academic institutions, thus establishing a new standard for certification in the region.

“Ensuring data integrity is a core value proposition of the Hedera network,” said Shayne Higdon, CEO at The HBAR Foundation. “By working with the world-leading International Centre for Culinary Arts in Dubai on this breakthrough blockchain certification platform, we look forward to establishing a new degree of trust throughout the MENA educational system - paving the way for the next generation of certification with Hedera as the trust layer".

"We are pleased to pioneer the integration of blockchain technology in our Professional Diploma Program Certification process by leveraging Hedera's Consensus Services (HCS) on the Hedera network," said Sunjeh Raja, Director & CEO, the International Centre For Culinary Arts, Dubai. "This innovative approach reflects our commitment to enhancing excellence. It ensures that ICCA remains at the forefront of culinary education on a global scale and its foray into Web3."

About The HBAR Foundation

The HBAR Foundation supports the creation of Web3 communities built on the Hedera network, by empowering and funding the builders developing these communities. The Foundation’s six funds - focused on the Crypto Economy, Metaverse, Sustainability, Fintech, Privacy, and Female Founders - each support communities within those areas, and the interconnectedness enables applications to participate as part of a larger ecosystem.

The collective power of these funds enables entrepreneurs, developers, and enterprises of all sizes to tackle some of the world’s largest problems, and create and control their own economies, all built on the Hedera public network. Whether you’re building something new or migrating an existing EVM-based application and community, the HBAR Foundation is here to support you. For additional information, please visit https://hbarfoundation.org.

About the International Centre for Culinary Arts

Recognized as a leading TVET school in culinary arts, the International Centre for Culinary Arts, ICCA - Dubai and Abu Dhabi, delivers award-winning learning to aspiring chefs, artisans, and entrepreneurs from the world over.

Established in 2005, homegrown in the UAE, ICCA has been featured among the "Top 10 Culinary Institutes in the World" and awarded the "Recognition of Quality Culinary Education" by the World Association of Chefs Societies (Worldchefs), a global authority on food standards.

The centre has won several international awards, including "Middle East's Best Culinary Training Institution 2023" by the World Culinary Awards, the prestigious City & Guilds, London Lion Awards "International Centre of the Year Award 2016", and "The International Centre for Excellence Award (Middle East)-2016", ProChef ME Cooking School of the Year 2016, the Broadcast Pro Best Digital Initiative of the Year 2016, and BBC Good Food Culinary School of the Year 2022, amongst several others for its application-focused and outcome-driven quality training and continued excellence.