The G20 TechSprint is a collaborative initiative between the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, the G20 Presidency, and its central banks. Since its launch in 2020, it has provided a structured platform to accelerate technological innovation in the financial sector. Spanning six G20 Presidencies—Saudi Arabia, Italy, Indonesia, India, Brazil and South Africa— the TechSprint has shaped key themes and advancements across global financial systems.
The initiative advances the BIS Innovation Hub’s three-fold mandate, particularly by identifying and analysing critical technological trends affecting central banking, and by providing a platform to explore emerging solutions and their impact. It also supports the development of public goods in technology and serves as a focal point for collaboration among central banks. Past editions also demonstrate the TechSprint’s role in catalysing cross-jurisdictional initiatives—for example, advancing tokenised wholesale money settlement, strengthening anti money laundering frameworks and deepening the understanding of emerging technologies.
Each edition aligns with the G20 agenda and the remit of the BIS Innovation Hub, translating broad challenges into a global theme and three targeted problem statements to ensure solutions are relevant and impactful. Themes have ranged from regulatory and supervisory technologies (regtech and suptech) to sustainable finance, tokenised wholesale central bank money and digital forms of cash and cross-border payments – reflecting core central banking functions and demonstrating how innovation strengthens them. To inform this retrospective, a survey was conducted among G20 TechSprint winners to capture their experiences, insights, and observations. Their feedback provides valuable perspectives on how the initiative has evolved, its impact interms of fostering innovation, and its contribution to central bank collaboration.
This report provides a retrospective of the six G20 TechSprint editions spanning from 2020-2025. To support this retrospective, a survey was conducted among G20 TechSprint winners to capture their experiences, insights and observations. Their feedback provides valuable perspectives on how the initiative has evolved, its impact in terms of fostering innovation and its contribution to central bank collaboration.