Tech City UK: What London needs from the next mayor January 15, 2016 The race to become London’s next mayor has begun, and now more than ever we need a tech champion at the controls in City Hall. London is unquestionably the digital capital of Europe. Our fintech pioneers, app developers and software innovators are re-defining city life. Digital businesses employ over 250,000 people in the capital alone. [...]
Davos 2016: As technology absorbs our mundane and routine tasks, we must realise our own higher calling January 14, 2016 Today, bits are reshaping the atoms around us. Emerging technologies in artificial intelligence, deep neural networking, and machine learning enable us to reimagine the possibilities of human creativity, innovation and productivity. Research institutions, businesses and governments explore the great new frontiers of human possibility. So many of our systems have evolved beyond what we thought [...]
UK digital healthcare firm Babylon raises $25m in series A round from investors including Innocent Drinks and DeepMind January 14, 2016 Babylon, the UK digital health firm founded by ex-Goldman Sachs banker Ali Parsa, has raised around $25m (£17.3m) in a series A funding round. The financing was led by Swedish investment group AB Kinnevik with other participants including the founders of BXR Group, a multi-billion dollar global investment group; DeepMind, the British artificial intelligence company [...]
Apple just bought emotion-detecting startup Emotient as rivals Facebook and Google continue Silicon Valley’s push into artificial intelligence January 7, 2016 Apple just bought emotion-detecting startup Emotient, taking a deeper plunge into artificial intelligence. Emotient, founded in 2012, uses AI software to analyse facial expressions and detect people’s emotions. The firm’s primary audience has been advertisers hoping to evaluate viewers’ reactions to adverts. Exactly what Apple plans to do with it is unclear, but Apple has [...]
Mark Zuckerberg, artificial intelligence and Iron Man’s Jarvis: How close are we really to having artificial robot butlers? January 4, 2016 It’s great to hear that Mark Zuckerberg is planning to build his own personal artificial intelligence service for helping him around the home and the office. It sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Perfectly paradoxical in the sense that it simultaneously feels like both science fiction and something that’s already happening in our homes today. In truth, [...]
Countdown to Christmas 2015: Six of the most amazing and useful inventions of the year December 12, 2015 The stream of inventions flowing out of labs across the world never seems to stop, and 2015 has been no exception – over the last 12 months, a huge number of new inventions have been presented to us by scientists. Only today, we learned that American technicians managed to develop robots that can learn in [...]
From 3D selfies to more cybersecurity woes – are these the 10 consumer trends that will define 2016? December 8, 2015 Crystal ball-gazing is an imperfect art, but technology manufacturer Ericsson has nevertheless had a go at predicting which consumer trends will be hot in 2016. And from 3D selfies to printing food, it all sounds a bit… futuristic. But company's ConsumerLab said consumer interest in them is "quite strong". So without further ado, here are 10 ways our [...]
Countdown to Christmas 2015: Six of the most amazing discoveries humans made this year December 4, 2015 This year, humans around the world have made big leaps forward in unravelling the secrets of the universe and answering some of science's most complex questions. From disease prevention to space exploration and artificial intelligence, pretty much every aspect of science has been lifted by an important discovery in 2015. And new findings are constantly coming [...]
European banks will start using roboadvisers next year, says Morgan Stanley November 25, 2015 Roboadvisers are on the verge of making a huge entrance into Europe's banking sector, according to Morgan Stanley. In an outlook report by its EMEA analysts, the company said it expects high-street banks across the continent to start adopting the robotic finance experts as soon as next year, as they face intense pressures to cut [...]
Investing in data science will secure London’s future as a global leader in research November 11, 2015 The UK is a science powerhouse that punches well above its weight. London alone is home to four of the world’s top 30 universities. And this Government is committed to ensuring the UK is the best place in Europe to innovate, patent new ideas and start a business. To fulfil this ambition, we need to [...]