Visa Inc. today announced the launch of the Visa Innovation Centre London, located at its European headquarters in Paddington Basin. The 1,000+ square meter space, the largest in Visa's global network of innovation centres, is an immersive environment where Visa can work side-by-side with financial institutions, merchants and other partners to develop the next generation of payment solutions.

The space features practical demonstrations to excite and engage visitors, including applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) in connected car and connected home environments, such paying for car insurance or placing a grocery order from a refrigerator. Visitors will also experience the future of retail using virtual reality to pick just the right seat for an upcoming Formula E race and biometric authentication to pay for tickets.

Visa also announced today that fintech developers across Europe will now be able to take advantage of the Visa Developer Platform to create new, secure ways to pay. Developers at merchants, financial institutions, technology companies and startups can now select from an initial set of Visa payment APIs (Application Program Interfaces), SDKs (Software Development Kits), and documentation to create the next generation of commerce applications.

The new centre in London joins a global network of innovation centres and studios located in technology hotspots, including Berlin, Dubai, Miami, San Francisco, Singapore, Sao Paulo and Tel Aviv.

"What makes the approach we take in our innovation centres unique is that they're all about collaborating with clients to solve real world, consumer pain points or business problems using digital solutions," said Jim McCarthy, Executive Vice President for Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at Visa. "We've had great success doing this in our centres globally and are very excited to be opening a state-of-the art facility in Europe."

As the payments industry shifts from plastic to digital and new entrants join traditional stakeholders in payments, Visa's mission is to ensure that every Internet-connected device, appliance or wearable can become a secure place for commerce. Visa's global network of innovation centres are an important part of this mission by fostering innovation and creating an environment that enables Visa to engage, experience and collaborate with a broad range of partners and clients:

• Engage: The Center's immersive environment provides clients and partners with everything they need to work on new digital solutions - in a physical space designed to encourage dynamic interaction, real-time experimentation and rapid prototyping.
• Experience: Visa emphasises a human-centered design approach where product development is customer-focused and delivers real benefits for users.
• Collaborate: Clients and partners can interact with Visa payment experts and access Visa technology. This includes APIs and SDKs available through the Visa Developer Platform.