CRAFT

The first fintech-focused Industry University Cooperative Research center funded by NSF

CRAFT logoInnovations in industry are now driven by technology. Speed, security, computational power and novel analytical systems have become critically important to success on this bold new playing field. Responding to the urgent need for solutions to these new challenges, CRAFT, the Center for Research toward Advancing Financial Technologies, was established in summer 2021 by Stevens Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Businesswoman looking at laptop standing by windowCRAFT is the first fintech-focused Industry University Cooperative Research center funded by NSF. Working together, the center's academic and industry partners will collaboratively create innovative solutions such as decentralized finance, AI-enabled finance, quantum finance and solutions to climate-related impacts on investment, while also helping secure our financial data, create and test more equitable trading platforms, inform financial regulations, and support improved market simulation and stress-testing tools that ensure financial system stability for all.

Request for pre-proposals

CRAFT is seeking new pre-proposals for fintech-related research projects.
>>See RFP

Latest projects

See CRAFT's funded projects for the 2023-2024 cycle.

Become a member

By partnering with CRAFT, your organization will have the opportunity to shape an important national fintech research program.

In addition, CRAFT membership offers tangible business values:

  • Access to talent

  • Access to research results

  • Leveraged research dollars

  • Networking potential > More

green futuristic skyscrapers What is fintech?

The “fin” in fintech includes:
  • design and operation of financial market infrastructure systems – exchanges, custody, clearing and settlement systems

  • banking services, credit creation, digital currencies, and payment systems > More

The “tech” in fintech includes:
  • distributed ledger technologies (e.g., blockchain)

  • quantum computing and communications > More

Cover of the CRAFT Annual Report 2023CRAFT Annual Report

As emerging technologies continue to transform the financial industry, CRAFT is well positioned to lead this change. In 2023, six new industry members joined the consortium, including a partnership with the NGO Committee on Private Sector Development at the United Nations that will accelerate the Center’s work globally. CRAFT is currently in discussions with the New Jersey Economic Development Agency to establish a state level Fintech Innovation Center. Workshops on workforce develop and generative AI provided opportunities to enhance members’ understanding of where the financial sector is and where it’s going. The five research projects voted upon my members include:

  • “Blockchain Interoperability for Business Organizations”

  • “Efficient, Private, and Explainable Federated Learning for Financial Crime Detection

  • “Extending, Simulating and Scaling Decentralized Exchanges Made by Automated Market Makers”

  • “Systemic Risk Implications of Central Bank Digital Currencies”

  • “Quantum Algorithms for Tail Risk in Loan Portfolios”

View the 2023 Annual Report