Santander X Global Challenge | New era of Customer Experience

Banco Santander, along with Telefónica and Oxentia Foundation, is launching the Santander X Global Challenge | New Era of Customer Experience, a global competition aimed at finding the best companies with solutions that combine advanced technology, telecommunications networks funcionalities and a customer-centric culture to deliver enhanced experiences.

Telefónica, one of the largest telecommunications services supplier worldwide, offering fixed and mobile connectivity, as well as a wide range of digital services for residential and business clients, is participating in this global challenge, contributing its expertise and knowledge in the evaluation and selection of finalists and winners.

11 countries

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Mexico, Portugal, Poland, Spain, the UK, Uruguay and the USA.

2 categories

For companies with digital and innovative solutions that enhance the customer experience.

6 winners

120,000 euros prize pot, access to the exclusive Santander X 100 community and other benefits

We are looking for the best companies that integrate services aimed at improving customer experience.

We want to help businesses meet their consumers' expectations and anticipate their future needs.

You only need to register your company before December 18, 2024.

Remember, it's free, and you don't need to be a bank customer to participate.

Apply now

There are three main areas we are seeking solutions for:

Personalization

Ensuring experiences tailored to the reality of each consumer.

We are looking for companies with projects such as AI-based virtual assistants and chatbots for client support; hyper-personalization for product recommendations; voice recognition to adapt services and provide personalized responses; augmented reality for trying products before purchasing; dynamic segmentation with data analytics to tailor offers based on the customer's context; loyalty programs based on gamification, or personalization based on telecommunications networks using Open Gateway's APIs.

Omnichannel Experience

Ensuring a distinctive custormer experience by unifying communication channels.

This Santander Global Challenge is looking for solutions that include AI for content generation; the creation of avatars for customer service; platforms that integrate all communication channels into a single space and allow for agile content management; or the use of behavioral economics to analyze customer behavior across different channels and unify the data in one space to achieve better segmentation and recommendations.

Empathy and Human Connection

Combining physical and digital interactions to adapt to customer needs, creating a customer-centric vision.

We are looking for companies that generate a "phygital" experience; use emotional biometrics to measure facial expressions and understand customer feedback; create virtual environments in Web3; develop physical robots to interact with buyers; employ neurotechnology to understand consumer preferences; utilize data analytics to respond to user feedback, or implement eye-scanning technologies to comprehend customer preferences.

All of this is aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and process optimization by automating repetitive tasks, allowing for a greater focus on human aspects delivering differential value. We are looking to identify companies that use telecommunications network APIs to integrate applications and digital services for various functionalities.

Prizes

Cash prize

€ 120.000 for the winners:

3 startups: €10.000 each

3 scaleups: €30.000 each

Santander X 100

Membership of Santander X 100, Santander’s exclusive community for entrepreneurs which offers the most prominent startups and scaleups networking and access to the resources they need to grow.

Connection with Fintech Station

The winning startups and scaleups will be given access to Banco Santander’s open innovation team to explore possible collaboration opportunities.

Visibility

Promotion on Banco Santander’s official social media channels.

Telefónica Open Gateway

Invitation to register for the Telefónica Open Gateway Developer Hub Programme.

Pitch to Wayra

Online pitch day to present solutions to Wayra and receive valuable feedback and guidance.

Visit to Wayra Madrid

Invitation to tour the Madrid offices of Wayra.

Barcelona 4Y4N

Invitation to one member of each winning team to the awards ceremony at the 4Y4N event in Barcelona. The invitation includes travel costs, accommodation and transfers.

Our commitment

Banco Santander

Santander is firmly committed to progress with a pioneering and consolidated commitment to education, employability, and entrepreneurship, which it has been developing for more than 27 years and which distinguishes it from other financial institutions across the world.

The bank has donated more than €2.3 billion and supported more than 1.5 million people and companies through agreements with over 1.200 universities globally.

Telefónica

Telefónica is one of the world's largest telecommunications service providers. The company offers fixed and mobile connectivity, as well as a wide range of digital services for residential and business customers.

With 383 million customers, the company operates in Europe and Latin America.

Telefónica is a 100% listed company and its shares are traded on the Spanish stock exchange and on the New York and Lima stock exchanges.

Oxentia Foundation

Oxentia grew out of Oxford University's technology transfer company, Oxford University Innovation, with the aim of providing specialised innovation management services to public and private sector customers throughout the world.

Oxentia's approach builds on Oxford's strong tradition of globally supporting early-stage innovators and entrepreneurs to promote innovative projects that impact the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.