Got a Bold Business Idea? Converge 2019 is Now Open for Applications!

The quest to find the next generation of entrepreneurs from Scotland’s thriving academic entrepreneur community is fully underway. Converge, the pioneering entrepreneurship programme for staff, students and recent graduates from across Scotland’s universities and research institutes has just launched its 2019 programme, challenging every Scottish university to uncover the next big idea.

Now in its 9^thyear, Converge now has the financial backing of all 18 Scottish universities ”“ up 11 from last year. They join the Scottish Funding Council which has earmarked over £1m funding to cover the next three years, and Creative Scotland.

This year’s total prize fund is the biggest yet at £230,000 and is shared across the four main platforms ”“ Converge, Impact, KickStart and, new for 2019, the Creative Challenge. Successful applicants also benefit from in-depth business training, pitch coaching, support and access to an extensive network of business and investor contacts.

Open to spin-outs and start-ups from any industry sector, Converge alumni are represented across a wide range of sectors including the life sciences, technology, engineering, renewables, the creative industries and medtech. Some of their ground-breaking innovations include next generation ultrasound sensors, educational robots, wearable medical devices, trailblazing cancer treatments and robotic probes.

Applicants now have until Thursday 25 April to submit their proposals. Full details including how to apply are available on the Converge website. Additionally, the Converge Outreach Team is currently travelling the length and breadth of Scotland to offer help and advice to students and staff thinking of applying to this year’s Programme. Events are scheduled throughout April with new sessions added daily, so please take a look at our schedule for more details.

How Can Space Technologies Benefit the Development of Blockchain?

A new funding opportunity has recently become available to drive innovation in the development of blockchain through space technology.

The blockchain kick start activity scheme is searching for companies and organisations developing new technology to benefit blockchain in various sectors.

What’s So Important About Blockchain?

The development of blockchain technologies and applications has the potential to revolutionise wide-ranging sectors which affect our everyday lives.

The internet is being transformed into an internet of value, allowing people to exchange digital information and assets without the need for centralised structures such as banks and government agencies.

Digital assets include things as varied as currencies, identity information and property titles. Through blockchain technologies, these can all be stored securely, in a far more transparent way than ever before. This could help prevent against fraud or hacks across all business transactions in the future.

The industries in which blockchain could have the biggest potential include:

Insurance: The digital storage of assets could eliminate the need for paperwork and make processes more streamlined.
Financial services: Blockchain has the potential to cut out middlemen and banks from transaction processes through satellite technologies. It could even become a platform in itself for the trade of goods and services.
Utilities: Distributed power grids run by IoT networks could decentralize the energy industry.
Supply Chain Management: Blockchain could enhance asset tracking for better security and trust between stakeholders.
Government institutions: Digitizing health records, tax systems and other documents could greatly improve efficiency within government institutions.

What’s Space Technology Got to Offer?

Space enabled technologies such as Satellite Communications, Satellite Navigation, Earth Observation and Human Space Flight Technology have a lot to offer the development of blockchain;

Satellite Communications (SatComs) can expand coverage for blockchain users in remote areas or areas lacking in terrestrial communication infrastructure.
Satellite Earth Observation (EO) could benefit the insurance sector through satellite imagery. For example, in the case of damage caused by flooding, satellite images could provide the evidence needed to speed up claims. It could also aid the supply chain management sector by providing detailed information on the location of valuable assets in real time.
Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are essential for any blockchain application that relies on geographical referencing.

Keen to Apply?

Any business or organisation wishing to apply for the KickStart activity funding need to follow these steps:

Complete an online questionnaire found on the ESA-BA website
Download the invitation to tender from the site and set up a Bidder Restricted Area’
Produce a written proposal
Submit your proposal and supporting documents by 8^thApril 2019

Successful applicants could receive up to â‚¬60,000 in funding to complete their project.

Funding Blockchain Innovation

This funding initiative is being driven by ESA business apps, providing expert support to businesses looking to utilise space enabled technology in the development of new commercial services.

To find out more about the types of funding and project management support available, visit the ESA-BA funding page.

