GSMA Tech Lab, to Develop and Drive
Inclusive Technologies, in Collaboration with Industry Stakeholders and
Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
LONDON-Wednesday 25 September 2019 [ AETOS Wire ]
(BUSINESS WIRE) --
The GSMA today announced the launch of the GSMA Inclusive Tech Lab,
which will take a hands-on approach to research, testing and development
of the inclusive technologies of the future. The Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation has provided three years of funding for the GSMA Inclusive
Tech Lab, and will sit on the Advisory Group alongside industry
representatives including GoPay, IDEMIA, KaiOS, Mowali, Telenor, the
University of Washington, VEON and Vodafone.
“In
launching the GSMA Inclusive Tech Lab, we are taking a bold new step to
support and stimulate innovation through greater experimentation and a
willingness to take risks,” said John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer,
GSMA. “The GSMA Mobile for Development programme has already had a
direct impact on improving the lives of 58 million people. The Lab will
allow our team of dedicated ‘technopreneurs’ the opportunity to take a
hands-on approach to break down the barriers to economic and social
inclusion further.”
“We
are proud to be collaborating with the GSMA and funding the Inclusive
Tech Lab to strategize, build and pilot technologies to support the
industry with innovations to drive financial inclusion for the poorest,”
said Matt Bohan, Senior Programme Officer, Financial Services for the
Poor at The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “The Lab will enable us
to create and explore products, from interoperability platforms to
standardised APIs and more, that will help the industry to drive
innovation to include poor people at a whole new pace and scale.”
The
Lab will work on a range of areas that drive inclusion. These will
comprise expanding the openness and interoperability of payment systems,
service accessibility for women and vulnerable populations, and digital
identities for unregistered people, as well as other topics of
relevance. The GSMA, together with industry stakeholders, will establish
and share proofs of concept aimed at increasing financial and digital
inclusion for underserved groups.
The
services of the Lab will be three-fold; research, innovation projects
and technological assets (e.g. web-based test environments). The Lab
will benefit from guidance received from leading industry figures making
up its global Advisory Group, who will help to assess, prioritise,
shape and contribute towards potential project ideas received by the
Lab. Following direction from the Advisory Group, projects deemed
feasible will be further researched and developed. The Lab will build
readily usable products and insights up to proof-of-concept (and
potentially support an initial commercial launch, as appropriate).
Critically, the Lab will ensure learnings and Lab-developed solutions
will be available to the broader industry, with the first results
available to the industry in the first quarter of 2020.
Giusti
concluded, “Today there are challenges of expanding access to financial
services, bridging the digital services gap for women and vulnerable
user groups, and providing digital identity solutions for the one
billion individuals with no form of ID. These challenges drive our
activity as we work on the transformative digital innovations of
tomorrow.”
To find out more about the GSMA Inclusive Tech Lab, and how you can contribute, please go to the following link: www.gsma.com/lab
About the GSMA
The
GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting
more than 750 operators and nearly 400 companies in the broader mobile
ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies,
equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in
adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces the industry-leading
MWC events held annually in Barcelona, Los Angeles and Shanghai, as well
as the Mobile 360 Series of regional conferences.
For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190924005109/en/Contacts
Media Contacts:
Gearóid Cashman
+44 79 7679 0169
GCashman@webershandwick.com
GSMA Press Office
pressoffice@gsma.com
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