A smart contract is a piece of code that is locked into the blockchain and executes automatically when the correct input is provided to it. Ethereum differentiates itself from Bitcoin by providing native support for smart contracts.
Currently Ripple’s XRP Ledger (XRPL) does not have native support for “smart contracts”. It makes use of a mechanism called “hooks” to provide the functionality- https://hooks.xrpl.org/
However hooks have their limitations. As part of this project we would like to explore the possibility of adding native smart contract functionality into the XRPL so that contracts are easier to write and execute on Ripple’s blockchain.