Corporate Social Responsibility is over – but that is no bad thing September 17, 2020 I believe that Corporate Social Responsibility is over. That is not to say that CSR programmes do not deliver tremendous impact, many do. It is just that the impact is invariably nuanced for stakeholders. With today’s ever-growing trend of individualism, such nuance is ineffective. Businesses are under great stakeholder pressure to be more purposeful, to [...]
Nvidia to buy UK chip designer Arm for $40bn September 14, 2020 US tech giant Nvidia has announced it will buy UK-based computer chip designer Arm from Softbank for as much as $40bn. Nvidia has said the business will continue to be based in Cambridge and that it will invest in a new artificial intelligence research centre on site. It will also keep Arm’s branding and is [...]
Timing a Token Launch September 11, 2020 It’s March 2020. Countries across Asia are closed for travel and movement. Italy has come under the global spotlight because of its strict and indefinite lockdown period. Spain isn’t far behind. The world is becoming alert to a new, deadly virus and supermarkets are being overrun by panic buyers. Economists are predicting a formidable depression [...]
Six reasons why automation is poised to accelerate September 11, 2020 Automation has long been a feature of the manufacturing sector, as companies seek to improve productivity and make high quality goods to a specific standard. But we think the level of automation is set for a sharp increase as innovation sparks a new smart manufacturing revolution. In the short term, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought [...]
Microsoft appoints new UK boss as Rose shifts to Europe September 9, 2020 Microsoft has appointed its UK chief operating officer Clare Barclay as the country’s new chief executive, as current boss Cindy Rose switches focus. Barclay, who has been at the software giant for more than two decades, will oversee Microsoft’s commercial product, service and support offerings in the UK from 1 October. Her former roles include [...]
The tech export boom shows the UK is leading innovation at a crucial time September 3, 2020 The UK has been at the vanguard of technological change, with our tech creators, innovators and risk takers helping shape the digital world around us. Whether you are tracking your heart rate on a run, finding ways to be carbon neutral, taking education to the next level, or increasing financial inclusion, the UK’s tech businesses [...]
Science and tech has proved a damp squib in the fight against Covid-19 September 2, 2020 Few of us alive today have lived through a year so tumultuous, historic, and (yes, that word again) unprecedented as 2020. We are seeing the biggest health pandemic since 1918’s Spanish Flu; the biggest threat to the world economy since 1929’s Great Crash; and the biggest civil unrest in the US since 1967 — all [...]
AI and Big Data: Can they guide investors through the pandemic? September 1, 2020 The defeat of the top human Go player by the AlphaGo artificial intelligence (AI) in 2017 revealed to the public the world of possibilities that AI scientists had been quietly exploring for years. Driverless cars, AI doctors, and robo-advisers, among other innovations, all seemed within reach. Amid such promise and possibility, Roy Amara’s famous law was [...]
Rishi Sunak considers £30bn in post-Covid tax hikes August 30, 2020 Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans to implement £30bn in tax rises to plug the budget black hole left by the government’s coronavirus response. The measures reportedly under consideration include raising corporation tax and capital gains tax, breaking the pension triple lock guarantee and cutting foreign aid. The Sunday Times reports that this would include [...]
Could AI help Rishi Sunak revive the UK economy? August 29, 2020 This was once meant to be the year the government balanced the books, a literal pay off for years of tight purse strings under George Osborne’s austerity programme. Instead, 2020 has seen government debt balloon to over £2 trillion. The coronavirus pandemic has meant UK spending has rocketed far beyond any previous peacetime records, leaving [...]