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G20 TechSprint 2024

Technology for the Planet

DAY 00
HR 00
MIN 00
SEC 00
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#g20 #techsprint #g20techsprint #techsprint2024

Join the TechSprint
  • Launch - Submit Proposals

  • Proposal Submission Ends

  • Shortlisting Finalists

  • Solution Submission Ends

  • Announce of Winners

All timings are as per (GMT +8:00) Singapore, Beijing, Perth, Hong Kong
Organized By
Supported By

About Us

Under Brazil’s G20 Presidency, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) through its Innovation Centre in Hong Kong, together with the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), present the fifth edition of the G20 TechSprint, an international competition that seeks innovative solutions to address common challenges and priorities of the global central banking and regulatory community. This year's challenge is focused on stimulating the development of sustainable finance, tackling challenges aligned with the current G20 Priorities which encompass climate change, environmental degradation, and poverty reduction.

We invite innovators, entrepreneurs, start-ups, change agents, creators, programmers, data scientists, and sustainable finance experts from around the world to participate in this challenge.

The first-place winner in each of the three categories, i.e., of the three problem statements listed below, will receive a prize of USD25,000.

If you share the desire to solve problems that impact sustainability and the global community, join other talents and apply.

Participation is free, and teams from around the world are welcome to apply.

Problem Statements

This year’s TechSprint focuses on technology solutions for sustainable finance. The major problems identified include lack of sustainable investments in biodiversity and nature-related projects, challenges with the collection, aggregation and analysis of ESG data to facilitate due diligence, disclosure and management of ESG risks and opportunities and open-sourced data-driven solutions that can be used to support financial decisions and capital allocation aligned with the SDG goals. This TechSprint aims to address these challenges in the sustainable finance and provide significant contributions to the G20 priority of "building a just world and a sustainable planet" in line with the motto of the G20 Brazilian presidency.

Important disclosure applicable to all three proposed problem statements:
To combat greenwashing effectively, the solutions should guarantee the integrity of the data, and processes.

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Problem Statement 1

Nature-based solutions (NBS) - Novel technology solutions to foster investments in biodiversity and nature-related projects

We are calling for innovative technology solutions that can be used to incentivize and attract sustainable and inclusive investments targeted at biodiversity and nature preservation.

• Sustainable and inclusive investments in biodiversity and nature-related projects are crucial, as they promote sustainable economic growth while ensuring a healthy and prosperous future for all.
• However, investments in these projects remain limited due to challenges such as uncertainty about whether the project is delivering the positive impact it committed to, as a consequence of the difficulty of tracing, thereby creating a risk of loss of investment and greenwashing. Or the need for liquid and transparent secondary markets for such investments.
• Given these challenges, we invite innovative technology solutions, including but not limited to those that use tokenization and smart contracts to foster investments in biodiversity and nature-related projects. This could include asset tokenization representing a stake in a specific project, such as reforestation or wildlife protection, DAOs for community governance, and methods to enable micro-investments to provide a sustainable way of life for populations that depend on natural resources for their subsistence.
• Usage of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and satellite imagery for project validation and monitoring to offer transparency, traceability, and efficiency in funding conservation efforts.
• The solutions may seek to address the traditional finance challenges such as high cost of intermediation and lack of finance for projects in the Global South, as well as the risks associated with long project horizons, by unlocking new avenues such as tokenized and/or fractional ownership, and the creation of new secondary markets for investments in environmentally beneficial projects.
• These solutions could contribute to mobilising public and private funding for nature-positive projects, by increasing transparency and facilitating blended finance vehicles.
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Problem Statement 2

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) - Novel technology solutions to improve the quality, reliability, and granularity of ESG data

We are calling for innovative technology solutions that enhance the collection, aggregation, and analysis (including some high-level data quality assurance, e.g. correct units used and sum of the parts corresponding to the total) of ESG data to facilitate due diligence, disclosure, and management of ESG risks and opportunities by (a) large corporates and SMEs, (b) investors and financial institutions, and/ or (c) regulators and supervisors.

