Located at the company’s new Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore, the space will host fintech innovations developed by Mastercard’s innovation labs around the world. The space will be one of several located in major global cities such as Sydney, Dubai, New York, St. Louis and London.

The space aims to be a base for Mastercard to develop digital commerce solutions that simplify and safeguard payments between consumers and banks, merchants, businesses and governments around the world.

The interactive innovations on display feature a range of digital payments technologies, from robotics and artificial Intelligence, unattended retail, and contactless payments technology, to wearables, biometrics authentications and solutions. These include a payment solution for the humanoid robot Pepper, which is scheduled to be rolled out later this year; interactive chatbots; and the Qkr! with Masterpass vending machines which allow consumers to purchase items via a mobile application. 

In addition to featuring key payment innovations, the space also aims to provide a platform to drive regional Fintech growth through collaborative dialogue, connecting key stakeholders and shaping young talents, such as developer and API networking events, fintech community events and start-up bootcamps, university dialogue sessions as well as lab crawls.

Since moving into the space in March, members of the facility have co-innovated with more than 500 visitors from banks, schools, leadership institutes and associations, such as Financial Women's Association Singapore (FWA) and NTUC U Future Leaders.

Recently, the team in Singapore developed Masterpass QR, a safe and secure Quick Response (QR) mobile payments solution, ideal for small merchants in locations where POS systems and traditional card readers are not easily accessible. To date, Masterpass QR has been rolled out in India, Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan. Another key innovation supporting the business’s commitment to advancing financial inclusion is the Mastercard Aid Network, an award-winning end-to-end technology solution for humanitarian aid distribution, even in the absence of telecommunications infrastructure.

Tobias Puehse, vice president, Innovation Management, Digital Payments and Labs, Asia Pacific, Mastercard said, “Innovation happens when ideas collide. Mastercard’s expanded Labs in Singapore underscores our commitment to work together with our partners and key stakeholders to focus on addressing the biggest friction points and real-world issues across the commerce and payment eco-system. Today, our Innovation Showcase has already become a central hub in advancing technologies such as chatbots and biometric authentication, while also inspiring up and coming developers and students to shape the future of commerce. As a leader in digital payments, we seek to drive meaningful innovation that positively impacts all Fintech stakeholders and builds a world beyond cash.”