Triangle

 

Training events

The Inclusive Financial Technology (INFINITY) Hub, a collaboration between the Universities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Warwick, is delighted to invite you to join our upcoming Fintech Commercialisation Leadership Academy (FinCLA) training programme. 

The programme aims to introduce academics and researchers to the possibility of commercialising their research in fintech by offering support and training at the start of this journey – whether they have thought about this in depth, or whether this is the first time considering this possibility. This training is funded by Research England’s Connecting Capability Fund. 

The training will give participants the opportunity to learn about the possibilities for commercialisation of research: could you be a founder of a university spin-out? Or license your research? Or attract royalties for others applying your findings?

Join us for the following online sessions to find out more:

Online sessions
 Session Outline

Introduction to INFINITY

Tuesday 10th September, 11:00am - 12:00pm

  • Overview of INFINITY

  • What is FinTech and examples of existing FinTech research?

  • Accessing FinTech research funding from UKFIN+

Introduction to research commercialisation in FinTech

Wednesday 11th September, 11:30am - 12.30pm

  • The people involved: could you be an "academic founder" of a venture, do you want to team up with an entrepreneur, or take a different path?

  • Pitching and communicating your ideas whilst protecting your know-how and IP?

FinTech Startup Guide

Wednesday 18th September, 10:30am - 12:00pm

  • Case studies of HE spin-outs in FinTech and inspiring academics in SHAPE to commercialise

  • Ways to develop a business model and what a "value proposition" could look like from your research

FinTech Product Innovation

Thursday 19th September, 10:30am - 12:00pm

  • Typical Product development lifecycle

  • Current overarching FinTech trends

  • What are the core components of successful innovative FinTech products

  • Examples of different types of FinTech

Introduction to FinTech journey (Part A and Part B)

Part A, Tuesday 1st October, 11:00am - 12:30pm

Part B, Thursday 3rd October - 11:00am - 12:30pm

  • Methods to identify, test and validate the market for your FinTech solutions

  • How to grow your network and further identify partners and potential investors

ICURe

Wednesday 9th October, 14:00pm - 15:00pm
  • What is ICURe?
  • How can ICURe be used to support different stages of commercialisation?

Working with incubators and venture building

Tuesday 15th October, 14:00pm - 15:00pm

  • What are the incubators and accelerators?

  • Available support and mentoring

  • How to access funding and investments for your FinTech

 

The training is co-designed and co-delivered by experts in the field of research commercialisation and fintech innovation. Training sessions will include many real-world examples and case studies of academic entrepreneurs. 

The focus of the training programme is on helping academics and researchers identifying potential commercial ventures from research in fintech. Innovation and applications can cover a broad area of disciplines including economics, computer science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence technologies, law-tech, linguistics and insure-tech innovations.

The programme is free to attend, and all training sessions will be delivered online.

The training programme will be recruiting two cohorts, with the first cohort beginning their training in the Autumn 2024, and the second in the Spring 2025. 

After finishing the training programme, applicants will be invited to join the Fintech Venture Accelerator (FinVec) programme, to work with commercialisation consultants to access bespoke mentoring support to further develop your ventures. 

We welcome participants from outside of the three universities to register their interest should additional spaces become available on the programme.  

 

If you are interested, please complete the expression of interest form for the INFINITY Training Programme.

Complete the form

For more information, please contact us here.