Inter-bank co-operative Swift is inviting startups and entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas at a quarterly 'dragon's den' style gathering of bankers, consultants and venture capitalists.
Dubbed the Innotribe Incubator, the initiative is a Swift-funded idea to "develop, experiment, nurture, and explore" new ideas in the financial industry related to the Swift ecosystem.
Swift innovation leader Matteo Rizzi says: "We are looking at ideas where the "community' component is dominant. It can be about shared infrastructures or services, ideas for a geographical community, or dedicated to a particular business segment. It's not about competitive innovation."
He says the goal of the incubator is to bring an idea to a Version 1.0, with some early adopters testing it in a commercially-viable proof-of-concept.
To maximise the chances of success, a pitch would ideally have a number of prospective customers already "buying" the idea and willing to consider to pilot it, "with some help from our side", at the version 1.0 stage.
Startups, Swift partners, vendors and entrepreneurs are being invited to submit their applications at the Innotribe Website.