Find out about the 2 pilots of the Digital Sandbox that we have held.
First Digital Sandbox pilot
We ran the first Digital Sandbox pilot between October 2020 and February 2021 in partnership with the City of London Corporation. We accepted 28 organisations in this pilot. These focused on challenges impacted or exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Participants developed solutions that responded to one of the following use cases:
- improving access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
- detecting and preventing fraud and scams
- supporting the financial resilience of vulnerable customers
Our evaluation report[1] has more information, including a summary of the feedback and the key lessons learned. You can find an overview of the participants’ solutions in Annex 2 of this report.
Digital Sandbox sustainability pilot
We ran our second pilot between November 2021 and March 2022 in collaboration with the City of London Corporation. We received 40 applications and accepted 12 firms into the pilot.
This pilot focused on testing and development of new products and services in the area of environmental, social and governance (ESG) data and disclosure.
The purpose of this sustainability cohort was to accelerate innovation and to address these market challenges:
How can technology enable transparency in disclosure and reporting on sustainability, especially on the characteristics of corporate assets and the profile of their supply chains? (eg open source and eco-friendly decentralised ledgers, centralised platforms)
How can technology be used to automate the assurance of a listed issuer’s ESG data and validation of its ESG-labelled corporate bond issuance? (eg Internet of things, decentralised ledgers, centralised platforms, satellite imaging, artificial intelligence)
How can technology help consumers understand the ESG characteristics of the products and providers they engage with, as well as provide visibility around alternatives aligned with their needs and preferences?
Our evaluation report[2] has more information on the pilot, including the key lessons learned and sets out our current thinking for the future of the Sandbox. You can find an overview of the participants’ solutions in Annex 2 of this report.