Societe Generale and WHub host successful hackathon event in Hong Kong with over 100 participants

110 developers and entrepreneurs from universities and the FinTech communities in Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan took part in FinHACK, a 36-hour FinTech hackathon organised by Societe Generale and WHub on 7-9 July 2017, to successfully develop a diverse range of innovative ideas.

The hackathon connected the brightest young minds with the growing field of FinTech. The participating teams co-created new solutions to address business challenges spanning four main themes: Blockchain; Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ChatBots; Big Data; and RegTech, InsureTech and WealthTech. The teams also came up with working prototypes and minimum viable products designed to tackle many of the pain points that the industry is facing.

The team behind the Intelligent Patents idea took first place at the event having created a working prototype which aims to solve patent registration issues by making it streamlined, digital and without the added cost of attorneys.

Other teams’ projects developed at FinHACK included:

• Housling – Student Housing with Financial Assistance
• The A-Team – Digital Piggy Bank
• RePoint – Revalued Rewards System

The winners at FinHACK received cash prizes and the opportunity to bring their ideas to life, with a chance to join Societe Generale.

“I have been so impressed by the creative ideas generated at the hackathon. The determination and strong team spirit demonstrated by all participants is testament to our budding talent and FinTech ecosystem. Open innovation lies at the centre of Societe Generale's digital strategy across the Group. We have been collaborating with different stakeholders including start-ups, universities and staff to promote innovation, and we will continue to seek creative ways to help support the development of FinTech,” said Charles Gillet, Asia Pacific Chief Information Officer at Societe Generale.

“Passion was overflowing this weekend from all teams which is what we here at WHub believe in most for startups success. There were so many diverse projects and teams that it was inspiring to see such young minds solving many complicated problems. There were many nations represented this weekend ranging from Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Italy and France”, said Gram Milosevic, CTO at WHub.