Do you have what it takes? Celebrating entrepreneurial success in the UK

Article written by Calum Brewster, Managing Director, Head of UK Regional Offices at Julius Baer

Spectator Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards

The winner of the Spectator Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards 2018 is on a mission to bring financial services to the unbanked’. Pockit – a low cost, easy-access banking app ”“ was the overall winner, establishing itself as a true disruptor in the banking sector.

The judges commented that its clear social purpose ”“ which tackles a very serious problem ”“ is what stood out. Pockit has 500,000 customers so far and that number is growing by 20,000 each month. It’s targets are very ambitious but it’s attracted significant investment from a number of high-profile venture capital investors to achieve these goals.

Fintech has long been celebrated as a truly disruptive sector and a large number of successful companies are making huge strides in rapidly changing the status quo ”“ many of which are based in Scotland. This does not go unnoticed at Julius Baer. While they don’t expect robots to replace humans in the hugely important job of client interaction, they do keep a very focused eye on technology that can help them to better service their clients’ very complex needs.

Partnering with the Spectator to create these awards helps Julius Baer to stay at the forefront of technology enhancements ”“ giving us the opportunity to speak with the companies and individuals who are changing the world of financial services.

Founded in Zurich in 1890, and now a fast expanding player in the UK wealth management scene, Julius Baer has an instinctive sympathy with business-builders that bring new thinking and positive change to established markets.

So, who are the companies that are rewriting the rules in 2019?

Entrants for these awards will be innovators with real passion for their products and customers and the potential to scale up from local to national and international arenas, underpinned by strong financial plans. There will be five regional winners (one from Scotland), chosen from a high-profile judge in each region. The national winner will be named at a gala dinner in central London and will be invited to join The Spectator’s elite private dining club of business leaders as well as benefiting from the extensive media coverage that these awards generate.

Do you have what it takes?

As true disruptors in this sector we are encouraging founder members of Fintech Scotland to enter the prestigious Spectator Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards 2019. Details can be found at www.spectator/co.uk/disruptor

FNZ becomes first Scotland-based fintech unicorn business

The Scottish financial sector has always punched above its weight, confident in its status as the largest UK financial centre outside London. It not only contributes billions of pounds to the UK’s GDP, but is recognised the world over for its innovation and forward thinking ”“ successfully picking up the baton passed by innovators from years gone by.

Add to that the country’s current ambition to become a globally recognised top five fintech hub ”“ nurturing start-ups, scaling up SMEs, encouraging growth, and attracting global firms ”“ and it’s easy to see why the Scottish fintech ecosystem is outperforming its rivals.

Scotland’s credentials as a leading fintech location were further reinforced recently with the news that the Edinburgh-based fintech giant FNZ has reached Unicorn status.

While it would be a stretch to claim FNZ as a truly home-grown Scottish company, a lot of the business’s rapid growth has occurred on Scottish soil. The company was founded by chief executive Adrian Durham in New Zealand, before they quickly expanded to Scotland in 2005. Many of the original FNZ team were from Scotland and importantly remain working for the company today, from its Tanfield base in Edinburgh, where they employ over 400 of its 1,500 members of staff.

FNZ has thrived during its time in Scotland, thanks at least in part to the combination of talent, customers and infrastructure needed to succeed.

The company now holds £330 billion in assets under administration from around five million customers globally, serving some of the world’s largest financial institutions, including Standard Life Aberdeen, Santander, Lloyds Bank, Vanguard, Generali and Barclays.

Its success caught the attention of Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management LLP and Canadian pension fund Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, which combined to acquire the stakes previously owned by General Atlantic and H.I.G. Capital- in what was 2018’s largest fintech deal ”“ valuing the company at £1.65 billion a mere 15 years after it was founded.

The deal, if we accept that foreign direct investment is a good measure of attractability for any economy, is one of the best examples of what can be achieved in Scotland.

FNZ’s business is built on the desire to help people achieve their financial goals by developing excellent technology solutions that simplify the end-user experience and ultimately direct more of their hard-earned money into assets by bringing down the cost of managing those assets.

Adrian Durham, CEO and founder of FNZ said:

“The question we asked when launching FNZ was how can technology solve the problems faced by consumers of long-term savings products? We knew then, and it’s still true today, that technology is the key to unlocking many of the solutions to the problems typically faced by customers. It was important therefore for us to expand our business into a destination that was technologically advanced and would support our ambitions. We certainly found that in Scotland.”

