BIS, COP28 and Central Bank of United Arab Emirates announces winners of COP28 UAE TechSprint

  • The winning teams are: Intensel (HK), ZERO13 (UK), and Evercomm (Singapore).
  • Fifteen shortlisted teams from around the world were invited to develop innovative technological solutions to scale sustainable finance.
  • Solutions applied artificial intelligence, blockchain, internet of things and sensor technologies. 

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the COP28 Presidency and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) today announced the winners of the COP28 UAE TechSprint during an award ceremony ceremony at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai. The TechSprint is the first collaboration between the three institutions, together with the Emirates Institute of Finance (EIF). It is a technology initiative aimed at fostering innovation in sustainable finance and combating climate change.  

A total of 15 finalist teams presented prototypes to an independent panel of judges and one winner per problem statement was selected:

  • Intensel from Hong Kong won for problem statement #1, on artificial intelligence, with their climate risk analytics platform that leverages artificial intelligence, satellite imagery and climate and financial models to measure and translate climate hazards into financial risk at the asset level. 
  • ZERO13 from the United Kingdom won problem statement #2, on blockchain, with their blockchain-driven platform facilitating issuance, trading, clearing and settlements of carbon credits linked to tangible ESG assets, with an approach based on interoperability of multiple blockchains and Application Programming Interfaces. 
  • Evercomm Singapore is the winner on problem statement #3, on Internet of Things and sensor technology, with their IoT-powered digital emission disclosures and verification for industrial emission reduction strategies supporting compliance and sustainability-linked financing.

The COP28 UAE

An overview of the Techsprint and 15 finalists can be found in this report. 

This first collaboration between the BIS Innovation Hub, the COP28 Presidency, CBUAE and the EIF is a success, with a large number of creative and innovative proposals from around the world to address current gaps in the sustainable finance market. I congratulate the winners, finalists and all the participants and hope that all firms will persist with their endeavour to continue exploring solutions to help us achieve net zero. The BIS innovation Hub aims to continue fostering public-private collaboration to bring about innovative financial solutions for sustainability problems.

Cecilia Skingsley, Head of the BIS Innovation Hub

The following teams were shortlisted:

List of judges