Sabadell Digital organized the Innovation Banking Hack Fest over a 45-hour hackathon at the Alicante Technological Competence Center, bringing together more than 100 young people from the University of Alicante, the Miguel Heredia campus, and the University of Alicante’s Alcoy campus. Participants spanned diverse profiles from programming and design to marketing and finance, all competing to showcase the best young talent.
Teams of four to six members were challenged to design and build an innovative application or idea. The focus included monetary transactions in various environments, covering payments, account information access, and improvements to platforms like Bizum, as well as the availability and usefulness of vending solutions. To support the participants, Sabadell Digital opened its Open Banking testing environment and Microsoft’s Power Platform for hands-on experimentation.
Director of CCTA, Susana Soler, described the hackathon weekend as a highly satisfying project for the Sabadell Digital initiative. The goal was clear: unite ambitious students eager to push the boundaries of financial technology. Sabadell Digital emerged in recent months to accelerate the transformation process within the organization and to offer global solutions powered by the latest technology. The team aims to help shape the future through innovation and invites future professionals with a transformative vision to participate.
Marc Armengol, General Manager and Director of Operations and Technology at Banco Sabadell, called the event a prime opportunity to connect high-level tech partners with Sabadell Digital. The event highlighted the activity at the Alicante Technological Competence Center and invited promising young talents to become the region’s pioneers of change in the near future.
With the first edition of the Innovation Banking Hack Fest, the aim was to promote the Sabadell Digital brand from its CCTA base in Alicante, engaging developers and students to attract talent, foster creativity, and generate innovation ideas while boosting visibility in the digital ecosystem.
Fernando Canós, deputy general manager and Eastern regional manager of Banco Sabadell, emphasized that this event demonstrates the organization’s commitment to the region. He noted that Alicante and the Valencian Community hold strategic importance, and the bank’s connection to the local tech and academic communities matters for future growth. The festival showcased the bank’s interest in meeting the needs of businesses and families alike and encouraging regional innovation.
The project also featured regional support from government partners. Jerome Mora, regional secretary for innovation, stressed the importance of combining innovation with practical measures that enable entrepreneurial activity across sectors. He highlighted the need to channel young talent, provide training, and create opportunities so these participants can drive the Valencian Community’s innovation and economic transformation. The region’s ability to renew its production base and stay competitive hinges on continued investment in innovation and the capacity to meet future challenges.
In summary, Sabadell Digital aims to attract and retain top technology talent. The hackathon served as a platform for aligning the bank’s needs with fresh capabilities and ideas that illuminate new challenges in financial technology.
Considered worthy
Best business idea award:
EXECUTION
Best artificial intelligence based project award:
Game Free Home
Most innovative project award:
visionaries
Best technical development award:
MultitecUAs
IBHF23 winning team prize:
NLP Wizards
Award for the best GNA team:
InnoUMH
Award for the second best UA team:
MultitecUA
Award for the best UA team:
NLP Wizards
Advisory Board
The CCTA Advisory Council, established earlier this year, gathered at the Innovation Banking Hack Festival. It includes the region’s leading figures from academia, research, and technology consultancy.
The Presidency group included the institution’s general manager and head of Operations and Technology, Marc Armengol, along with the rector of the University of Alicante, Amparo Navarro, and the rector of Elche Miguel Hernández University, Juan José Ruiz. Also involved were the Director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence Cenid, Manuel Palomar; the Manager of the Alicante unit of Ellis, Nuria Oliver; and the director of UA’s Higher Polytechnic School EPS, Virgilio Gilart. Banco Sabadell’s main business partners joined the forum, represented by Diego López of Accenture, Sergio Lahoz, NTT Data Europe Financial Services Director, and Juan Parra, CEO of DXC Technology. Rüdiger Schmidt, Banco Sabadell’s technology director, Fernando Canós, deputy general manager for the Eastern region, and Susana Soler, CCTA director, also contributed to the discussions.