Dive Brief:

• Melbourne, Australia's RMIT University will soon be offering an eight week online course in blockchain strategy, with the intent of instructing the nation's upcoming entrepreneurs in the technology, the Brisbane Times reported Tuesday.
• As interest in the technology outpaces those working within it, the field is considered a growing employment zone, with the industry likely to reach $176 billion in value by 2025, according to Gartner Research.
• Although associated most closely with bitcoin and banking, blockchain can also easily track ownership history of a variety of valuable objects, as well as manage electronic voting, cybersecurity efforts and electricity distribution management.

Dive Insight:

Experts predict that by 2021 roughly one third of manufacturers and retailers will be tracking goods through a blockchain resource.

"Blockchain expertise is going to become a necessary skill set within a variety of existing careers," Alex-Paul Manders, blockchain researcher for ISG, told Supply Chain Dive.

Applications for blockchain are making their way into a wide variety of industries. Israeli container shipping company ZIM has come to rely on blockchain for enhanced accuracy in creating bills of lading, while pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline rely on it for complex license technology issues.

"It's going to appear in contract creation, which means lawyers will need to become educated on the subject, and certainly accountants, thanks to blockchain's usefulness in financial audits," Manders said. 

Awareness of the technology's growing appeal isn't lost on today's business students.

"I frequently get requests from various colleges to go and speak on the subject of blockchain," Manders said. "There's a lot of interest, and a lot of research being done to examine practical use cases about exactly what blockchain is and can do."

As blockchain's applicability grows, a shortage of trained users will likely widen — all the more reason for more universities and business school to offer educational programs on the technology.