Winning entries in University of Cambridge competition will prototype applications based on proofs-of-concept developed by supervisory agency graduates from Cambridge SupTech Lab capacity building programmes.
Cambridge, UK – 29 August 2023 – The Cambridge SupTech Lab at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), housed within the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Asian Development Bank, has today announced the winners of three competitions to prototype suptech applications that will digitally transform consumer protection supervision.
The three winners, Proto, Winnow Technologies and FNA, will receive awards of between $100,000 and $135,000 to develop prototype applications based on proofs-of-concept (POC) created by supervisors who graduated from the 2022 capacity building and education programmes run by the Cambridge SupTech Lab.
Each winner will work in collaboration with the supervisory agencies that developed the POCs – the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Philippines), the Bank of Ghana, the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (Indonesia), the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines and the Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y Administradoras Privadas de Fondos de Pensiones (Peru).
In addition to the financial award, the winning firms will join the SupTech Lab’s Launchpad, an accelerator for financial authorities and technology vendors to co-create and deploy cutting-edge, scalable suptech applications. This will provide the firms with access to tailored coaching, and invitations to a pitch day to connect with potential funders, a demo day to present to other potential clients and The Lab’s hackathons and techsprints.
The SupTech Lab team also helps to detail the technical specifications, de-risk the procurement for all parties, and provides project management support as well as hands-on technical assistance during security testing.
“This unique competition approach has demonstrated how lean procurement and agile prototyping can bring together public agencies and technology vendors to deliver cutting-edge solutions that will be game changers for consumer protection,” says Simone di Castri, Co-Head of the Cambridge SupTech Lab. “Our State of Suptech Report 2022 identified challenges with legacy procurement processes within financial authorities – this is a great step for the modernization of financial supervision.”
Following a rigorous evaluation and selection process, the winners of the competitions are:
- Proto: Awarded $135,000 to develop a working prototype of a Next-generation AI-powered, chatbot and complaints management system for financial authorities, in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana (BOG) and Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) in Indonesia. Proto is a leader in inclusive chatbots and multilingual contact centre automation, focusing on developing AI-based solutions in partnership with global supervisors and development agencies. Their solutions ensure cost-effective and accessible citizen engagement and protection across various factors such as languages, geography, literacy levels, ethnicity, and gender. (https://www.proto.cx/)
- Winnow Technologies: Awarded $125,000 to develop a working prototype of a financial consumer protection tech-suite with web scraper and ML-based analysis, in collaboration with Philippines Securities Exchange Commission (PSEC) and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in the Philippines. Winnow Technologies provides governments and public agencies with advanced technologies to enhance decision-making through the responsible use of data science. Its web monitoring tools, natural language processing, and advanced analytics assist public agencies in fulfilling their mandates and supporting the development of inclusive, sustainable, and resilient markets. (https://www.winnowtech.io/)
- Financial Network Analytics (FNA): Awarded $100,000 to develop a working prototype of a tool for financial market monitoring via social media and web extraction, in collaboration with Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP (SBS) in Peru. FNA is a global leader in suptech, regtech, network analytics, and simulation, specializing in uncovering hidden connections and anomalies in large complex datasets. Their software has been utilized by central banks, government authorities, commercial banks, and financial market infrastructures, offering advanced analytics and machine learning techniques for risk detection. (https://fna.fi/)