• Reliable and granular environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data is key to making informed decisions and identifying and managing ESG risks and opportunities.
• This problem statement is looking for solutions that may cater to the diverse needs of one or more of the following types of users: (a) large corporates that want to monitor scope 3 exposure in their supply chains, or SMEs in those supply chains who want to (or are asked to) create transparency about their climate and environmental footprint, (b) investors and financial institutions who want to direct investment and loans towards corporates and SMEs and who want to calculate their scope 3 “financed emissions”, and (c) regulators and supervisors who supervise those licensed institutions and hence need efficient access to the publicly disclosed data.
• For reference, the solutions may use technologies such as big data analytics, AI/ML, Gen AI, dMRV, IoT, and blockchain to ensure quality, reliability and granularity of data, facilitate real-time ESG measurement, reporting and verification, and enable proactive management of risks including greenwashing and fraud risks. The solutions may target physical, transition and adaptation risks.
• The solutions could include innovative approaches to mapping nature-related risks and linking them with financial data (e.g., supervisory reporting data, such as the BIS “digital twin” project) to assess risk exposure. They could also help measure the biodiversity footprints of financial assets and the positive impacts of investments to better align financial flows with the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
• The solutions may incorporate RegTech to streamline compliance with evolving ESG regulations including but not limited to ISSB standards, and/or SupTech to provide regulators and supervisors with advanced tools for monitoring, enforcing and supervising compliance with such standards.
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Problem Statement 3

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - Open-sourced solutions to achieve sustainable finance and support the SDG goals

We are calling for open-sourced data-driven technology solutions that can be used to support financial decisions and capital allocation aligned with the SDG goals, including preserving biodiversity, climate change, clean energy, financial education and inclusion, poverty alleviation, etc.

• This problem statement intentionally focuses on open-sourced data or solutions that are accessible to all as a public good at no (or low) cost hence ensuring transparency, and on which other solutions can be built to foster the SDG goals, including financial education and inclusion.
• We highlight the importance of solutions on financial education and inclusion as enablers of the SDGs. Financial inclusion supports overall economic growth, and consequently, the achievement of broader development goals.
• For reference, the solutions may consider predictive analytics, geospatial analysis, AI/ML, crowdsourcing, DLT, etc., to identify and establish key indicators for measuring progress against SDG targets. MRV or dMRV can also be explored to ensure the accuracy and reliability of data for real-time and immutable record keeping.
• Mobile and online platforms that offer financial services tailored to underserved communities. Incorporating elements of financial education, these tools can empower users to make informed decisions that support sustainable development goals.
• The solutions may also include Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track the effectiveness of investments and initiatives towards achieving the SDGs, as well as Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) to monitor potential risks that could impede progress or derail the initiatives.

Prize

Claim your place on the podium!

Cash prizes to the Winners

Host
$25,000 for the Winner
One winner in each category of problem statement shall receive an award of USD 25,000
Host
$5000 Stipend
All the shortlisted teams for the 'Solution Development' phase shall receive a stipend of USD 5000
Host
Recognition

All the final shortlisted teams get to interact with industry experts and may feature in a TechSprint report.

Eligibility

1. Registration is open to participants with a good track record of developing scalable technological solutions to tackle the challenges presented in the above problem statements.

2. The competition is open to participants who meetall the following criteria:

- Be over 18 years of age.
- Not be an employee of the organizers and supporters (BCB, Fenasbac, IDB, and BIS Innovation Hub) or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates, nor a direct family member of one of their employees;
- Agree to the G20 TechSprint 2024 User Terms and Conditions (T&C) which govern participation in the G20 TechSprint 2024; and
- Agree to the APIX Terms of Use, which govern the use of the APIX Platform.

3. Participants must complete the registration and proposal submission process within the indicated timeframe. Any request to postpone submission will not be considered.

 

FAQ

Am I eligible?

Teams from all countries interested in solving the problem statements and who have a proven track record of delivery – whether writing software, designing user experiences, or product management– may participate. Participation in the Techsprint is expected in the form of teams. However, a team is also allowed to consist of a single Participant. Shortlisted teams will need to demonstrate that they have a deployable and scalable solution for the identified problem statement by the time of the final judging.

Are there any other requirements?

At the time of registration, you will have to agree to the T&C of the G20 TechSprint 2024 and the Event Platform’s user requirements.

What is the expected deliverable at the end of the G20 TechSprint, and will my team have a chance to deploy the solution?

For this competition, we are seeking production-ready and deployable prototypes. However, there is no commitment or expectation on the part of the organizers that the prototype will be deployed. Winning teams will have the opportunity to showcase their solutions.

Must I be a registered company?

No, teams do not have to be registered companies. Although not a requirement, we anticipate that most teams will comprise around 5-6 members performing different functions to develop the working prototypes. Please note that all shortlisted teams will receive a single stipend irrespective of their team's size.

Will G20 TechSprint offer prizes?

The five pre-selected teams of each problem will be given a single stipend, irrespective of their team's size. A team can only be pre-selected for one problem statement. A final prize will be awarded to the winner of each problem statement.

Is there a cap on the number of applications and proposals for each problem statement?

Yes. We are seeking the best global solutions to address the problem statements. We will accept a limit of 100 applications for each problem statement. Once all the limits have been reached, no further proposals will be accepted. A team can only be shortlisted once. We therefore encourage teams to submit their registrations and proposals as soon as possible, well ahead of the submission deadline.

