Swiss Financial Innovation Desk (FIND) launches a government-driven hackathon

The hackathon takes place from 28 - 30 June 2024 in Zurich, the weekend prior to the Point Zero Forum (PZF), a renowned platform for global leaders to address latest developments in financial technology and the future of finance. More details available on www.swisshacks.com.

Hackathons and similar government-initiated formats like tech sprints have previously seen significant success in places like New York or London and represent a novelty for the Swiss Federal Department of Finance. FIND intends to stimulate the Swiss innovation scene and simultaneously create connections with the PZF community. This presents a priceless opportunity to build a bridge between regulators (policy makers) and the financial market ecosystem, fostering a collaborative environment that could catalyse transformative developments in finance.

SwissHacks 2024 as a Public-Private Partnership Premiere

With the premiere of SwissHacks 2024, FIND invites students, developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and finance professionals to tackle real-world challenges and opportunities within the financial sector. It encourages seasoned hackatheers and hackanewbies alike to immerse in SwissHacks 2024.

Participants will have the chance to showcase their innovative prototype solutions and ideas in front of a panel of recognized professionals, industry experts and potential investors. FIND’s flagship event promises to be a melting pot of creativity and innovation, generating actionable solutions that contribute to the future of finance and benefits society at large.

The premiere of SwissHacks 2024 is made possible through a novel private-public partnership with main partners Julius Baer, Microsoft in collaboration with Unique, Postfinance, Ripple and SIX, further partners such as Raiffeisen, Finance Swiss and Innovation Zurich, and community partners such as Pestalozzi Attorney at Law, Zurich Tourismus and Blockchain Nation Switzerland. The project is open to further partnerships with the private sector.

Five exciting challenges focused on emerging financial innovation technologies are being presented within the hackathon:

• Sustainability tools for listed companies
• Financial innovation with AI
• Revolutionize Application Programming Interface (API) testing in banking with Generative AI (GenAI)
• Using AI to enhance wealth management
• Blockchain in finance

Martha Boeckenfeld, Johannes Hoehener, Nathan Kaiser, members of the Innovation Sounding Board at FIND, will together with other renowned experts from ICT technology, design and user experience, finance, business and politics serve as jury participants responsible for rewarding the best projects.

For Eva Selamlar, Head of FIND, “SwissHacks 2024” is a first. “Never before has there been a Swiss government driven hackathon with an exclusive focus on financial innovation. Switzerland is the cradle of finance, education, and entrepreneurial spirit. All we need to do is to unleash this DNA by putting the cleverest to work on five distinct problems. Best case is we see visionary and scalable solutions that address pressing societal challenges, worst case is we are smarter than 48h before and have substantially expanded our professional network”.

The winning teams will be honoured in a closing ceremony by the State Secretary for International Finance, Daniela Stoffel, with attractive prices including the opportunity to present their solutions in front of selected business angels and venture capital firms on 2 July 2024 during an exclusive event “From Idea to Impact – a VC’s perspective”, at the premises of Pestalozzi Attorney-at-Law. Former president of the Swiss National Council, Pascale Bruderer, will address the audience. In addition, the winning teams will be invited on stage at the Point Zero Forum on 3 July. Applications for participating in SwissHacks 2024 are open until 31 May 2024.

For more information about the hackathon, conditions, and registration, visit www.swisshacks.com