- Dr. Adel ElMessiry, ODEM's Chief Technology Mentor, completed the deployment of the contracts today at a live event at the #SWITCH! Conference in Vilnius, Lithuania. As an audience of mostly students looked on, Antanas Guoga, the Lithuanian representative to the European Parliament, received the first blockchain-based educational certificate to be generated by the ODEM Platform. "Today's activation is a powerful endorsement of our project's technical viability," said Dr. ElMessiry. "I'm really pleased with the progress we've achieved toward making the ODEM Platform a reality." Smart contract activation is a final step in testing interaction between the InterPlanetary Filing System (IPFS) and the Ethereum Blockchain, pillars of the ODEM Platform. Deployment of the smart contracts follows the recent achievement of several significant milestones and achievements on ODEM's road to full activation of the Platform in early 2019. Those accomplishments include: Successful independent auditing and testing of smart contracts provides evidence of the viability and security of the ODEM Platform, an education portal designed to help students overcome the challenges they face in getting a great education. Integration testing of the Cloud with the mainnet smart contracts is critical to ensuring system security. Authentication of educational certificates for viewing outside of the platform establishes the successful interaction of the IPFS and the Ethereum Blockchain. ODEM, based in Zug, Switzerland, is a global leader in addressing the hurdles that students encounter in gaining a higher education. The ODEM Platform is a collaborative, decentralized portal to empower students to engage with top academics to create exceptional educational experiences at a reasonable cost. #Switch! is the largest non-profit networking conference in the Baltic States centered on entrepreneurship, information, communication and technology. More than 15,000 participants are expected at the conference for speeches and discussions focused on blockchain technology, initial coin offerings, artificial intelligence and cyber security. For more information please see: ODEM.IO. Or join the ODEM conversation on Telegram. Please see Events for a snapshot of upcoming industry conferences that ODEM leaders will attend. Alexa Narma,Sr. Director, Product and Marketingalexa@odem.iopress@odem.ioTel: +1 (424) 327-5682Via Balestra 66830 Chiasso, SwitzerlandJoin The ODEM.IO Conversation on Telegram.https://www.linkedin.com/company/odem-io/https://www.facebook.com/odemio/https://twitter.com/ODEM_IO Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/639718/ODEM_IO_Logo.jpg