Global Competitions for SupTech Vendors

• Expression of Interest Window: 27 February – 9 March  
• Request for Proposal Window: 27 March – 4 April 
• Winners announced: 2 May
• Projects kick-off: 17 May
• Projects completed: 30 November

Please note the dates above may be subject to change if necessary. All applicants will be duly informed of any changes.  

Each winning vendor will be awarded between USD100,000 and USD135,000 (depending on the specific project) to develop and test the required working prototype solution. This is a fixed-sum contract intended to cover all the vendor’s expenses related to the development and testing work, including staff time, hardware, software, travel, and all other project-related expenses. 

Moreover, each firm will be invited to join the Cambridge SupTech Lab Launchpad. Through the Launchpad, the vendors will:  

• receive tailored coaching 
• be invited to the Lab’s pitch day to connect with funders and to a demo day to present their products to potential clients 
• be listed in the Lab’s online Vendor Database.  
• be mentioned in a case study published by the Univeristy of Cambridge to share lessons from the project 
• engage with the suptech community through the Lab’s hackathons and techsprints 
• be introduced to the global community of regulators and supervisors, investors, academics and development partners that are collaborating with the Cambridge SupTech Lab during other events hosted by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF). 

The shortlisting and selection process is characterized by:  

• Blind review process: A panel of expert reviewers will score anonymised proposals. 
• Competitor scorecard: Applications will be assessed by the panel using a set of scoring metrics and weighing the relative importance of each attribute.  
• Rapid turnaround time: The winning vendor will receive 50% of the total USD100,000-USD135,000 (depending on the specific project) within 48 days of the final proposal submission. The last 50% of the award will be transferred in one instalment upon completion and signoff of the deliverables according to projected timelines.   

The SupTech Launchpad 2023 Competitions aim to attract high-potential startups and developers who are seeking engagement with financial authorities to accelerate their idea or solution into the growing suptech market.  Participation is open to firms from around the world that are looking to develop solutions to address financial sector regulatory oversight and supervision challenges.  

No. 

Not necessarily, although past work may serve to demonstrate expertise (i.e., experience designing, innovating, developing and testing working solutions with supervisory authorities in the suptech space) and thus may be taken into consideration.

We look for proposals with clarity and focus, responsiveness to the financial authorities’ needs and a good chance of successful prototype development.  

Proposals from vendors will be judged based on a combination of factors, including:  

• relevant experience in building technologies required for the particular solution 
• technical and managerial expertise 

• adequacy of resources 
• responsiveness to requirements laid out in the REOI and RFP 
• feasibility of the proposed execution plan 
• level of innovation brought to the proposed suptech solutions. 

Additional details are included in the REOI and/or RFP documents, and associated scorecards will be provided to judges to ensure a consistent rating system. 

There are two independent sets of judges, one for each phase of the competition, selected based on the expertise required for each stage. At the REOI stage, the single panel for all solutions consisted of the University of Cambridge experts, who specialise in shortlisting EOI applications. At the RFP stage, we invite a curated set of judges specific to the requirements of each RFP, with expertise covering the relevant supervisory area,  the development and deployment of innovative products, AI and data science, human-centred design (HCD), business modelling, etc. 

Once you are selected as a winner of a specific Competition, the Lab will then do the last due diligence on the company, register your company within the Cambridge Judge Business School procurement system, and send all the contracts for the development of the project. The winners are planned to be officially announced on 2 May, and after you have issued the first invoice, we plan to transfer the first 50% of the award by 17 May.

We expect to receive a significant number of applications and, therefore, it is unlikely that we will be able to provide specific feedback to the firms that are not selected. 

Judges will sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that will prevent them from profiting from any intellectual property you choose to describe through this process. 

Depending on the specific project – in particular, the number of financial authorities (up to two) and geographies involved (up to two) – the award for each competition will be between USD100,000 and USD135,000. 

The grant is a one-time award, and it cannot be renewed. Vendors who have participated in similar processes (for example, via the R²A programme) have gone on to commercially license their suptech applications to the partnering financial authority, as well as other public and private sector organisations. 

Yes. Funding may be used for any expense necessary to complete the project goals. 

Vendors and innovators must be prepared to be accountable for the money they spend.  

These items and timelines are explicitly elaborated in each RFP and finalized during contracting and project kick-off in the form of a project agreement. 

When vendors submit their final prototypes, they are not transferring ownership to the financial authorities. Instead, vendors will retain ownership of the prototype but will give the financial authorities, the University, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation access via a perpetual, transferrable license to the prototype for continuity purposes. Additionally, prototypes funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are subject to their Global Access requirements. Vendors will be free to use the idea or prototypes for any purpose, either independently or in partnership with others, after the 20–month period.

Vendors will provide an unlimited, perpetual, transferable, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, fully paid-up, royalty-free license to use, execute, perform, display, share with contractors or project funders, maintain, modify, adapt, enhance, and create derivative works of the deliverables, in object code form, to Cambridge Judge Business School and the respective financial authority.  

