Bradesco, the second largest bank in Latin America, has announced that in December it will open a ten floor centre for innovation, co-working and the creation of startups based on blockchain, big data, IoT (Internet of Things) and APIs in Sao Paulo.

The creation of the innovation centre was announced by the bank’s executive director, Luca Cavalcanti, during the event of financial technology Fintouch – organized by the Brazilian Association of FinTech (ABFintech) and StartSe, the platform that connects companies, entrepreneurs and investors. Cavalcanti said that this project is his “contribution to innovation”.

Bradesco will not develop the project alone. It will work together with WeWork, a co-working expert firm.

The goal is to generate technological innovation for Bradesco and the other companies involved in the project.

The bank has already started conversations with startups linked to Cubo, another coworking initiative of Brazil, plus other financial companies, startups and business partners.

The projects that call the bank’s interest will have the chance of implementing concept tests in another development unit of Bradesco, called Alphaville.

This is not Bradesco’s first initiative in the area of innovation. For three years now, InovaBra has been an initiative focused on creating new business models or apps that can be used by the bank in the areas of payment methods, information channels, products and insurances.

InovaBra has enabled Bradesco to evaluate around 1,500 startups that are interested in getting the bank’s support. A number that shows the growth of the FinTech industry in Brazil and the experience of the banking giant of South America with startups.