ACCELERATING INNOVATION WITH OUR FINTECH INCUBATOR PROGRAMME

2025-07-07 07:51:28.0

The Innovation Lab is back! We’re delighted to announce the return of our FinTech Incubator programme, in collaboration with SuperTech WM, for the third year running.

Bigger and better!

The return of the Innovation Lab forms part of our renewed commitment to drive financial services innovation in the West Midlands region. As the FinTech industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace, enabling innovation through collaboration is essential to unlocking new opportunities across the financial services sector.

The Innovation Lab gains even greater strength and momentum as we are joined by STEAMhouse as a third key regional innovation partner. Together, we will bring complementary expertise, networks, and vision to accelerate innovation and support the future of financial services in the West Midlands, the UK and beyond.

Getting things started

The Innovation Lab is open for applications starting 7th July and is welcoming SME businesses and FinTechs who can respond to this year’s challenge… How can we use Generative AI to enhance customer communications and insight to drive engagement, understanding and effectiveness?

As part of this fully funded programme, successful applicants will have the unique opportunity to meet and develop digital solutions in collaboration with key leaders in the finance sector, whilst also raising awareness of their business within the West Midlands and FinTech innovation ecosystem.

Businesses enrolled on the programme will also benefit from comprehensive business support services, including a flexible co-working space and innovation tools from STEAMhouse, mentorship from senior financial services experts, proposition pitch opportunities, and personalised 1:1 support.

Dependent on the commercial viability of the solutions developed during the programme, there is a real opportunity to transform these concepts into fully-fledged products. Following the success of last year’s programme, we were delighted to bring four solutions to trial with its customers via the myCreation app.

A few words about the Innovation Lab

Stephen Hunt, CEO of BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK, commented: “Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK. For us to maintain our position as a leader in personal finance, it’s essential that we continue to adopt emerging technologies and embrace new ideas so we can continue to deliver high-quality products and services for our partners and customers.

“The use of AI is on the rise and it’s important that we consider how we can use it to supercharge our operations. I look forward to working with this year’s cohort and our incubator partners to discover how we can use Generative AI to enhance our customer journey.”

Hilary Smyth-Allen, CEO SuperTech WM, added: “Our longstanding partnership and now third Innovation Lab accelerator with BNP Paribas Personal Finance strengthens regional innovation capabilities within the financial services industry. Each year, we push ourselves to explore and embrace opportunities from technology and I am excited to see where this year’s cohort of SMEs take us as they offer responses to improving customer engagement."

Patrick Bek, Head of Service Innovation and Experimentation at STEAMhouse, explained: “With the accelerating speed of technology, it’s vital that businesses rethink the way they innovate, and look outside of their own organisations to expedite solutions; we call this open innovation. We’re delighted to be able to provide the opportunity for SMEs to collaborate with a leading finance provider to share knowledge, learn new methods of innovation, and co-design solutions that deliver impact.”

Applications are open to SME businesses with a digital solution to this challenge, irrespective of their current market but applicants must be willing to be present in Solihull and Birmingham, West Midlands, for key touchpoints throughout the programme. Deadline for applications is 5th September.

To find out more or apply for the Innovation Lab, visit https://www.supertechwm.com/innovation-lab-bnpparibaspf