Rocket Internet moves into fintech and AI with £2.3bn cash investment up for grabs May 29, 2018 Prolific German e-commerce investor Rocket Internet will begin channelling money towards startups in fintech, vertical marketplaces and artificial intelligence, confirmed CEO Oliver Samwer after revealing its first quarter results today. Rocket currently owns majority stakes in meal kit delivery service HelloFresh and fashion house Global Fashion Group (GFG), though it recently sold eight per cent [...]
DEBATE: With Amazon’s Alexa recording private conversations, are we too complacent about AI in our lives? May 29, 2018 With Amazon’s Alexa recording private conversations, are we too complacent about AI in our lives? Joe Baguley, vice president and chief technology officer (EMEA) at VMware, says YES. As more complex and automated technology enters our daily lives, we must bear some responsibility as consumers to ensure that we are educated on what that technology [...]
GDPR can rebuild public trust in businesses plagued by high-profile data breaches and privacy scandals May 25, 2018 I’ve been meaning to clean up my mailbox for a long time. Now, suddenly, it seems to be doing this itself. As a consumer, this feels like a welcome bit of help. But its more than that – these emails are a critical part of the UK’s future economic success. The great inbox purge marks [...]
Uber sets up new tech hub in Paris focusing on artificial intelligence and flying taxis May 24, 2018 Uber’s flying taxi plans are well and truly taking off. The company announced this morning that it will be building a new advanced technologies centre in Paris for research focused on its flying taxi Uber Elevate project. The research and development hub will be its first outside of North America, and over the next five [...]
Britain risks losing its appeal to overseas investors, unless we settle on Brexit and make a confident pitch to the world May 17, 2018 Last week, I was in Delhi, testing the water on how Indian business felt the Heads of Commonwealth Summit in London had gone a few weeks ago. The answer, it seemed, was very well, and there was real enthusiasm for the quick follow up by the Culture Secretary, Matt Hancock, who wasted no time in [...]
Londoners more cautious about digital shopping than rest of world May 16, 2018 Londoners are not getting carried away with the fast-changing nature of retail compared with internet users around the globe, new research has shown. Research from Ericsson found that an increase in people using smartphones to pay for goods and services was leading to a second shift of consumers calling on the help of ‘digital shopping [...]
Bank of England deputy governor Ben Broadbent apologises for referring to ‘menopausal’ UK economy past its peak May 16, 2018 Bank of England deputy governor Ben Broadbent has apologised for using the term “menopausal” to describe the UK economy. In a statement released this morning, he said: I’m sorry for my poor choice of language in an interview with the Telegraph yesterday and regret the offence caused. I was explaining the meaning of the word [...]
Keywords are the future as artificial intelligence transforms search advertising May 14, 2018 Whenever you search on Google for something you’re thinking about buying, you’re using a selection of keywords and signalling your intent to make a purchase. If you search for “brown shoes” and adverts appear in your search results suggesting where to get brown shoes, you’ve experienced “search retargeting”, a technique that brands are combining with [...]
Digital Innovators: three market transforming companies leading business into the world of tomorrow May 9, 2018 Technology has become one of the main driving forces of the world economy, allowing businesses to become more productive and efficient, and helping to create new types of jobs. Data analytics and machine learning mean that artificial-intelligence powered devices are becoming faster and smarter, able to solve all sorts of problems and tasks. These three [...]
Artificial Intelligence: The importance of identifying the problem May 9, 2018 Over the past few years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has attracted a huge amount of attention. It is anticipated to transform almost every sector including key areas such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, automotive and aviation. The impact of this technology is so great that it has led the government and the AI sector to agree [...]