“FNZ is a growth business and I’m pleased to say that we have continued to grow apace, benefiting from the investment being made in our own technology and processes, our increasing scale, and the effort and dedication of our highly-skilled people.”

FNZ employs nearly 600 people in the UK, the majority of them in Edinburgh. The company’s dedicated research and development division invests heavily in its core technology platform and processes, including digital advice, blockchain, predictive analytics and end-to-end process automation.

Stephen Ingledew, CEO at FinTech Scotland said:

“FNZ is a global leader in blending new technologies with financial services to improve customer engagement with long term savings and investments and it is a shining example of how innovative enterprises can grow and expand on the international stage form Scotland.”

“I’ve known Adrian and FNZ team since their early formative days of arriving in Scotland and it has been inspiring to see first-hand their exponential growth with a focus on people skills development to support the delivery of world class customer outcomes through new technologies. The impact of FNZ on the UK and global savings and investment market has been seismic for both the financial services industry and many consumers and we are delighted FNZ are part of the Scottish ecosystem which is having such a significant international impact.”

Graeme Jones CEO of Scottish Financial Enterprise said:

“FNZ is a fabulous success story for Scotland. Reaching Unicorn status is a remarkable achievement and testament to what can be accomplished within our thriving financial services industry. The company is a leader in innovation, a major player within financial services and a sizable employer, all of which is evidence of Scotland maintaining its gold standard legacy within our industry.”

“I am delighted FNZ has joined SFE, further enhancing our membership. I am looking forward to working with Adrian and his team at FNZ as we continue to promote the strength of Scotland’s financial services industry in Scotland, across the UK and worldwide.”

Utilising the Irish/Scottish finance corridor

Blog written by Terry Quinn at the Scottish Irish Finance Initiative

The Scottish Irish Finance Initiative seeks to serve the people of both Scotland and Ireland, the companies that already work in our communities and the wider global financial services industry, whom we hope to attract to our corridor.

In our first 18 months of operations we have already created the beginnings of a common financial industry between Scotland and Ireland, emphasising the benefits of treating both places as the bridge to overcome trading barriers and as a target for new investments. The only sure-fire way that we can maintain our world beating financial industries and see off the challenge from locations such as Berlin, Paris and financial hubs in Asia, is through greater cooperation, and we are delighted that we are garnering such interest in our initiative.

Ireland and Scotland have enough in common culturally, legally and politically to make cooperation worthwhile, and enough complementary skills so as to make cooperation beneficial to both parties. We have already seen fruitful progress in the fintech sector through meetings organised between Irish and Scottish companies, considering a wide range of innovative solutions in areas such as data quality and cleansing. Our project is also driving engagement in ensuring that both locations benefit from cooperation in areas such as asset management and servicing and the creation of a more unified labour market.

Our aim with this document is to gather together into one place the resources that any company might need to mitigate any Brexit challenges, and to guide them in using the Scottish Irish corridor in their future growth plans. Already the challenge of Brexit has spurred some companies into accelerating sales programmes and to look proactively at the international options available to them.

Our hope now is that trade between Scotland and Ireland will not only continue but expand and that a proactive, pragmatic and sensible approach to Brexit difficulties can actually open up opportunities.

One of the key targets as set to us by our Advisory Group is to bring together in one document all the information that anyone interested in the Scottish Irish finance corridor would need.

The result can be found here:

http://scottishirishfinance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/SIFI_brexit_utility.pdf

At present it’s focused on expediency in mitigating Brexit challenges but this is just the first iteration and we hope this will develop over time to become a fully fledged guide to all that our fabulous industries and companies have to offer the global finance sector and its clients and stakeholders.

Interview with Stephen Ingledew on why fintech matters

Our CEO Stephen Ingledew was interviewed by the Enterprise Pathway Programme team from Strathclyde university.

He gave his view on why fintech matters, the impact it can have on society and why it provides exciting new jobs for the future.

What is Fintech?

Fintech is the blend of new technologies, digital including data, with the world of financial services. Now that’s important because every one of us, in our personal and our working lives are impacted by the role of financial services. So Fintech is actually the opportunity to reinvent the way that those financial services are delivered through to all of us as individuals but also through to businesses as well

Why is it important to innovate in Fintech?

