Currently based at the Bayes Centre — the University of Edinburgh’s innovation hub for AI and data science — the Smart Data Foundry is a mission-led data innovation organisation serving the public, private, and third sectors, helping them to harness data for good.

In the new partnership with Ozone API — the standards-based open API platform — the Smart Data Foundry has launched two tools in a move to support financial innovation: the Standards Library and the Innovation Atlas.

The Standards Library aims to help financial institutions and innovators understand the global landscape, making it quicker and easier to acknowledge and compare the different technical standards adopted by a geography or financial system.

Meanwhile, the Innovation Atlas provides an overview of what open banking initiatives are happening where. The levels of financial inclusion, telecommunication challenges, and banking and data privacy regulations are documented and viewable in a navigable map.

Ongoing additions and updates are set to be added to the Standards Library and Innovation Atlas on a quarterly basis, as to reflect the changing global landscape.

“We are delighted to partner with Ozone API to bring these two products to market, allowing for the acceleration of innovation in Open Banking, Open Finance and Open Data across the globe,” said Bryn Coulthard, chief product and technology officer at the Smart Data Foundry.

Huw Davies, co-founder & chief commercial officer at Ozone API, also commented, saying: “Today’s launch of the Standards Library and Innovation Atlas could not come at a better time as we see ever increasing complexity in the global standards landscape. We know, as we’re at the sharp end of helping banks and regulators around the world to deliver standards based open APIs.

“We’re delighted to partner with Smart Data Foundry to deliver these valuable tools to the market in order to help accelerate innovation.”

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Formerly known as the Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence, the Smart Data Foundry was founded in September 2020 with an initial £23m in funding from the UK government through the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) flagship Strength in Places Fund.

The Scots not-for-profit has since delivered a number of data projects in collaboration with financial institutions, including research into the impact of COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis on the over-50s.

DIGIT last reported on the Smart Data Foundry when the organisation appointed its inaugural board at the beginning of this year.

Making up the inaugural board is Zachery Anderson, Chief Data Officer at NatWest Group; Professor Kim Graham, Provost at the University of Edinburgh; Stephen Ingeldrew OBE, Chairman at FinTech Scotland; Fiona Duncan, Chair at the Promise; and Professor Chris Speed, Director at the Edinburgh Futures Institute.