{"id":92298,"date":"2022-03-30T13:08:02","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T13:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interac1.wpengine.com\/?post_type=content&p=92298"},"modified":"2025-05-30T11:32:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T15:32:12","slug":"collaborating-with-interac-get-to-know-the-innovation-partnerships-team","status":"publish","type":"content","link":"https:\/\/www.interac.ca\/en\/content\/working-at-interac\/collaborating-with-interac-get-to-know-the-innovation-partnerships-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Collaborating with Interac: Get to know the Innovation Partnerships team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The growth of the digital economy keeps accelerating. Payments modernization and the global adoption of digital ID, for example, are rapidly altering what was already a complex landscape. Leaders may be asking: How can my organization stay on top of changing behaviours, needs, and digital innovation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For us at Interac, the answer lies in redesigning collaboration through a dynamic Innovation Partnerships team. We bring together a unique web of players and perspectives with a method that is fast-paced and geared toward success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Interac, innovation and the digital economy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Interac has decades of experience developing core products and services \u2014 such as Interac<\/em> Debit and Interac <\/em>e-Transfer \u2014 that Canadians depend on every day. That\u2019s why we\u2019re a trusted household name<\/a> across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we\u2019re more than a payments provider. Interac is a key player in the digital economy and an incubator for emerging systems. More recently, our priority in the innovation sphere is to focus on ecosystem-level initiatives including payments modernization, digital ID and open banking. These developments will improve how Canadian businesses and individuals exchange not only money, but their identifying information, securely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solving challenges through collaboration<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With Canadians increasingly relying on technology, we want to provide better solutions and services to help them conduct business and interact securely online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing leaders together to solve industry challenges is an important part of what we do at Interac. That\u2019s why the Innovation Partnerships team works with other industry leaders – partners, Canada\u2019s financial institutions and the broader tech ecosystem – to ensure we\u2019re all striving towards better technology-driven solutions and user experiences to help Canadians thrive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizations we\u2019ve worked with in the past include open banking leaders to explore a Canadian-made framework<\/a>, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada to power better choices with real-time incentives<\/a>, and Alectra Utilities and IBM to test energy incentives through blockchain<\/a>, to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the Innovation Partnerships team is exploring collaboration in the areas of emerging themes and technologies across a variety of verticals, including open banking, digital ID, crypto regulation, data, value exchange, and, of course, payments. We look forward to working with a wide range of collaborators, including regulators, policy makers, government organizations, credit unions, small- and medium-sized businesses, advocacy groups, academia and other partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our approach may seem uniquely Canadian, one that champions stakeholder engagement, both internally and externally. But at Interac, we know working together just makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Innovation Partnerships process at Interac<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Getting down to the work is where it gets interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To strengthen strategic business opportunities, the Innovation Partnerships team has developed its own disciplined process for working with other stakeholders and leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regular engagement is a key facet of our partnerships program. We gather input on key topics, themes and initiatives, validate concepts, and disseminate information to relevant participants and stakeholders in that ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We consider this an \u201calways-on\u201d approach. We don\u2019t reach out to partners cold. Instead, engagement starts early and is continuous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For stakeholders, this means sharing inputs often. It means being part of the build and reaping the benefits from early outputs. This always-on approach is a way for us to co-discover and co-create opportunities that mature into solution-oriented arrangements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, this ensures Interac brings together partners who care about the same things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our collective end goal is important. However, it\u2019s not our only focus. We work to ensure the process and methodology adds value to our partnership, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what are some things you can expect when working with Innovation Partnerships?<\/p>\n\n\n\n