There’s real importance behind Fintech, the opportunity here to innovate. One is because of our needs as consumers are changing, in terms of our expectation, the need to access good quality products, the need to understand our money in a far better way.

And secondly the opportunity to innovate comes from the new technologies. Of course the digital world whether it’s the mobile phone, but the access to data, the use of artificial intelligence all provide new ways in which financial services can be delivered to us all.

What opportunities are there to innovate in fintech?

So there are a significant number of areas where there’s an opportunity to innovate. The key is to start off with the human need, and so think of yourself as individuals, think of the communities you live in, think of those around you and how actually, if they had better access to financial products a better understanding the way that financial world works, the better use of financial data, and how that could improve accessibility and all the other benefits that come from that. And then work back to think, well actually, the new technologies can actually improve that engagement, can improve that experience

So the key with fintech is not to start with the fin tech is that you start with the human being and work back from that and then think about how new technologies can be applied in the future.

The big opportunity here, that students have, is that you can come at it with a fresh pair of eyes, fresh thinking and more diverse thinking. So rather than think: “how do we actually in a small way slightly improve some of the financial products?”, actually, go back to the real need of why those products are in place, the way they’re delivered, whether it’s through a mobile phone or even through some other ways in a community.

So it’s that fresh thinking, diverse thinking, you don’t have to be a financial expert to be involved in fintech. In fact, sometimes, it’s an advantage not to be a financial expert.

What support is available for fintech businesses?

Fintech in Scotland is particularly exciting because there is a an environment that’s encouraging innovative new businesses such as Strathclyde University. Alongside that you’ve got an established financial services market, very big organisations, the big banks whether it’s RBS, HSBC. the international banks, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are all here in Scotland and they all want to innovate.

If you blend that together with the opportunity of bringing together new enterprises with established enterprises and that University sort of pedigree you’ve got a real blend of all the key ingredients to generate a new innovative environment.

What examples are there in terms of existing fintech businesses?

So let’s just take an example of an increasing number of people working in the gig economy. The gig economy is where your your working day your working week is up and down and therefore your pay is up and down and therefore how do you make sure the financial products relate to a much more variable way in which you earn money and want to earn money.

And when you work and when you don’t work rather than the traditional approach expecting you’re in a 9 to 5 job for 40 years. Those days have gone. Much more flexible working means much more flexible way in which people earn and their financial products need to relate to that.

What advice would you give to those considering a career in Fintech?

What I would really emphasise to the teams is the importance of focusing on the human need. The opportunity about meeting that need in a very different way, to deliver financial services in a better way. I wouldn’t focus really on the technicalities of how the products have worked in the past or how the taxes work or even how some of the technologies are being applied.

Don’t get into the nuts and bolts of blockchain and artificial intelligence. There’s enough out there really for that to be addressed at the right sort time. What’s important with fintech is actually the focus around the need and the different ways that need can be met with a different type of thinking, diverse thinking again going forward that allows us to really make a real shift in the way that financial services is provided through to individuals and to businesses.

Actually fintech provides a real significant opportunity. Yet clearly from an economic point of view the opportunity for economic growth in financial services, very crucial to the Scottish economy. But also in terms of employment the new jobs of the future. But alongside that is the economic with the social benefits as one of the social outcomes greater inclusion more diversity a richer way in which more communities are engaging in financial services rather than being left out or excluded. So this is an opportunity to combine those economic and social benefits alongside each other to the benefit of everybody.

Greetings from a new Scottish fintech

Blog by Adam Greenberg, founder of SageCity

Welcome to our first blog post and a big thank you to Fintech Scotland for inviting us into the community. We are an early stage business and have been really touched by the warm welcome we have received from everyone in the community when we attended the fintech fusion event on Thursday.

One of the most explosive growths in the fintech sector in recent years has been the emergence of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Our team have gravitated around the industry since 2013 and we’ve seen the technology evolve from initial Proof of work systems to smart contracting all the way through to DAG technology and mimble-wimble protocol (We didn’t make that last one up).

