The inaugural Transatlantic Fintech Exchange held in the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin between the 13-16th of May by DigiAdvance industry partner, The Fintech Corridor, brought together key players, businesses and leaders in Fintech from Ireland and the United States. Hilary Moran, CEO of The Fintech Corridor and Michael P. Mills, representing The American Transaction Processors Coalition welcomed participants, Hilary outlined the co-creation, knowledge exchange and networking activities planned for the day including a focus on skills development for leaders and SME employees based on the DigiAdvance project.
The DCU DigiAdvance project team engaged with participants in tandem with The FinTech Corridor. The event provided real opportunities for networking with and between business leaders at the cutting edge of Fintech and with SMEs in the FinTech sector. Key national players were also present including; The Central Bank of Ireland, the Department of Finance, and the Irish Industrial Development Agency (the IDA). There were breakout and informal sessions throughout the day where participants had the opportunities to share their thoughts on the future of fintech, skills development and the ever changing workforce.
Dr. Mairéad Nic Giolla Mhichíl in a panel session focused on workforce and skills development focused on the outputs and learning from the DigiAdvance project and highlighted the range of courses being developed in tandem with industry for this sector.
These courses are available on the digiadvance.eu website along with some other short courses being developed as part of the HCI MicroCreds.ie initiative. A focus on digital first for employers was one of the key learnings from this session and the importance of transversal skills development for employees as part of both recruitment and retention strategies.
During the session on the future of payments, participants were taken on a deep dive into innovations shaping the payment landscape and preparing for what’s next in financial transactions. The outputs from this session and the Ireland for Finance Strategy, will be used as part of the co-construction process for DigiAdvance courses in the FinTech Area. Alexander Kinsella, DCU DigiAdvance, engaged with participants throughout the day highlighting the development process being engaged with by the FinTech corridor and the DigiAdvance project to develop courses and opportunities to advance key digital skill capabilities in the SME sector.
For more information on DigiAdvance, please visit DigiAdvance.eu or if you are a European SME founder, manager or employee and would like to share what digital skills gaps you and your colleagues are seeking to upskill in with please take the anonymous Skills Needs Analysis Survey. This survey will allow you to contribute to shaping courses and learning experiences for your employees through the DigiAdvance project.