Interac partners with Communitech on innovation lab in Kitchener

Interac launched an innovation lab at Communitech in Kitchener on Tuesday.

The company says the innovation lab will focus on three areas including developing new payment capabilities, improving the efficiency of its product and analyzing how payments will be made going forward.

With regards to the last concept, the company says it will be testing the possible use of voice technology and artificial intelligence to ensure its product evolves alongside the newest developments in digital payments technology.

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“Opening the Interac Lab positions us to continue to evolve as the payments sphere changes,” said Debbie Gamble, VP, digital product and platforms at Interac Corp. “Kitchener-Waterloo is an incredible place with such a wealth of tech knowledge. We’re excited to learn from some of the best minds while we explore new ways to use our products and platforms.”

Interac operates a debit payment system which is used widely across the country and around the world. The company says that there were more than 2-million transactions in Canada on June 1 alone, setting a record in the country.

Communitech is a public-private accelerator, startup incubator and think-tank which is looking to help grow tech companies.

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Interac joins a list of more-than-1,400 companies which have partnered with Communitech.

“The knowledge-sharing that comes with being a part of Communitech is invaluable to our co-op students and team, and hopefully to the others throughout the space,” said Tricia Gruetzmacher, director, of the Interac Lab.

“Collaborating daily with others in the tech community helps us stay nimble and agile as we create and test-use cases that will accelerate our product development.”