Blockchain technology is often heralded as the beginning of a new technological era and it has now reached a point where the stage is set for some good old-fashioned adoption. At SageCity, our focus is on bridging the gap between the technology and those who could truly benefit from it. Edinburgh has a vibrant and successful startup industry with some amazing ideas for the future and we’ve been fortunate enough to rub shoulders with a few and offer our support in their vision. Since our inception in August, we’ve been working with local Edinburgh based businesses who are facing challenges which are limiting their business potential by taking the time to listen and design blockchain solutions which are not only successful but efficient and sustainable for the future.

Blockchain had become a bit of a buzzword in recent times with a lot of loosely linked terms tossed around alongside it and that makes it difficult to decipher and comprehend. At its root, we like to think of blockchain as the swiss army knife of ledgers because of the multiple functions and purposes it can serve. Blockchain technology at its core has three key qualities which depending on the situation can offer a number of long and short term benefits to businesses, especially startups and those looking for a competitive edge.

It’s adaptable

Blockchains are system agnostic meaning they can be adapted and managed where and when required. Their primary function is often finance related but can equally be data or communications orientated. They can be the top dog running the show or compliment an existing system, be public or private and in some cases, both. The key advantage here is that unlike typical traditional solutions, blockchain technology is extremely flexible and can often be adapted and built upon with minimal difficulty.

It’s cheap to operate

In most cases, we can design systems where the only maintenance cost related to a blockchain is the electricity that the computer or server consumes to remain online. Also, depending on the business model, these costs could be cancelled out by the issuance of tokens as a “reward” for those running the blockchain and creating forms of circular economies within the overall business’ ecosystem.

Its reliable and secure

Blockchains come in many shapes and sizes but they are almost always designed to be peer to peer. This means that the network has no single point of failure which can be crucial for modern businesses. The nature of peer to peer makes sure that the integrity of the data stored within is virtually untamperable and that content is also heavily encrypted making the blockchain an ideal candidate to be reliable and secure.

Our long term vision is to be able to provide tailored blockchain solutions to startups and businesses around the globe and make deployment a quick and hassle free experience. We’ve got some interesting concepts in the works which we are looking forward to sharing soon which will not only be useful for our endeavours but could be utilised by other Fintech companies who offer industry leading products and solutions.

Hopefully you’ve found this introduction into SageCity and blockchain interesting and hopefully even enjoyable. We are proud to be part of the Scottish Fintech community and looking forward to sharing our journey and helping others on theirs too. We love talking blockchain so if you have any questions you want to bounce off us we’d be happy to help at team@sagecity.ioand sure to follow us on twitter @teamsagecity to stay in the loop.

The Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence project hits a new milestone

The Scottish bid for the development of The Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence (GOFCOE) has received very good feedback from the Strength in Places Fund assessors and moves to the second stage as announced todayby the UK Research and Innovation organisation

In October 2018 a Scottish consortium decided to come together behind the ambitious project of launching the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence in Edinburgh and apply for funding from the Strength in Places fund.

The University of Edinburgh, FinTech Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and the Financial Data And Technology Association (FDATA) joined forces to produce a very strong application.

Open Banking, and its impending evolutions into open finance more generally, is the biggest global trend in financial services, for people and for businesses.

A centre of excellence would be a world first, providing leadership, coordination, research and capability to support this rapidly expanding and evolving phenomenon.

The GOFCOE is one of twenty-four ambitious projects, from pharmaceuticals to aerospace, and transport to the creative economy, that have received early-stage funding to develop full-stage bids that could lead to significant economic growth in places.

The GOFCOE project will receive early-stage funding, which will allow for the development of full-stage bids.

Ultimately, eight of the strongest bids are set to receive additional funding to carry out projects designed to drive substantial economic growth.

Announced in the modern Industrial Strategy in November 2017, the Strength in Places Fund will benefit all nations and regions of the UK by enabling them to tap into the world-class research and innovation capability that is spread right across the country. The fund brings together research organisations, businesses, and local leadership on projects that will lead to significant economic impact, high-value job creation and regional growth.

Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation, Professor Sir Mark Walport, said:

Our clear vision is to ensure we benefit everyone through knowledge, talent and ideas. Significant support through the Strength in Places Fund will further catalyse economic potential across the country by bringing researchers, industry and regional leadership together to drive sustained growth through world-class research and innovation.’

