Mastercard supports new debit card launch to accelerate UK scientific discovery and innovation via everyday spending
August 15, 2024Science Card - a financial platform set up to accelerate innovation in science and technology, particularly in the fight against disease and climate change - introduces a new e-money account and Mastercard debit card to help customers fund scientific research projects while they spend
This new offering helps to bridge the gap between science and financial services, supporting scientific research taking place at leading UK universities
People are now able to support UK innovations across health, climate change and tech by simply spending on their card, with the new Science Card account and Mastercard debit card.
Through its free account, Science Card customers can choose which UK university project(s) they’d like to support and automatically contribute to these projects each time they use their Science Card.
When customers make a card payment, Science Card will automatically round up the amount and use it to fund research on the customer’s chosen themes or projects. Round-ups can be multiplied from 1x to 10x and customers can vary the projects they round up into.
Current research people can choose to support includes projects focusing on kidney transplants, dementia and cervical cancer, being conducted at King’s College London, University College London, Newcastle University and Kingston University.
The UK is an international hub for research and development, yet it currently spends around 2.7% of GDP on research. This is lower when compared to countries like Germany, South Korea and the US, where research spending is up to 4.6% of GDP.* As a result, the UK has an estimated £4 billion funding gap**, which often leads university researchers to spend a disproportionate amount of their time sourcing funding rather than their research work.
Science Card’s ambition is to overcome this by making it possible for researchers to crowdfund their work. This not only creates a new and innovative way to overcome the sector’s funding gap, but also provides an opportunity to raise awareness amongst the public of the cutting-edge research taking place at UK universities.
Science Card customers will be kept updated by academics and researchers on projects’ progress and how their contributions are helping to create a better future.
Founder of Science Card, Daniel Baeriswyl, PhD, said: “The UK is a world leader when it comes to research and development, with huge potential to advance the areas of health, technology and combating climate change. But for too many people in these fields, their time is spent securing increasingly hard-won funding, taking them away from what matters most and creating the risk that vital research might not even be able to take place.
“At Science Card we want to overcome this. Our mission is to bridge the gap between science and financial services, empowering people to shape our sustainable future, and enabling them to drive game-changing breakthroughs and innovations in science and tech, all by just going about their everyday spending.”
Darren Deal, Senior Vice President, Fintech, Government & Digital Partnerships at Mastercard, said: “We’re excited to be working with Science Card to tackle some of today’s biggest challenges and support future innovations in health, science and technology. At Mastercard we’re focused on using the latest payment technology to enable more people to support causes they care about and help build a better future.”
Professor Bashir M. Al-Hashimi CBE FREng FRS, Vice President (Research & Innovation) at King’s College London, said: “At King’s we’re training the next generation of scientists and creating a better, more sustainable future. The funding provided by Science Card and their customers will help to further strengthen this work and support important technological advances in areas including aerospace, medical imaging and environmental monitoring.”
Founded with a mission to build a financial platform that accelerates innovation in science and technology, Science Card aims to be the global banking partner of choice in the fight against cancer, climate change and pollution.
Integrated with its round-up feature, Science Card also offers customers a free e-money current account service including:
- Vaults to organise finances
- The ability to send and receive money instantly, domestically and abroad
- A Mastercard debit card, useable online, in person or via your phone
- Industry-leading security features to protect both account and card
Science Card will contribute 10% of its profits directly to its sourced research projects.
Notes to Editor
** https://www.ukri.org/blog/voices-fixing-the-gap-in-research-funding/
About Science Card
Science Card was founded in 2021 by deep tech entrepreneur Daniel Baeriswyl, PhD, with a mission to build a financial platform that accelerates innovation in science and technology, and will directly help build a sustainable future. Science Card’s vision is to be the global banking partner for the fight against cancer, climate change and pollution. Their fully-featured e-money current accounts and Mastercard debit card enable its customers to become part of a movement to create a sustainable world, simply by carrying out their normal daily transactions. Science Card bridges universities and banking, providing funding to scientific research and innovation from both its own profits and from its customers’ contributions. Science Card enables its customers to explore and engage with scientific research projects in the fields of climate change, healthcare and computing, with a particular focus on achieving Net Zero, improving healthcare equity, creating healthy oceans, enabling carbon-neutral cities, and strengthening food security. Science Card successfully closed its pre-seed round in February 2023, and became available to UK customers in Spring 2024. The Science Card account is provided and the card is issued by Transact Payments Limited, a licensed Electronic Money Institution (EMI), authorised and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.
Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re building a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.
