Convergence Center of Fintech Workshop Event

On February 29th the Convergence Center of Fintech workshop event took place, with Finance researchers from both Erasmus University Rotterdam and Delft University of Technology.

During the workshop, fruitful discussions took place, resulting in the identification of several cross-links that hold the potential for concrete funding plans for 2024, potentially in collaboration with industry partners.

Researchers from both universities shared ideas and presented results from joint projects, touching upon various topics, including:
1. Exploring the use of synthetic data in finance research and secure data sharing using synthetic data.
2. Utilizing NLP techniques to better understand narrative disclosures of loss-making firms and identifying natural experiments from textual disclosures.
3. Conducting econometrics research to reverse-engineer mutual fund trades, assess profitability of machine-learning-based trading strategies after transaction costs, and incorporate transaction costs into portfolio optimization.

The Convergence Center for Fintech is a collaborative initiative between TU Delft and Erasmus University Rotterdam, led by Arie van Deursen and Dion Bongaerts under the Convergence AI, Data, and Digitalization pillar of Convergence. (Convergence is an alliance of EUR, TUD, and EMC aimed at fostering transdisciplinary research).

In line with the collaborative spirit, the following actions within the Convergence Center for Fintech are taken:
1. Collaboration: Engage with researchers from both universities to explore opportunities in the field of fintech.
2. Networking: Tap into the extensive networks of both universities, including industry and academic connections.
3. Seed Funding: We are offering seed funding of up to €50K for collaborative proposals that leverage the strengths of both universities and to seek multiplier funding from external partners.