Three Ideas for Innovation in Financial Inclusion

THE TWELVE WINNING STUDENTS FROM FINTECH 4 FINANCIAL INCLUSION WILL FLY TO DUBLIN FOR A VISIT TO THE CITI INNOVATION LAB. A CHALLENGE ORGANIZED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CITI TO PROMOTE FINANCIAL INCLUSION THROUGH DIGITAL INNOVATION

The three projects that were able to make the most of digital innovation to promote financial inclusion were recognized yesterday at Fintech 4 Financial Inclusion, the second edition of the initiative organized in collaboration with the Citi Foundation as part of the program #Pathhways2Progress and a spin-off of the Bocconi Startup Day. The winning students will visit the Citi Innovation Lab in Dublin. "Finance is a difficult system to innovate in," explains Stefano Caselli, head of the International Finance course, attended by the 180 students who, divided into 36 groups, took part in the challenge. "We were surprised by the high quality of the students' work, it was very difficult to identify the winners”.

"Fundplastic", a project that aims at increasing the recycling of plastic allowing individuals to invest at the same time; "TuitonMee", a solution that allows students coming from a low-income background to access the University that they merit; "Wally", a digital wallet helping kids and teenagers to spend consciously and, at the same time, giving parents visibility of such expenses. These are the rewarded projects for each of the categories: payment systems, financing, investing.  The three groups were invited to present their business ideas to an audience composed of students, professors (including Dean of the Graduate School Antonella Carù, the Director of the MSc in International Management Massimo Magni and tutors who followed the working groups, Francesca Casalini, Gimede Gigante, Giulia Negri), the rector Gianmario Verona and managers of Citi. "Participating in this challenge has stimulated our creativity and our entrepreneurial spirit, because we worked on the technology applications to the financial sector, an unknown world with enormous potential," says Matteo Marciano, one of the winning students.

Digitization is in fact a phenomenon that is transforming all sectors, including finance: "Evolving is necessary and to do so requires close collaboration between the traditional banking world and that of technological innovation. It is equally important to know how to innovate in full compliance with the rules that exist to ensure protection and security," says Marcello Topa, EMEA Market Policy and Strategy Director at Citi, after listening to the presentations of the students.

by Benedetta Ciotto