About the PNC Center for Financial Services Innovation
Financial Technology (fintech) is changing the world in which we live. With rapid advancements in technology and consumers' increased reliance on it, the financial services industry is transforming at an even more rapid pace.
The Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University and PNC Bank established the PNC Center for Financial Services Innovation to stimulate research that advances financial services through technological innovations related to:
- Artificial intelligence
- The internet of things
- Blockchain technology/cryptocurrencies
- Big data analytics
- Virtual/augmented reality
The PNC Center draws upon the thought and research leadership of Carnegie Mellon faculty and extensive business expertise of PNC stakeholders. The center supports interdisciplinary research that draws upon the expertise of leading researchers from across fields, including business/economics, computer science, design, engineering, public policy, and humanities/social sciences.
The center was created through the financial support of PNC Bank in January 2013.
Research Grants
Fund Support
The PNC Center is able to fund several small research grant projects each year to support research on fintech. The areas of focus at this time include applications of two technologies to financial services innovation:
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
-
Interpretable Machine Learning Marketing Models for Banking
Blockchain/Cryptocurrencies
-
Blockchain Applications to Banking
-
Cryptocurrency Testbed —CMU Coin
Data Support
The PNC Center will award several researchers data support grants. The data support grant would give these researchers access to the historical PNC data.
The data support grants will be able to support research that is related to financial services innovation but falls beyond the current focus areas of the center for fund support.
Educational Grants
Course Project Grants
Course project grants are meant to support teams of faculty and students to address real problems proposed by PNC that are identified by the center leadership. These projects may involve the design and implementation of a technical innovation related to financial services.
A prototype implementation may be required. The project team will have direct access to their PNC sponsor to negotiate the scope of the project, achieve agreement on deliverables, and secure sponsor approval of interim deliverables. The center will provide a periodic evaluation of course project proposals.
Education Grants
Education grants are specifically meant to advance the educational mission of the center. Potential uses of education grants include workshops, seminars, retreats, executive education programs, case competitions, online programs, and other appropriate venues for disseminating knowledge related to the mission of the center.
The center will provide a mechanism for continual evaluation of education proposals.