Banco Sabadell organizes the first hackathon to promote digital innovation in the financial industry, in collaboration with Mobile World Capital Barcelona

• The brainstorming marathon will run for 33 hours and be held at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
  The aim is to generate innovation and promote ideas that provide new features and benefits enhancing the digital experience of financial institution customers.
  Applications, open to those over 18 years of age, can be filed from today until September 26 at instantbankinghackday.org

September 4, 2014

In collaboration with Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Banco Sabadell organizes the “Instant Banking Hack Day,” a hackathon focused on the banking and financial sector to be held on 11-12 October at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – UPC – Barcelona.

At this first edition, participants in the “Instant Banking Hack Day” (the name that has been given to the event) will work on the creation of new Web and mobile applications that improve the direct experience of users in four areas: payment methods, customer service transformation, the Internet of Things, and contextual and predictive services.

 “Instant Banking Hack Day” will feature the exclusive and first-time presentation, for all attendees, of open access to the API (Application Programming Interface) of the bank’s services, so that they can pursue their projects in an environment that is as realistic as possible, directly accessing a space for tests, an exact replica of the entity’s bank services on the Internet.

A hackathon open to talent

Application to the hackathon is free. From today until 12:00 noon on September 26th, interested parties can apply at instantbankinghackday.org. From amongst all the applications received a specialized panel will select those who will participate in the event. The projects will be implemented by teams of 2 – 5 people.

The team winner of the “Instant Banking Hack Day” will be rewarded with the development of his project, enjoy a fast track into Banc Sabadell’s BStartup 10 program, and receive tickets to the second edition of 4YFN, the international entrepreneurship forum organized by Mobile World Capital Barcelona. He will also receive a €5,000 grant for the development of the project at the Incubio incubator (which provides an API that allows one to access geolocated information on companies and places, such as nearby restaurants with the best ratings), and an advanced training course in secure development at Deloitte’s CyberSOC Academy, valued at €2,500.

There will be recognition of the project with the best technical development and of the most innovative and creative team, an award granted by the Complot Creativity School, and another special prize will go to the youngest team. All of them will receive a fast-track into Banc Sabadell’s BStartup 10 program, and other awards linked to Incubio, Imagine Express, 4YFN, Deloitte CyberSOC Academy, Everis, and the Inlea Foundation.

The event will feature contributions by companies that are global leaders in their sectors, such as Everis, Deloitte, MasterCard, and Telefónica, and a complete panel of renowned mentors, who will assist in the projects’ development. These will include Xavier Verdaguer, founder of the Imagine Creativity Center in San Francisco; Genís Roca, founder and president of Roca Salvatella; Toni Rami, director of operations at Kantox.com; and Jaume Gomà, executive director of Ulabox.com.

Entrepreneurship, the foundation of growth and innovation

One of Banc Sabadell’s trademarks, meanwhile, has historically been its special sensitivity towards the business world, as well as its pioneering role in everything related to the incorporation of new banking technologies.

The creation of BStartup stands out among its most recent initiatives in this regard. BStartup is a business effort specialized in providing service and financing to startups (especially those of a technological nature) and the development of the Sabadell Open Apps platform, on which it opens its doors to talent at new companies, and through which it has already presented a range of innovative solutions, such as the world’s first banking application for Google Glass.