The Central Bank of Ireland and Banca d’Italia have launched the Innovation Data Challenge 2026, a joint initiative aimed at promoting applied, data-driven research and innovation in the retail payments sector. The programme brings together universities in Ireland and Italy, including University College Dublin, University College Cork, University of Galway, University of Limerick, Università commerciale Luigi Bocconi, Politecnico di Milano, and Università degli Studi di Napoli Parthenope. Students will work with synthetic and real-world financial datasets accessed through a secure platform, with an emphasis on meeting high standards of data protection. At the conclusion of the Challenge, selected research projects will be presented to an international panel of experts.