The Sui Foundation, an organization dedicated to layer 1 blockchain Sui, has appointed a managing director to shepherd the ecosystem’s growth following a protracted market downturn punctuated by regulatory crackdowns.

Greg Siourounis, an economics professor at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, Greece, and formerly with Barclays Capital, takes the newly created position immediately.

The appointment forms part of the year-old blockchain’s efforts to bolster activity across the network by promoting the development of decentralized applications and expanding the user base. It’s a goal that will require Sui to foster an inclusive community that brings many different types of people into the fold, Siourounis told CoinDesk.

“Our aim as a foundation is to increase awareness about the blockchain, not only with the developers community … but also with the rest of the world, which is entrepreneurs, startups, corporates, governments,” Siourounis said.

The Sui Foundation will continue to fund grants to the network’s builders and support initiatives to educate the community on the technology underpinning its network, he said. The foundation currently funds developer grants ranging between $10,000 and $100,000 in addition to distributing its native SUI token as supplements to those awards.

The Sui Foundation will also promote research into blockchain technologies, knowledge of which remains limited. It’s a move that will foster more compassion and collaboration within and beyond the decentralized finance world as regulators continue to crack down on the digital asset industry, Siourounis said.

“The main issue we have is that there's not enough knowledge about blockchain technology and what it can bring to our community and the world, and how this can help actually change the everyday life of everyone out there,” Siourounis said.

Mysten Labs-backed Sui, the brainchild of ex-Meta Platforms engineers, launched early last year as a high throughput, low latency and inexpensive platform to execute smart contracts and power applications. The blockchain is in the process of launching an initial coin offering for its native token SUI.

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