
Company Overview
Smart Data Foundry is a data innovation organisation serving the public, private and third sectors. Our purpose is to inspire financial innovation and improve people’s lives by unlocking the power of financial data. We aim to be the leading provider of data for research and innovation - supplying real data for research and synthetic data for innovation. Smart Data Foundry was one of the first major data-themed partnerships following the launch of the University of Edinburgh’s Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) initiative, part of the City Region Deal. Under DDI, the University is creating a network of hubs to help public, private and third-sector organisations improve products and services through research coupled with high-powered data analytics. In September 2020, Smart Data Foundry received initial funding from the UK Government’s Department for Business, Innovation & Industrial Strategy through the UK Research & Innovation Strength in Places Fund.
FinTech Voice - Martin Nel
Chief Business Development Officer at Smart Data Foundry.
Martin is the Chief Business Development Officer at Smart Data Foundry. His role is to build partnerships with the private, public and third sectors and leverage our expertise and capabilities to harness financial data for social and economic benefit. Martin spent a decade as a senior executive at a Big 5 Canadian bank, where his last role was Head of Personal and Small Business Banking. In this role, Martin focused on growing the franchise through customer experience and leveraging analytics to create value for customers and shareholders. Before that, he spent seven years with McKinsey & Co in Europe, working primarily with Financial Institutions.
We look forward to driving forward innovation in Scotland by supporting Fintech Tables.
-Martin Nel