BIS and Central Bank of Brazil announce winners of G20 TechSprint
- Fifteen shortlisted teams from around the world competed to develop innovative technological solutions to address sustainable finance challenges related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- Solutions aim to stimulate the widespread adoption and scaling of nature-based solutions; enhance environmental, social and governance (ESG) data reporting; and accelerate progress towards SDGs.
- The winning teams are Ekonavi, Tese and Kaleidofin.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) today announced the winners of the G20 TechSprint 2024 – Technology for the Planet challenge during an award ceremony in Brazil.
The G20 TechSprint is a joint initiative between the G20 Presidency and the BIS Innovation Hub to seek out best-in-class technological innovations aimed at solving challenges facing the global central banking and regulatory community.
This year's TechSprint, the fifth edition of the G20 global hackathon open to developers from around the world, was launched in April by the BCB and BIS, under Brazil's G20 presidency. The competition sought solutions to address challenges related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and its innovation and venture capital arm IDB Lab, as well as the Central Bank Employee's Association Federation, Fenasbac, supported the initiative.
Fifteen shortlisted teams presented their solutions to an independent panel of judges convened by the BCB in Brazil. Following are the winners for each of the three problem statements:
- Team Ekonavi, from Brazil, won the category for problem statement #1, on developing nature-based technological solutions that incentivise and attract sustainable and inclusive investments targeted at biodiversity and nature preservation. Their solution tokenises data from verified ecological restoration projects into investable assets, aligning with international ESG standards.
- Team Tese, from Hong Kong and serving small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa, won the category for problem statement #2, on improving the quality, reliability and granularity of ESG data to facilitate due diligence, disclosure and management of ESG-associated risks and opportunities. They create ESG dashboards for small and medium-sized enterprises, streamlining reporting.
- Team Kaleidofin, from India, won the category for problem statement #3 on developing open source solutions to support financial decisions and capital allocation aligned with SDG goals, including preserving biodiversity, climate change, clean energy, financial education and inclusion, and poverty alleviation. Their data-driven credit health assessment product enables financing for businesses via innovative debt structures and predictive risk models, lowering costs.
The 2024 TechSprint has shown how new technologies can scale up sustainable finance solutions to address sustainable development goals. From preserving biodiversity to better managing ESG-related risks, these proposals can help build a more sustainable financial future.
The BIS Innovation Hub is proud to have partnered with the Central Bank of Brazil in this year's G20 TechSprint and we extend our warmest congratulations to all the winners.
This fifth edition of the G20 TechSprint focused on sustainable finance, specifically on solutions that align with sustainable development goals. It drew a record-breaking 110 proposals from every corner of the world, each offering a vision and pathway to address the complex, often interconnected, challenges of sustainable finance. This has been a powerful demonstration of the impact we can achieve when we unite behind shared goals.
Shortlisted teams