The Government confirmed in the 2018 Budget that the Strength in Places Fund is to receive a further £120m to bring the fund budget for the period up to 2021/22 to £236m.

Stephen Ingledew, Chief Executive at FinTech Scotland said:

“The Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence builds on Scotland’s heritage of financial services and enviable entrepreneurial track record combined with an enlightened and progressive culture which aligns the social and economic benefits of innovation. Going forward the Centre of Excellence focused on data driven innovation will support the inclusive growth objectives of Scotland, leveraging the ongoing role of international collaboration across Europe and globally with the private sector, consumer groups, academia, regulators, governments”

Jarmo Eskelinen, Director of the Data-Driven Innovation initiative at the University of Edinburgh said:

“The University of Edinburgh is delighted to support the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence [GOFCOE] and to be developing this exciting project in partnership with FinTech Scotland, FData Global, Industry and Academia across the central belt of Scotland. The success of the Strength In Places Fund [SIPF] bid is confirmation of the importance of innovation for industrial strategy in the UK and we look forward to engaging with the consortium to develop the GOFCOE in the coming months. As a partner in the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, this project exemplifies all we are aiming to achieve through our Data-Driven Innovation initiative; attracting talent and investment to the region; linking world-class researchers and data analytics expertise with industry and innovating to drive new products and services.”

Danny Cusick, Director Multi Sectors at Scottish Enterprise said:

“We’re excited to be developing this project with our partners as it has the potential to bring substantial economic benefits through increased innovation and inclusive growth to firmly establish Scotland’s reputation as a world leader in Open Finance. Scotland already has exceptional capabilities in fintech and data and the Centre of Excellence demonstrates what we can achieve through collaboration to create competitive advantage for Scotland.”

Fortnightly FinTech Fuse ”“ Falling in Love with FinTech!

It is just so wonderful to see so many people falling in love with fintech and how it is fueling the opportunity to innovate through collaboration and inclusion.

This was very much the case on Wednesday morning when I joined the Lloyds Bank and Google teams for a Falling in Love with FinTech’ breakfast meet up.

The diverse audience from the fintech community, academia, large financial enterprises and many other organisations made a terrific atmosphere.

Big thanks to Misha Cunningham and Google Digital team for their fabulous hospitality

This meet up was brilliantly led by the inspiring Sarah Kenrick along with Tom, Kegode, Lisa Caldwell and Lloyds Bank team.

Lloyds, one of the initial founders of FinTech Scotland, are developing impressive innovations and collaborations by engaging the fintech community.

Community Love

The community love continued the next evening as we held FinTech Scotland Fusion’ gathering where we had a fantastic buzz and atmosphere. I know some carried it on into the very late hours!

The Fusion’ was expertly organized by our entrepreneurial friend Aleks Tomczyk with great collaboration and generosity from Kirsty Irvine and Johnston Carmichael.

Wonderful mini spotlight talks from Myles Stephenson of Modulr, Hannah Rudman of Wallet Services, Loral Quinn of Sustainably and Stuart Lunn of LendingCrowd as well as our fintech grandfather’ Gavin Littlejohn.

They all brought alive the evening by sharing their experiences and latest news and reaffirmed to a very diverse and engaged audience why falling in love with fintech was so easy.

We all decided that Fusion’ meet up will be a regular event in addition to our frequent fintech practitioner forums across Scotland so more on this to come

The community plays such an important role in welcoming new fintech enterprises working in Scotland and it was terrific to see firms new to the community with us on Thursday such as SageCity, Listings Ledger and Miconex.

The role of the community is something I shared with Stuart Harvey of Datatics and Graham Paterson a couple of weeks ago and we look forward to seeing them both at future events.

Supporting the growth of new fintech enterprises will see the community expand across Scotland and it is fantastic to be working with the Craig Wilson, Colin Carmichael of Sopra Steria and Gordon Donald and John Lonsdale of University of Edinburgh with a new accelerator programme.

Supporting the love of fintech innovation was very much in evidence when Mickael and I spent some time last week at Codebase with the Barclays Eagle Lab team.