Can I participate in multiple problem statements?

You can form a team to participate in multiple problem statements. However, we recommend that each team only competes in one problem statement and focuses on its strongest area of specialization. A team can only be shortlisted once, and each participant can only join one team.

How will the winning proposals be selected?

There will be two rounds of evaluation. Proposals will first be reviewed by the Techsprint organizers and experts appointed by the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub (BISIH). This is to shortlist up to 15 teams to enter the prototype development phase of the TechSprint. The 15 teams would subsequently submit their developed solution prototypes to be assessed by a panel of expert judges convened by the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) and BIS.

Will we have to attend any of the Techsprint events in person?

Participation in G20 Techsprint will essentially be virtual. It is only planned to meet in person at the final awards ceremony, which will take place in November in Brazil, but the winners presence is at their own discretion. The selected participants will have to connect virtually during the events. The organizers will inform participants in advance whenever their participation is required.

Will I retain the IP rights to my developed solutions at the end of the TechSprint?

Yes, you will retain the title, rights of ownership, or intellectual property rights of any kind regarding the solutions and any related information that you submit or develop on the Platform in response to the Problem Statements. Your final submission is made available to the judging panel via the APIX platform. You declare and guarantee that: • you have all the necessary authorizations, permissions, licenses, and agreements to participate in the G20 TechSprint and for all material uploaded to, or developed on, the Platform; • your participation in the G20 TechSprint and your submission of Solution(s) comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations. If the judging panel selects one of your solutions as a winning solution, you agree to present the solution in a manner and format agreed with the organizers. Please note that by registering for the Techsprint and accepting the T&C you agree to grant to Banco Central do Brasil, the BIS, and the Fenasbac, for the purposes therein set forth, the right to publicly disclose and display the Projects submitted during the Event, including the right to publish the Projects on the Site and/or on other communication channels, whether analogue, digital, or paper media.

Where can I find more information about the problem statements?

Additional information is above, in the "learn more" section, next to each of the three problem statements presented in this challenge.

Are there any open data that can be used for the prototype?

You can use any open data.

Will the information shared be kept confidential?

Information provided to us through the online application will be shared only on a need-to-know basis within the relevant event and evaluation teams. The information provided will be retained by us post the program for audit purposes and will be shared with an external party only upon obtaining explicit permission from the applicant / authorized team member.

Can I request for re-evaluation in case I am not satisfied with the Judges’ decision?

No. You cannot request for re-evaluation. The decision of the judges shall be final and binding. The Organisers reserves all rights with respect to the event.

Are the participants allowed to leverage their own IDEs?

The participants can choose to develop the solution via APIX or use their own IDEs. But if they are using their own IDEs then they will have to bring the code, compile it, run it on APIX, and present the running code before the judges for evaluation.

Things to note

THINGS TO NOTE

1. Leaders of the participant team must fully register the team and submit their solution(s) to one or more problem statements by the end of the registration period.

2. Early registration is encouraged. Registrations to specific problem statements may close once the application cap on that problem statement is reached. Participation is free of charge.

3. Each team member can only join one team. Each team (typically comprising 3 to 8 members) can submit one proposal for each problem statement. Teams are allowed to apply for more than one problem statement, but they can only be shortlisted for one problem statement.

4. The participant will retain the title, rights of ownership, or intellectual property rights of any kind regarding the solutions and any related information submitted or developed on the platform in response to the problem statements.

5. Final submissions from all shortlisted participants will need to be made available to the judging panel via the Technology Provider's platform. By submitting, participants declare and guarantee that:
- they have all necessary authorisations, permissions, licenses, and agreements to participate in the G20 TechSprint and for all material uploaded to or developed on the platform;
- their participation in the G20 TechSprint and their submitted solution comply with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

6. If the judging panel selects one of the participant's solutions as a winning solution, the participant agrees to present the solution in a manner and format agreed with the organisers.

7. By registering for the TechSprint and accepting the T&C participants agree to grant Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), the BIS, and the Fenasbac, for the purposes therein set forth, the right to publicly disclose and display the Projects submitted during the Event, including the right to publish the Projects on the Site and/or on other communication channels, whether analogue, digital, or paper media.

8. The competition will operate in English. All materials and communications submitted in connection with the competition must be in English.
9. For any queries, you can contact either BCB at techsprint@bcb.gov.br or BIS at techsprint@bisih.org

Contact

For G20 TechSprint 2024 related queries, please reach out to

techsprint@bcb.gov.br

For technical queries during registration or proposal submission process, please reach out to

apixsupport@synfindo.com