G20 TechSprint 2024 - Technology for the Planet

Updated 25 April 2024

The 2024 edition is being held jointly with Banco Central do Brasil and focuses on developing solutions for sustainable finance to support SDGs.

• The fifth edition of the G20 global hackathon competition focuses on solving sustainable finance challenges.
• TechSprint invites development of solutions on environmental, social and governance (ESG) data reporting and compliance, overcoming the barriers to scaling nature-based solutions, and accelerating progress towards sustainable development goals (SDGs).
• Open to developers worldwide; winners will be chosen in November by an independent panel.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) today launched the fifth edition of the G20 TechSprint Initiative, with a focus on developing solutions for sustainable finance to support SDGs.

The G20 TechSprint is an international competition to explore innovation and develop cutting-edge sustainable technological solutions. It is open to participants from around the world. Following the success of the previous four editions focused on the areas of regulatory compliance (regtech) and supervision (suptech), green and sustainable finance, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and cross-border payments, this year's TechSprint will focus on three problem statements on sustainable finance to support SDGs and inclusion, as formulated by the BIS Innovation Hub and the BCB.

These are the three problem statements for the TechSprint 2024:

• Nature-based solutions: technology solutions that incentivize and attract sustainable and inclusive investments targeted at biodiversity and nature preservation.
• ESG: new technologies to improve the quality, reliability and granularity of ESG data to facilitate due diligence, disclosure and management of ESG associated risks and opportunities by (a) large corporates and small and medium-sized enterprises, (b) investors and financial institutions, and/or (c) regulators and supervisors.
• SDGs: open source solutions 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.

"The journey towards sustainable finance requires collective action and relentless innovation. We must continuously push the boundaries of what is possible, leveraging the full spectrum of technological advancements and collaborative partnerships at our disposal," said Agustín Carstens, General Manager of the BIS.

"Under Brazil's G20 presidency, this fifth edition of the G20 TechSprint reinforces Brazil's and the BCB´s commitment to the sustainability agenda, alongside with our goal to foster financial innovations that can positively transform our reality," said Roberto de Oliveira Campos Neto, Governor of Banco Central do Brasil.

How to participate Interested participants should visit the Apix hackthon platform, which facilitates registration, prototype building and online judging of project proposals.

• Shortlisted teams will be invited to develop their solutions over an eight-week period and will have an opportunity to showcase them to and receive feedback from national authorities and invited experts.
• An independent panel of experts will choose one winning solution for each problem statement, to be announced by 29 November 2024.
• The winners for each category (problem statement) will receive an award of USD 25,000 (about BRL 125,000). All short-listed projects receive a stipend of about USD 5,000 (about BRL 25,000).
• The last day to submit proposals is 31 May 2024.

For more information, visit the competition page.