Connecting DeFi with real world assets: the next horizon October 30, 2020 Decentralised Finance (DeFi) is a term used to refer to innovations in capital markets that rely on blockchains, and enable capital market activities across an open network, where trust is automated in the software. Instead of using conventional financial rails such as banks or credit transfer APIs, DeFi based projects work entirely on blockchains without [...]
Infrastructure in Deep Tech October 27, 2020 Lex Sokolin’s Fintech Blueprint newsletter last week set out the challenges for the financial services sector in 2020. He summarised the argument saying “(1) the shift from physical to digital communities is being accelerated by the COVID environment, and (2) this has led to the acceleration in adoption of virtual worlds, events, and economic activities [...]
Leading research and innovation in times of Coronavirus October 26, 2020 Europe’s densest pharma environment, Catalonia received highest number of R&D investment projects in 2019 Catalonia is Europe’s densest pharma environment. It is home to more han 1,000 companies in the life sciences industry and, since 2008, capital investment in Catalonia’s life sciences companies has multiplied by 12. A world- class network of medical institutions, hospitals, [...]
Barcelona’s strategy to attract foreign tech investment, second best in Europe October 26, 2020 The number of foreign tech companies in Catalonia grew by 21% in 2020 reaching 1,369 The fDi Intelligence division of the ‘Financial Times’ group together with The Next Web – one of the leading European media and companies in the field of technology and startups – recognise Barcelona and Catalonia’s strategy to attract foreign technological [...]
New wealth to be made and lives to be saved by democratising space October 16, 2020 Many of us forget that a large portion of our daily lives and activities are based around technology and data that originated from space applications. These range from influencing how the crops you consume yield to the visualizations your favorite artist uses during their concert. With the Space market set to reach a trillion dollars [...]
A message to Rishi from entrepreneurs: Forget tax hikes and let the go-getters get going October 15, 2020 Rishi Sunak certainly deserves praise for his response to the pandemic — so far. Because, as his recent statement to the Commons showed, the real test has only just begun. We have seen the chancellor take decisive action to avoid a bonfire of jobs, and he clearly has his eyes on the future. His speech [...]
Silver linings: How IBM’s reinvention highlights the rise of the cloud October 9, 2020 International Business Machines (IBM) shares rose almost six per cent yesterday after the tech firm announced plans to split its business into two public companies. IBM, which is one of the world’s oldest computer companies, will spin off its legacy IT infrastructure business by the end of next year and double down its efforts on [...]
The UK’s new industrial strategy must not forget London October 9, 2020 Science and technology is set to be at the heart of the UK’s new industrial strategy — to be launched, we’re told, latest this autumn as the government looks to find new ways to reset the UK economy after the worst recession in 300 years. Trailed news of the policy suggests that there will be [...]
Nvidia to build UK’s largest supercomputer after $40bn Arm takeover bid October 5, 2020 Nvidia today announced plans to build the UK’s largest supercomputer, just weeks after the US tech group tabled a controversial $40bn (£31bn) offer for British chip designer Arm. The £40m supercomputer — dubbed Cambridge-1 — will be made available to healthcare researchers using artificial intelligence to find cures for a range of medical challenges, including [...]
Crypto AM shines its Spotlight on UCROWDME October 5, 2020 Fusing together $25 billion dollar industries within the innovation and consumer insights space could well be what global consumers and businesses really need and demand, says Greg Griffiths identifying what our team sees as ‘a huge gap in the market that impacts global progression’. It was back in early 2014 that the raw concept for [...]