Fintech Week London 2021
The Brussels-based organiser of Fintech Week opted for a hybrid hub format for the five-day London festival and the UK capital ’ s convention bureau was on-hand to make it a reality
Fintech Week London 2021 shined a light on the most interesting topics in financial technology , with a two-day conference at its core . Held before all UK restrictions were lifted , requirements for 50 % capacity and travel restrictions meant that creating a hybrid experience was key .
The event , set across four top London locations , brought together leading fintech companies , financial institutions , decision-makers and investors to discuss trends including digital identity , open banking , and the next big things in fintech .
In-person delegates would enjoy the benefits of meeting more than 450 other physical attendees , while those online needed to feel like they were part of the conference in London , keeping engaged throughout .
The London Convention Bureau advised the organiser on the best venues to host the event in the UK capital ’ s unique neighbourhoods . The locations were chosen based on where London ’ s fintechs are headquartered , bringing the event to them .
The first neighbourhood was the City of London , the capital ’ s original financial hub , neighbouring one of London ’ s most active tech clusters in Shoreditch .
Speakers travelled to Barclays
Rise , an accelerator space for some of London ’ s hottest fintech startups . The flagship in-person part of the event followed at 133 Houndstitch , an etc . venues location in the heart of the City of London , near Liverpool Street station .
On the fourth day , the delegation moved to Level39 , a hotspot for young and fast-growing startups in the buzz of Canary Wharf , London ’ s newest financial district .
Finally , the last day bookended the week with a closing day of virtual events .
Raf de Kimpe , CEO of Fintech Week London , says : “ This created a combination of everybody who felt comfortable enough to go outside getting a chance to go out and actually meet , but also everybody who wanted to see the content or even network online could do that from the security and privacy of their home .
“ Even people who at the last minute couldn ’ t join could easily switch to online and get all the content , all the networking and all the value from this conference . I think in the future , hybrid will be the way to go .”
Blurring virtual and in-person Hybrid events don ’ t come without their challenges . They are a new type of event to master , which can be a learning curve for even the most experienced industry veterans , but everyone agrees that they are crucial in 2021 .
“ In these days , you have to do something hybrid ,” says de Kimpe . “ From the beginning , we said we would do as much physical as we could . Of course , given the fact that the restrictions were extended a bit , we had to rethink . We had our contingency plans in place with this hybrid version where we have people on the different locations across London .
“ London has a great ecosystem and it is the biggest fintech city in the world , so it speaks for itself that there are a lot of great companies here ,” he continues . “ Normally we would expect a bigger global audience in-person , but now we see that the global audience is very much online . For example , in Dubai they did a session where people locally got together at the IFC and joined the content of the conference . Most of the people who attended in-person were people from the UK .”
This expanded audience is only connected by technology ,