Always wonderful to catch up with Trish McClay and talk about their terrific engagement along with the magical fintech entrepreneur Suhail Ahmad of AdviserDirect and the awesome Colin Hewitt of Float, who have now expanded into twenty plus nations.

We had been in Codebase the previous week for two fantastic sessions of massive significance in bringing more love into fintech, both of which will spread the fintech love far and wide.

Downstairs we had a FinTech consumer inclusion workshop with the Karen Rodger, Andrew McConnell from Scottish Government and along with Yvonne Macdermid, David Hilferty from Money Advice Scotland, Allison Barnes from Money Advice Service and other consumer groups.

The session was led by the inspiring duo Barbara Mills from CivTech and Nicola Anderson in developing a roadmap on how fintech can play a significant role in addressing financial inclusion challenges. This was all about the building new demand for fintech

Then, in parallel, upstairs, we had the Scottish Government session with entrepreneurs on how the engagement with small enterprises could be developed to improve the supply of innovation. This was a fantastic session led by Clare Mills, Carron McNab and colleagues.

It is a privilege to be part of this valuable work being led by Trish Quinn and hugely exciting to have the fintech community being involved in the opportunity to really impact big innovation with Government.

We shared these mutually aligned initiatives with the Digital Minister Kate Forbes and the FiSAB sub group with Graeme Jones the following day and it was great to get the endorsement to build on this big love’ opportunity for fintech.

Big Love

The broader love of fintech on a big scale is going to provide exciting opportunities to scale up the innovation in Scotland.

For example, in working with the rapidly changing M&G Prudential business engage with the fintech community and it was valuable to catch up with Mark Simpson and the Managing Director, David Macmillan a couple of times over this last fortnight

Then on Wednesday it was terrific to meet up with Sam Bedford, Gary McLellan and innovative team at CYBG in Glasgow.

Fantastic to see the leading edge examples from Jennifer and Jack of how they are innovating to improve customers financial engagement and the opportunities to engage with the fintech community in Scotland.

Really looking forward to progressing with the Sam and the team and combine our mutual love of fintech with real purpose.

The combination of big and small coming together to love fintech was one of the key themes for the discussion with Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce members on Thursday morning.

Thank you to everyone for the engagement and support, especially Liz Mcareavey and Rebecca Meish for inviting me to discuss how Scotland can develop the fintech love on a bigger scale.

This is something we were very much putting into action with senior executives Frank Tong and KC Tsui from HSBC Global who flew from Hong King to meet with us and firms from the fintech community.

Thank you to Ahmed El-Ryias from the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh for setting up the meeting, it was a terrific session late into the last Wednesday evening and onto the Thursday as well.

Thank you also to Colin Halpin who led HSBC to be one of Fintech Scotland initial founding partners and has played an important supporting role in our progress in the first year.

It was the fantastic presentations and engagement from the Scottish fintech firms which very much illustrated the innovative developments in Scotland and the significant opportunities to collaborate with the HSBC Global team.

In fact, Frank mentioned that the activities in Scotland were world leading and certainly made Scotland stand out as a global fintech centre, especially with date driven innovation.

Global Love

The global love continues to be an important part of work and this has been increasing even more over this last few weeks.

For example, absolutely I loved catching up with our good friend Thorsten Terweiden, who leads on fintech developments at Hong Kong Invest, on his visit to Scotland.

Great engagement with Thorsten and his team as we work with Graham Hatton and the SDI team in developing he Hong Kong Scotland bridge for our respective fintech communities.

This opportunity to share the mutual love of fintech opportunities was very much on the agenda when I met up on Tuesday with the fabulous Dan Roselli who is the founder of the impressive FinTech Accelerator Hub in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Dan took time out of his vacation to share the amazing story of what the team has achieved and there were so many parallels with the what we are building in Scotland.

I thanked Dan with one of the great Scottish beers and we agreed to take forward a joint number of areas to develop the mutual love of fintech both sides of the Atlantic.

The collaboration opportunities with USA was also the focus of my conversation with Jennifer Ericson, a Global Scot based in Minnesota and I very much value the connections Jennifer is helping us build for our fintech community.

Exporting is an important part of the fintech agenda, and it was valuable to catch up Suzanne Henderson from the Scottish Government team who is leading on the work to identify global market priorities for all sectors.

