Trinity’s ADAPT Centre has launched a new financial technology programme, Fintech Fusion, with funding in excess of €5 million. The programme will run for four years, from 2018 to 2022.
The ADAPT Centre, a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) research centre, launched the programme alongside the Minister for Finance and Pubic Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe. It will involve researchers from three existing SFI Research Centres – ADAPT, Insight and Lero.
The programme will encourage breakthroughs in payment (PayTech), regulation (RegTech) and insurance (InsureTech) technologies by accelerating scientific progress and enabling data-driven research. FinTech Fusion aims to meet new competitive changes stemming from rapid global advancements in artificial intelligence, mobile applications, cloud computing, and big data analytics.
The SFI will provide €2 million of the funding, with the balance coming from research agreements with industry partners.
Speaking at the launch of FinTech Fusion, Donohoe said: “The collaboration between industry and third level institutions in research programmes such as FinTech Fusion gives Ireland an early advantage in emerging technologies. Coupled with our open economy and strong background in both technology and financial services, this will add to the opportunities already available for the creation of higher value jobs.”
FinTech Fusion aims at challenging traditional financial services by developing innovations that improve payment systems, reduce human intervention and fraud while increasing transparency and efficiency, developing risk prediction and mitigating threats. It addresses the role of financial technology in a range of businesses, from technology companies to the retail sector.
Prof John Cotter, Director of FinTech Fusion at the ADAPT Centre, said: “Fintech is the marriage between finance and technology and offers huge growth opportunities for Ireland both in research reputation and economic impact. This funding allows us to take advantage of these opportunities.”
“In FinTech Fusion we have brought together leading financial and technology researchers with dynamic industry partners to answer valuable research questions. This will create new opportunities for Ireland, our researchers, and our industry partners.”
FinTech Fusion’s academic researchers will work together with more than a dozen companies, including Deutsche Börse, Fidelity Investments, Microsoft, Gecko Governance, FINEOS and Zurich.