For clarity, this license does not include a perpetual license for the use of the vendor’s underlying pre-existing software or intellectual property. Any license to use the pre-existing software independently developed prior to the provision of services within this project shall be agreed to by the parties in a separate agreement.  

Working prototypes funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are subject to their Global Access requirements, the implications of which will be project specific, and thus elaborated in a separate agreement with the vendor.  

We do not expect exclusivity from the vendor. Still, we do consider in your proposal the fact that you will have specific resources focused on the development of the prototype, and your involvement in other projects will not hinder the correct development of the project you have been awarded, and limit the rights and expectations of the Lab and the financial authority you will partner with. 

The project requires a vendor with the capacity, relevant experience, and resources to design, develop, test, and deploy a prototype of a suptech application. The requirements for each competition are detailed in the associated REOI and/or RFP, but, for example, key qualifications may be drawn from the following list of criteria:  

• Specificity: The competition is result oriented, and the proposed solution needs to have a high level of detail and granularity with respect to the expected output.   
• Precedent: The applicant needs to work on a novel solution.  
• Geography: The vendor can be based in any jurisdiction. Data needs to be stored in an infrastructure compliant with the needs of the financial authority.    
• Collaboration: The development of the solution should be conducted in collaboration with the team designated by the financial authority in each distinct phase.      
• The vendor and proposal must ensure sufficient experience to build an application that can serve the data needs of the financial authority, for example: 

• integrate with the existing application within a governmental entity 
• allow the migration of existing data 
• provide real-time, on-demand support and the ability to generate reports or summaries 

• provide a high standard of application security.   

• A demonstrated ability to:   

• manage the product life cycle  
• develop, complete, implement, maintain, and deliver the appropriate technologies 
• properly write documentation  

• maintain an enterprise ecosystem. 

• Experience with:   

• suptech solutions  
• working with regulators and financial authorities  
• frontend development and UI/UX design (as needed) 
• data products and practical applications of analytics and data science (for example, AI/ML) 
• software engineering   
• application architecture and DevOps 
• programme/project management and business analysis  
• agile methodologies for application development   
• application integration and performance tuning/optimisation. 

• Knowledge including:   

• cybersecurity and secure application development coding standards   
• best practices in the relevant fields to the solution at hand. 

• Resources:   

• Technical expertise in related knowledge and experience   
• Sufficient staffing and computing resources required by the identified feature and time requirements and constraints 
• Sufficient specification of online, on-premises and/or hybrid computing resources 
• Adequate project management staffing based on requirements   

• Software, hardware, network, and cloud computing licenses and subscriptions to cover the development, implementation, and warranty period   

Generally speaking, the requirements are the ability to leverage technical skills, context expertise, and agile delivery methodologies for project planning, design, building and testing, stakeholder engagement, and effective risk management to ensure on-time completion of the project without budget overrun. 

Interested vendors must demonstrate that they are qualified to perform the services required for the project, as specified in each Competition’s respective REOI and/or RFP. For example, interested vendors are asked to address the following requirements in their submission:   

• Company and/or C-suite background (including the technical and managerial capabilities of the firm), including a list of past representative projects 
• Information on the qualifications of management and key staff to be involved in the project, including whether they have experience working on suptech projects 

• A summary of your working experience in the following geographies: (1) the Philippines, (2) Indonesia, (3) Ghana, (4) Peru and (5) India    
• Examples of prior experience related to the development of this solution prototype or similar technological solutions 
• Indicative development/implementation schedule based on the timeline set out above 
• Supporting documents may be submitted (for example, company brochures, case studies and CVs) as attachments to the submission email.   

By ‘working prototype’, we mean a functional solution that delivers the capabilities laid out in the Competition document and subsequent project agreement, integrating with live systems and databases as required for completion. We do not mean an interactive design, a proof of concept, or other non-functional artefacts that do not deliver the required functionality. 

Through the innovative Competition and partnering processes introduced here, all parties’ needs are served through appropriate partnering documents, agreements, and licensing arrangements, while retaining maximum flexibility in arrangements beyond the delivery of the working prototype. For vendors, this means an ability to continue building upon the work delivered here; for financial authorities, this means procuring the vendor introduced via the SupTech Launchpad or continuing forward with an in-house or another team that best meets their needs. The continuity of services is prioritised while also ensuring a healthy marketplace of solutions.  

Any general questions prior to the submission deadline should be sent via email to the SupTech Launchpad at suptech-launchpad@jbs.cam.ac.uk and copied to the Cambridge SupTech Lab at cambridgesuptechlab@jbs.cam.ac.uk , with the subject line ‘Cambridge SupTech Lab – SupTech Launchpad 2023 Competitions’. Specific questions about each project should reference the particular project, according to each REOI and/or RFP requirements.