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Join the Future of Fintech at the University of Utah

The Stena Center for Financial Technology at the University of Utah unites education and industry to accelerate financial innovation and inclusion. It is a collaborative effort of the David Eccles School of Business and the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering. Organized as an interdisciplinary effort, the center provides workshops, labs, research, an annual conference, and other projects and programs for students, faculty, and industry partners. The center collaborates with university faculty to bring together fintech learning, scholarship, innovation, entrepreneurship, and knowledge sharing. It fosters an intersection of education and industry to accelerate advances in fintech in the areas of research, commercialization, applied learning, and incubation of new ideas and businesses. The center was launched with vision and support from the Stena Foundation, which was founded by University of Utah alumni Steve and Jana Smith to help people thrive by solving big problems.

Our Mission

To bring together education and industry to accelerate financial and technological innovation that supports students, research, and industry to expand and strengthen the fintech ecosystem.

fintechXchange

The annual Utah FinTech Xchange Summit is presented to convene fintech leaders from across the country. The conference features discussions, thought leadership, and cutting-edge research on fintech. Through an open exchange of ideas, expertise, and standards, the conference helps drive fintech innovation and growth for all. Attendees represent company leaders, decision-makers, regulators, and lawmakers. Attendees learn about the newest developments in fintech with the chance for extensive networking and collaboration.

Programs & Activities

Fintech Academics

All University of Utah undergraduate students (with a GPA of 3.0 or higher) are welcome to enroll in financial technology study options. Students can choose from electives, a minor, or a finance major with a fintech emphasis to learn the range of business models and technologies disrupting financial services and gain the advanced knowledge and skills to succeed in the future, build a career, and improve the world. The programs were developed jointly by the David Eccles School of Business and the John and Marcia Price College of Engineering. Students join a rapidly growing industry, fueled by the rising demand for digital financial services, including mobile banking, e-commerce, and digital wallets, amongst others, and supported by advances in artificial intelligence, distributed-ledger technologies, and cloud-based services. To start the journey into the digital future of financial services, students start with an introductory course (FINAN 2140: Introduction to FinTech).

Industry-Sponsored Labs

The Stena Center offers experiential opportunities and a one-of-a-kind educational experience in the form of industry-led and funded labs. These capstone labs will convene research faculty and students around industry use-cases and sector issues like cybersecurity, data for good, cryptocurrency, regulatory technology, and more. Students will approach problems from a design thinking and problem-solving approach and work with community partners and stakeholders to structure viable solutions. These labs will continue to evolve as new issues come to the forefront of the fintech ecosystem.

Types of Labs

Research
Product development
Technology application

“Education has the ability to lift communities and to lift individuals into a very different socioeconomic status. It is the one thing that we have in society that is proven to change social mobility. If you can get someone an education that they can use for the rest of their life, it changes families for generations to come.”

– Taylor Randall, President, University of Utah

fintechXstudio

Stena fintechXstudio is a startup fintech incubator and accelerator for students and recent alumni from all colleges and universities within the state of Utah. The studio was created to fuel fintech innovation from students and recent alumni from colleges and universities across the state of Utah. Founded by successful fintech entrepreneurs, the studio is helping the next generation of fintech founders scale faster and sharpen their product vision.

fintechXstudio is launching an annual cohort of 5-6 startups, and will give participants access to advisors, office collaboration space, startup funding and other business services to grow their companies. The program lasts a year, providing cohort members an ideal environment to build, test and launch their fintech solution. Applications for the 2024 cohort are now open! Visit the fintechXstudio site to learn more about the program and apply to participate in the cohort.* For additional entrepreneurial resources, check out the Utah Founders website.  This site is a compilation of resources including a directory of incubators, and non-profits, funding opportunities and educational opportunities.

*The fintechXstudio is a separate and independent entity that is not associated with the University of Utah.  The link below will direct you to a website external to the University of Utah and is provided for informational purposes.  The University of Utah does not assume liability for the content, practices or services provided by the fintechXstudio, including investment decisions. 

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