The Bundesbank, institutional partner of the TechQuartier hub, recently invited various start-ups and finance industry representatives to share their views on the future of money. In a session titled “Digital Money”, participants discussed topics including the digital euro.

Alexandra Hachmeister, the Bundesbank’s Director General Digital Euro, opened the day with a presentation on the current state of play in the Eurosystem’s joint digital euro project. Her presentation went down very well with her audience and sparked lively debate. Summing up the insights this produced, Ms Hachmeister said the role played by fintech firms in driving innovation had to be borne in mind when designing the digital euro ecosystem.

Facilitating interaction, promoting innovation

The next item was an interactive roundtable that saw Bundesbank experts, alongside finance industry representatives, illuminate the future of money from different angles and discuss these perspectives with the audience. The day concluded with start-ups gaining an opportunity to discuss ideas in working groups and interact with the experts.

The idea behind this gathering was to bring together start-ups on the one hand, and the Bundesbank and financial actors on the other. Another aim was to promote networking, share insights and actively shape the future of finance. “Fostering an active exchange between the different actors of the financial centre, learning from each other, and presenting the Bundesbank as a modern institution is particularly important for us at the InnoWerk,” Thomas Schardt, Innovation Officer at the Bundesbank, said. “That’s what we’ve achieved today.”

The event was hosted at the Bundesbank’s InnoWerk innovation lab, a platform that enables colleagues across the institution to collaborate on new concepts and solutions in an inspiring setting.