DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
Hannah Bernard, Head of Business Banking, Barclays
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The Barclays Innovation Hub in London’ s Shoreditch district is a striking example of the power of the‘ Open Innovation’ model, where collaboration is used as a strategic tool to overcome internal limitations and tap into a wider talent pool. Powered by the bank’ s Eagle Labs incubator ecosystem, the hub is a consortium of industry giants, with Microsoft and Nvidia as core partners. This partnership creates a uniquely powerful ecosystem for the 150 AI and Deep Tech startups it houses, reflecting the belief of Hannah Bernard, Barclays’ Head of Business Banking, that“ key players from across the industry need to come together to help nurture and develop the next wave of tech entrepreneurs”.
The model’ s strength lies in its synergistic expertise: Barclays provides the financial infrastructure and innovation banking specialists while Microsoft offers its vast AI and cloud platform and Nvidia contributes essential GPU hardware and developer upskilling programmes. For the corporate partners, the hub functions as a strategic listening post, providing a de-risked and capital-efficient method to engage with cutting-edge technologies.
“ The Barclays Innovation Hub is a vital catalyst for upskilling the UK’ s workforce in AI and accelerating the growth of its ambitious startups,” says Anthony Hills, UK Country Manager of Nvidia.“ Nvidia’ s contributions to the Innovation Hub supports our broader commitment to upskill UK developers with AI skills.”
160 November 2025