BNP Paribas Personal Finance has renewed its UK FinTech Incubator Programme, the Innovation Lab, for a third consecutive year in partnership with SuperTech WM and STEAMhouse.
The renewed commitment to the Innovation Lab comes amidst ongoing changes within the FinTech industry, highlighting a strategic focus on collaboration to promote regional innovation in financial services. With the addition of STEAMhouse as a returning partner, BNP Paribas Personal Finance and SuperTech WM are seeking to bolster the reach and impact of the programme throughout the West Midlands and the UK.
Programme focus
The central challenge for this year's Innovation Lab is the application of Generative AI to improve customer communications and insights, aiming to drive engagement, understanding, and effectiveness in the financial sector. The programme is now accepting applications from SMEs and FinTech businesses capable of addressing this challenge.
Selected businesses will participate in a fully funded programme designed to facilitate open innovation and co-creation. Participants will have the opportunity to collaborate with leaders in the finance sector and increase their visibility in the West Midlands' FinTech ecosystem.
Support for participants
Successful applicants to the Innovation Lab will receive a range of business support services. These include access to co-working facilities and innovation resources from STEAMhouse, mentorship from experienced financial services professionals, opportunities to pitch their propositions, and tailored one-to-one support.
Depending on the commercial potential of the solutions developed during the programme, some concepts may be further developed into complete products. Last year, BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK advanced four such solutions to trials with customers through the myCreation app.
Collaboration and opportunity
"Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK. For us to maintain our position as a leader in personal finance, it's essential that we continue to adopt emerging technologies and embrace new ideas so we can continue to deliver high-quality products and services for our partners and customers.
"The use of AI is on the rise and it's important that we consider how we can use it to supercharge our operations. I look forward to working with this year's cohort and our incubator partners to discover how we can use Generative AI to enhance our customer journey."
Hilary Smyth-Allen, Chief Executive Officer at SuperTech WM, reflected on the importance of the initiative and the ongoing partnership:
"Our longstanding partnership and now third Innovation Lab accelerator with BNP Paribas Personal Finance strengthens regional innovation capabilities within the financial services industry. Each year, we push ourselves to explore and embrace opportunities from technology and am excited to see where this year's cohort of SMEs take us as they offer responses to improving customer engagement."
Patrick Bek, Head of Service Innovation and Experimentation at STEAMhouse, emphasised the need for collaborative approaches:
"With the accelerating speed of technology, it's vital that businesses rethink the way they innovate, and look outside of their own organisations to expedite solutions; we call this open innovation. We're delighted to be able to provide the opportunity for SMEs to collaborate with a leading finance provider to share knowledge, learn new methods of innovation, and co-design solutions that deliver impact."
Application details
The Innovation Lab is inviting applications from SMEs with digital solutions relevant to the challenge, regardless of their current market presence. Applicants should be prepared to attend key events in Solihull and Birmingham, West Midlands. The deadline for applications is 05 September.
