The North East drives impact through ‘FinPact’
Our Newcastle Conference on the 20th of July oversaw the launch of FinPact, an industry led, community interest organisation mandated to deliver the FinTech strategy for the North East of England. Established under advisement from Womble Bond Dickinson, the new company aims to unleash the digital potential of North East England & Tees Valley (‘North East’).
Overarching purpose is to create the ideal environment for innovation to thrive by focusing on digital, data and tech skills where finance has a part to play across multiple sectors, benefitting the North East, its people and businesses.
Steve Kevan of FinPact, says:
“We invite all across the Finance related Digital, Data and Tech Communities here in the North East to engage with us and learn how working with us can help you develop your skills, grow your businesses, fast track your innovation and deliver impact. FinPact seeks to optimise the application, coordination and collaboration of resources into a series of building-blocks to create a thriving Enablement Engine”.
Leveraging the role of embedded finance in delivering cross-sector impact from problem statement to fully fitted use cases is central to the FinPact model.
Kevin Telford of Monstarlab and FinTech North, added:
“While the North East faces structural challenges in areas such as education, productivity and poverty alleviation, we demonstrate success when our best minds and efforts align across industry led initiatives. We believe there is a major opportunity to enhance and harness the region’s resources, around embedded finance innovation in support of transformational impacts across society, economy and environment (SEE).”
FinPact’s vision is for the North East to be recognised as a world class ecosystem, where our resources across the private sector, learning establishments, finance, the public sector and physical place are aligned and optimised so innovation can thrive, financial businesses can grow, and our people can prosper.
James Thwaites of Whitecap Consulting, enthused;
“Working with great people and partners, through means of direct action and syndicating resources, FinPact can aim to create an internationally significant centre of excellence for Finance, Digital, Data and Tech.”
Our three pillars of focus are talent, innovation and impact;
Usman Shahid of TrueNorth, commented on the talent pillar:
“Like other regions, North East England grapples with a significant digital skills gap, inhibiting its ability to align education with commercial skills demand to attract and retain top talent. Our goal is to excite those in education about creating impactful careers in Fin related Digital, Data and Tech Innovation.”
The North East has the potential to become a hotbed of innovation, but it has yet to reach a significant threshold, evidenced by low levels of entrepreneurship and fewer scale-ups. Development of an Innovation Pipeline Accelerator bridging the gap between students, intra/entrepreneurs and business can deliver a new way of working.
The region boasts renowned academic institutions and forward-thinking corporations, harbouring vast intellectual capital. By addressing the digital skills gap, fostering innovation and impact, alongside showcasing the region’s academic and corporate expertise, we can strive to solve some fundamental issues and deliver impact.
To find out more about FinPact, check out their website here.
To get involved with FinPact, please contact impact@finpact.co.uk.
