Science Card is the UK’s first e-money current account dedicated to building a sustainable future, through accelerating scientific discovery.
Science Card is a brand-new concept, where the power of fintech is harnessed to propel sustainable innovation. But what does this actually mean, and how does it work?
Scientific research is crucial to building a sustainable future for society. Without scientific research, we would not be able to address some of the biggest challenges facing society, such as combating climate change and advancing our ability to treat diseases like cancer.
However, as of 2020, there is a £4bn gap in the UK between the funding that scientific research at universities needs, and the funding that it actually receives. Acquiring the funding itself can be a complex and time-consuming task.
As a result, the pace of scientific discovery and innovation is slowed — to the detriment of science, society and the economy. The financial services industry, on the other hand, has well-established infrastructure for efficiently allocating funds. This got us thinking. Why not utilise the power and infrastructure of financial services to help direct funding to crucial scientific research; into discovery and innovation that ultimately benefits us all? As a result, we created Science Card.
Science Card is an online e-money current account, accessed through the Science Card app. The Science Card app is also where you’ll find our sourced research projects, and choose the ones that are most important to you. The account features a Mastercard® debit card to use everywhere Mastercard is accepted: in the UK and overseas, in your wallet, on your phone and on your watch.
How do Science Card’s customers advance scientific discovery?
Science Card’s customers can explore our sourced research projects in the Science Card app, and contribute to their chosen research projects or themes in three ways:
- Micro-grants through the Science Card app
These can be one-off contributions, or set as a regular amount each month, of as much or as little as you please — there’s no maximum or minimum grant required.
- Rounding up card payments.
Your everyday spending can be rounded up into the research project of your choice, giving you the ability to accelerate scientific research as you go about your day. For example, if you buy a coffee for £2.95, then the remaining £0.05 can be rounded up and contributed to your chosen research project. Round-ups can be turned on and off as you please through the Science Card app, giving you complete control over your contributions.
- Reinvest 10% of our profits.
As a socially conscious company, Science Card reinvests profits into our sourced research projects, with the aim of building a sustainable future. This means that just through using your Science Card account, you can make a real impact on scientific discovery, and increase the pace of major breakthroughs in the fields of healthcare, climate change, and computing.
How are Science Card’s research projects sourced?
Science Card partners with leading universities in the UK to identify high-impact research projects in need of funding. The research projects we select are ones with the potential to have the most profound effect on the health and sustainability of society worldwide — meaning that Science Card customers will always have access to the most meaningful projects.
Our projects are taken through intensive due diligence, and reviewed by our peer review panel of more than 100 scientists from the UK, EU, US and Asia Pacific. Once our peer review panel give the go-ahead for a specific research project, the project is brought onto the Science Card app for customers to explore and support.
The Science Card app also shows a research project’s progress towards its funding target, so that customers can keep track of the projects that they are most interested in. When a project hits its funding target, the funds are passed directly to the university in order for the research to get underway as soon as possible. And once underway, Science Card customers that contributed to the app can receive post-funding updates on the progress of the research.
Our customers help create a better future for us all
Science Card’s overarching mission is to build a sustainable future, harnessing the power of fintech to accelerate scientific discovery. We do this by enabling our customers to support research with their everyday spending, and by giving 10% of our profits to our sourced research projects.
Taken together, we aim to propel scientific discovery in the fields of healthcare, climate change, and computing, whilst giving our customers an unparalleled money management experience.
Ultimately, this will lead to a more sustainable future for us all.
