FIS names InnovateIN48 competition winners

The competition, which had been employee-based since it began in 2013, was expanded this year to include students from U.S. colleges and universities.

To date, nearly 10,000 top tech strategists, developers and customer experience (CX) experts have participated in this annual competition.

Driven by the 2021 theme “Write the Code. Right the World,” students from 19 U.S. colleges competed to create digital solutions with the goal of enhancing financial inclusion and providing meaningful access to financial services for underserved communities. The inaugural InnovateIN48 Student Edition provided participants with the opportunity to collaborate with FIS leaders across multiple fintech disciplines. Representing the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee and Whitewater) and the University of Chicago, the first-place team designed a social media app that educates users on investment topics like bonds, options for investing and crypto, while other winning ideas included:

• A payment consolidation app that pulls mobile data into one place.
• An eye-tracking online banking program for those with motor-control disorders.
• A credit solution that enables people without an address to finance a purchase.

Students from the winning teams represented the University of Alabama (Birmingham), University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Whitewater and Madison) and Wesleyan University. These students received prizes and earned priority interviews for internships or full-time employment with FIS.

The first-place team received entry into a pre-accelerator technology startup program with FIS to continue advancing and commercializing their idea.

For InnovateIN48’s employee competition, 265 teams consisting of more than 1,200 FIS colleagues were challenged to design a solution that increased delivery speed, simplified processes, enhanced performance or delivered new capabilities for clients. With only 48 hours to collaborate, create and code, these employees worked to solve real business challenges for clients using FIS’ digital innovation labs and creative ideation platforms. The winning ideas were:

• An intelligent architecture image parser and infrastructure solution to increase productivity during project setup.
• An automated solution for compliance officers that accelerates the identity verification process during anti-money laundering investigations.
• A blockchain platform where trade clearing and settlement are performed by using smart-contract functionalities.
• Immersive augmented reality technology to support small- and mid-sized merchants with in-store marketing.

“FIS isn’t just a destination for innovation – it’s a destination for innovators,” said Sangy Vatsa, FIS Global Chief Technology & Digital Officer and InnovateIN48 Executive Sponsor. “It’s been exciting to see all the creativity and passion from employees and students in the 2021 InnovateIN48 event as we’ve watched participation increase since the program began. This program is important to all of our participants as they build their careers, but also to our company and clients as we create a future of innovation.”