Resilience, risk, and regulatory changes: What lies ahead for the UK finance sector January 3, 2019 As we look ahead to 2019, the banking industry could be excused for trying to catch its breath. A decade on from the financial crisis, the path forward still remains fraught with difficulties. Return on equity remains stubbornly low across the board, while cost-income ratios remain high. This year will clearly be defined through the [...]
Back to the future: UK scientists complete testing of AI-powered autonomous Mars robot January 2, 2019 To boldly go where no other robot has gone before, the UK Space Agency have finished testing a Mars rover that will be able to make its own decisions on where to explore, enabling it to travel much further than existing robots. The Martian robot will use artificial intelligence (AI) software, developed by researchers at King's College London [...]
DEBATE: As the year draws to a close, do we still have reasons to be cheerful? December 21, 2018 As the year draws to a close, do we still have reasons to be cheerful? Viscount Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, says YES. Yes, we do. A lot went wrong in 2018 for a lot of people; but a lot more went right. Levels of absolute poverty, rates of infant mortality, age-adjusted death rates [...]
The UK’s ‘Brexit-proof’ tech startups land Christmas number one for European funding December 20, 2018 British tech firms brought in more funding from venture capital firms than any other country in Europe in 2018, as well as achieving the highest amount of exits. Startups in the UK attracted £6.3bn in venture backing this year, according to new figures released today by Tech Nation and Dealroom. In the same period, the [...]
Forget Brexit, the government must get cracking on Britain’s industrial strategy December 20, 2018 Given the breakneck speed at which news on UK politics has been moving in December, it’s understandable that the first anniversary of the launch of the government’s industrial strategy went largely unnoticed. But in the face of uncertainty over Britain’s international future, it is all the more important that the government makes progress on delivering [...]
Food waste will be next year’s moral crisis, just as single-use plastic was this year December 18, 2018 In these turbulent times, there was one villain who stood out in 2018. Plastered all over our TV screens, phones, and newspapers, this particular offender was everywhere. It is destructive, toxic, and impossible to get rid of. I am of course talking about single-use plastic. That said, the response to this growing threat has been [...]
UK chipmaker Graphcore gains unicorn status with $200m funding from BMW and Microsoft December 18, 2018 UK artificial intelligence chipmaker Graphcore has raised a $200m (£158.1m) series D funding round from BMW and Microsoft, valuing the firm at $1.7bn. The round brings Graphcore's total amount raised to date to over $300m, with its new investors joining existing backers such as electronics founder Robert Bosch, Dell and Samsung Electronics. The round was led by London venture [...]
Confronting the Robots December 13, 2018 Professor Peter Fleming, formerly of Cass Business School, wrote an article for Demos Quarterly which argued that the age of automation is unlikely to lead to a utopian world of play, but doesn't necessarily mean a proliferation of rubbish jobs. You can read the article in full here. Dr Simone Stumpf, Senior Lecturer in the Department of [...]
‘Non-sexy’ is the new cool: UK fintech predictions for 2019 December 13, 2018 Despite the continued uncertainties of Brexit, 2018 was another year for the UK’s fintech sector. Record levels of investment poured into the community, with $16bn secured in the first six months of 2018, exceeding the value of investment in US fintech by almost $2bn. In addition, progressive regulation and a thriving financial services sector attracted [...]
DEBATE: Can we stop worrying now that earnings are rising at their highest rate in a decade? December 12, 2018 Can we stop worrying now that earnings are rising at their highest rate in a decade? Michael Hayman MBE, co-founder of Seven Hills and co-author of Mission: How the Best in Business Break Through, says YES. May you live in interesting times – the old Chinese curse has found new life in Brexit Britain. Mired in [...]