“We must create an environment where opportunities to innovate–and break through the crowd–can be achieved,” said Sarah Williams-Gardener, CEO of FinTech Wales. “The importance to build back better post COVID-19 is even more pressing. If we don’t commit to providing the right conditions now for our FinTech innovators, we will almost certainly lose out to our international competitors.”
The report, “Research and Innovation for UK FinTech,” was co-authored by Gavin Powell and Johnny Mayo of FinTech Wales and Nicola Anderson and Stephen Ingledew of FinTech Scotland.
Among the proposals in the report are:
- The creation of “challenge led innovation” programs aimed at developing “ground-breaking propositions” through a pilot program
- Identifying long-term needs in the research and innovation space
- Cultivating partnerships with established players to support their funding
- The development of a FinTech Innovation Institute backed by a collaboration between U.K. regions—this would also be directed at the operation and steering of a “long-term funded portfolio"
- Facilitating an effort to leverage local strength to create a broader, more resilient fintech network in the U.K.
FROM TWITTER
Moon Executive Search @MoonExecSearch Jan 19
"The global influence of the UK’s Fintech sector continues to grow. Last year, London attracted more tech investment than Berlin, Paris and Stockholm combined. https://forbes.com/sites/oliverwilliams1/2021/01/15/silicon-valley-shifts-to-london-in-uk-tech-boom/… #Fintech #VentureCapital #VC #London"
“We know from experience that fintech across the UK offers real potential for economic growth, future employment and greater financial inclusion,” said FinTech Scotland CEO Nicola Anderson. “This paper proposes a suite of purposeful and collaborative actions that can achieve success through commitment and regional contributions. The paper is just the start and we’re looking forward to continuing this work with fellow fintech leadership colleagues and teams across the UK.”
The paper also points out the benefits of supporting fintech innovation with respect to financial inclusion and identifies it as a “significant disruptive force both economically, across the wider and emerging digital economy, and socially,” reads its summary.
“We are just starting to understand the impact FinTech will have across all sectors of the economy with new opportunities in retail, manufacturing, the energy sectors, the future of oil and gas, and ‘cleantech’, agriculture, as well as a significant progress in ‘green’ and climate finance,” it continues.
Just prior to the paper’s release, the London Fintech Innovation Lab announced its 2021 cohort. To that end, they selected 20 organizations to address challenges in financial services and come up with ways to cope with a “rapidly changing environment,” according to Finextra.
Per the newswire, those companies are:
- CoGo
- Ophelos
- Percent
- Vested Impact
- Zeti
- Fairly AI
- Freyda
- Illumr
- Raw Labs
- Sust Global
- Contingent
- Elemendar
- Nuggets
- SQR Systems
- Synth
- Granulate
- Hubble
- Responsive AI
- STOIC
- Umazi
