Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP) has launched its new FinTech Centre located at the InnoCentre in Kowloon Tong, to accelerate cross-industry innovation.
FinTech Centre is the latest addition to the evolving InnoCentre, and a key pillar in HKSTP’s growing Fin+Tech ecosystem.
The close-knit ecosystem brings financial institutions, regulators and academics, together with fintech startups and companies focusing on extensive R&D in Hong Kong and globally.
“Our fintech companies will create the advanced technologies necessary for the financial sector to build a new era of financial services in Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area and beyond,” said Albert Wong, CEO at HKSTP.
The Centre will provide a focal point for different stakeholders to collaborate with fintech companies and co-create projects for the financial sector that harness advanced technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, cybersecurity and data analytics.
The facility will also serve as a base for business matching, a soft-landing for overseas fintech companies, talent nurturing, laboratory and proof-of-concept trials.
In addition, HKSTP is rolling out its Banking Virtual Lab which hosts synthetic banking data and relevant APIs in partnership with financial institutions. This will make it easier for developers and banks to work together to rapidly develop, test and validate new APIs and solutions against synthetic data.
As the lab’s first partner, Hang Seng has already contributed synthetic data and will create a sandbox to collaborate with innovators to address specific business pain points.
Another major initiative is the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) Accelerator under HKSTP’s Global Acceleration Academy, announced at the Asian Financial Forum on January 19.
This will fast-track corporate innovation across the BFSI sectors and address the sectors’ critical pain points by developing solutions through co-creation.
The Accelerator will match financial corporates with HKSTP’s 1,000-strong network of technology ventures to enhance operational efficiency, customer experience, wealth management, regulation and compliance.
Still another key development is the establishment at the FinTech Centre of a new Fintech Innovation Hub (FIH), a collaboration between Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, HKMA and HKSTP.
The FIH will serve as a neutral ground for collaboration between financial institutions, technology companies, corporations, universities and government bodies for idea exploration, proof of concept and prototype development, technology testing as well as education and demo purposes.