Very much looking forward to progress this work with Suzanne, Lesley Ward, Scott Strain along with Lorraine Mallon from SDI and build on the progress being made by a number of firms.

A great example of this is hearing last week about The ID Co, who are part of the DIT fintech trade mission to New York in a couple of weeks and Craig Buchan, the founder of QPal, who are progressing amazing innovations in the Middle east and Africa.

Last Monday, I was delighted to be invited by Graeme Jones of SFE to join him and SFE members for the dinner with the City of London Mayor Peter Estlin for an engaging conversation on the global role for Scotland in financial services and fintech.

I had met with Peter Estlin the previous week at the latest Department of International Trade Fintech Board meeting which considered a number of areas in developing the international reach of fintech.

In particular, it was great to hear from the very engaging Laura Royle from the FCA who outlined the valuable work in developing the Global Financial Innovation Network.

Laura recently led a fantastic FCA Project Innovate event for the Scottish fintech community and we are looking to do this again to cover some of the global regulation opportunities for fintech firms.

Collaborative Love

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to share this global opportunity for fintech at the City Deal Conference and the importance of collaboration to deliver data driven innovation success for the country.

I very much enjoyed the chance to share the stage with Digital Minister Kate Forbes as well as Professor Mark Parsons and Professor Charlie Jeffrey along with the distinguished panels.

To highlight the importance of collaborative love I was given the challenge by Andy Nichol form Edinburgh City Council to finish with the words from a song by The Men They Couldn’t Hang!!

This I duly did with the very apt words from their song Great Expectations’!

Huge thanks to Hamish Miller, Will Peakin and the Future Scot team for putting on such an important collaboration conference. Looking forward to the next one in Glasgow in May.

I’m also looking forward to speaking at the FinTech North events in April and May and always valuable to catch up with Julian Wells on Monday to talk through sharing the fintech collaboration love both sides of the border.

There are some great expectations from the data driven innovation programme and with the momentum growing now behind building the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence then Scotland’s fintech enterprises will play a central role.

It was hugely exciting to be part of the collaboration bringing alive the Centre of Excellence working with various partners including Damien at University of Edinburgh and Gavin with his FDATA team.

You’ll hear more on that in the coming weeks although if you were with us on Thursday night at Fusion then Gavin gave you some of the exciting snippets of news!

Another wonderful collaborative initiative for Scotland is the forthcoming launch of The European FinTech Digital Satellite Office in Edinburgh next month

This is a first for Scotland and for Europe and it is brilliant to be collaborating with our friends in the EU to make this significant investment happen with the University of Edinburgh and Scottish Enterprise.

This Digital Office will invest in academic research in fintech as well as new start up fintech enterprises. Watch this space for more.

The collaboration with Scotland’s world leading universities is a hugely important and it was a real pleasure to be invited to speak to Heriot Watt students on career opportunities in fintech by the inspiring David Steinberg.

The talent from all disciplines is becoming an even stronger pull with international fintech enterprises, Datafest is a fantastic two weeks of sharing this with the world.

Terrific to work with MBN Solutions and Deloitte with excellent fringe meet up events as part of DataFest.

I shared this and the wider talent and diversity attraction of Scotland with long standing innovator and friend Nish Kotak of Talecco on his recent visit to Edinburgh.

Very much looking forward to working with Nish to encourage some large enterprises to come to Scotland.

The week finished off with the quarterly FinTech Scotland board meeting expertly chaired and hosted by David Fergusson at the impressive Nucleus Financial offices.

A very valuable and constructive conversation on the longer term future strategy for FinTech Scotland as we look to the next stage of our journey.

It was great to have Digital Minister Kate Forbes join us for the discussion and I am looking forward to progressing over the coming months.

Running Love

My running love has been hugely strained over this last two weeks as illness and unusual toe injury have meant I have not run for a fortnight!

Going from running 55+ miles a week to none is really tough in so many ways although the intensity of the fintech engagement and presentations has taken my mind of this a little bit.

However, it has even more reinforced my passion and love for running and I hope to be back on the road and the Spring races in the next week.

With trips to the EU in Brussels and Dublin to build Scotland fintech collaboration over the next two weeks I am hoping to take my love of running and fintech to Europe! Until next time.