Students take centre stage at ICC Sydney
International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney) is set to welcome local students to the stage as they pitch ideas to an expert panel of judges and delegates when the world’s premier financial services event, Sibos 2018, comes to town next month.
Taking place from 22 – 25 October, the event organised by SWIFT will welcome over 7,000 delegates from across the global financial industry to ICC Sydney for four days of innovation, collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Engagement with universities and students has been a highlight of the event since the introduction of the annual SWIFT Institute Challenge at Sibos three years ago. Run by the SWIFT Institute, which funds independent research into important topics affecting the financial industry, the challenge encourages students to come up with solutions to current global challenges in the financial sector. This year, 57 Australian universities were asked to devise a solution for securing personal information in an open application programming interface (API) environment.
The SWIFT Institute selected eight teams from five universities to compete in the 2018 finals:
• The University of Sydney
• University of Technology Sydney
• The University of Melbourne
• Monash University
• Carnegie Mellon University - Australia
Teams from these universities are invited to attend Sibos 2018, where they will be given the opportunity to attend sessions, and network with some of the industry’s brightest minds from across the globe. The teams will pitch their ideas to a room of delegates and judges during two-back-back sessions, with the overall winner to receive a prize of A$30,000.
Geoff Donaghy, CEO of ICC Sydney said Sydney has established a reputation as an innovation capital and ICC Sydney provides an important connection point for the city’s main financial, scientific and entrepreneurial sectors, alongside educational institutions and the start-up ecosystem.
“Seeing local community embedded in major international events like Sibos aligns with the objectives of our own Client Legacy Program, which seeks to connect students, startups, cultural and creative industries with meaningful opportunities across our operations.
“The SWIFT Institute Challenge is a leading example of industry and student cross-collaboration,” Donaghy said.
Peter Ware, Director of the SWIFT Institute said they had been overwhelmed by the positive response to the challenge by Australian students, along with the support of their universities and professors.
“There were a lot of great ideas submitted, which gave us our own challenge in terms of narrowing it down to the group of finalists who are invited to Sibos,” Ware said.
The SWIFT Institute Challenge final will take place at Sibos 2018 on Wednesday 24 October 2018.