The Czech Republic has taken an important step in strengthening its financial innovation ecosystem. CzechInvest has launched the first national Fintech Regulatory Sandbox, with NayaOne selected as the core technology platform. The sandbox will provide fintech and DLT startups with a controlled, secure environment to test new solutions using synthetic data and financial-grade infrastructure.
At its core, the initiative aims to reduce the gap between innovation and adoption. For many fintech teams, the real blocker is not the idea. It is proving that an idea works within the constraints of real regulatory, security and integration requirements. The sandbox is designed to address this problem directly.
The Problem the Sandbox Addresses
Fintech development often follows a familiar pattern: Across the sector, three patterns stand out: Across the sector, three patterns stand out:
- A strong concept is validated internally.
- Interest from financial institutions grows.
- Compliance, security and infrastructure questions surface.
- Progress slows, or stalls entirely.
In practice, the challenge is less about creativity and more about validation. Startups need to demonstrate:
- The product behaves correctly under realistic data conditions.
- The technology is secure and auditable.
- Key risks are understood and controlled.
- Integration is feasible without major rewrites.
Financial institutions and regulators need to see evidence before they can engage. Without structured proof, good ideas struggle to move forward.
The sandbox provides this missing bridge.
Why NayaOne Was Selected
Through an open selection process, CzechInvest evaluated multiple sandbox technology providers. Only a small number in Europe can support financial-grade testing environments that align with regulatory expectations. NayaOne was selected because it met three key criteria:
- Secure testing environments that isolate experiments while reflecting real market conditions.
- Synthetic data libraries that enable realistic validation without exposing sensitive information.
- Proven delivery experience, including programmes run with the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom and the Central Bank of Ireland.
This is not just about access to infrastructure. It is access to a repeatable validation framework that allows innovation to move forward safely.
The Role of CzechInvest and Academic Review
The sandbox is operated by CzechInvest, under the leadership of Simona Michalíková, with strong engagement across the Czech innovation and digital finance ecosystem.
The technical specifications used in the platform evaluation were developed by researchers at Mendel University in Brno, led by Oldřich Trenz and Zuzana Špendel. Their work ensured the sandbox requirements reflect real regulatory expectations, data governance considerations and enterprise IT realities.
This collaboration between government, academia and industry is what gives the sandbox credibility.
What the Sandbox Enables
For Startup and Scale-up Teams
- A space to test solutions safely before going to market
- Ability to demonstrate compliance readiness
- Evidence to support conversations with banks, insurers and investors
- Reduced time and cost to reach commercial deployment
For Regulators
- A deeper understanding of new technologies
- A structured way to observe risks and controls in practice
- A basis for informed regulatory guidance
For Financial Institutions
- A way to evaluate new vendors before procurement
- Reduced proof-of-concept burden
- Greater confidence in selecting partners
The Signal to the Market
This launch reflects a wider shift in European fintech: Innovation is maturing from experimentation to evidence-based delivery. Across the region, we are seeing:
- Sandbox models move from theoretical pilots to operational infrastructure.
- Regulators participating earlier in the innovation lifecycle.
- Financial institutions seeking validation before procurement.
- Startups focusing on readiness rather than narrative.
The Czech Republic is positioning itself inside this shift, not behind it.
Why This Matters for the Czech Ecosystem
The Czech fintech and DLT ecosystem has strong engineering and research capabilities. What has been missing is a structured path to market. The sandbox gives teams a way to demonstrate fit, reduce uncertainty and move from prototype to adoption faster.
It also strengthens the country’s position in the Central European innovation landscape. Access to international-grade sandbox infrastructure is no longer limited to London, Dublin, or Luxembourg. It is now available in Prague and Brno.
This matters for investment, talent development and industry collaboration.
Looking Ahead
The next phase is practical: onboarding the first cohort of startups and industry participants, structuring test plans, and generating validated outcomes that support commercial discussions.
The measure of success will not be the number of companies that enter the sandbox, but the number that graduate with credible, deployment-ready evidence.
That is the work ahead.
If you are working on similar initiatives or exploring structured validation environments, get in touch. The more we share approaches, learn from experience and align expectations, the stronger the ecosystem becomes.
