Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England has warned that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin should be regulated. Regulation would crack down on illegal activities and protect the financial system. Mr. Carney said in a recent speech, “The time has come to hold the crypto-asset ecosystem to the same standards as the rest of the…

The Scottish capital, Edinburgh, has become one of the fastest growing centres for tech startups in the UK, according to Tech City UK.  Tech City have been compiling data and found that in 2018 some 23,571 people are sharing their tech skills through 88 Edinburgh Tech meetup groups, helping to put Edinburgh on the map…

 After it’s exit from China in 2016 and Russia last year the US ‘ride-share’ and food delivery company Uber is selling its south-east Asia interests to regional rival Grab.  In 2016 Uber sold its China business to local rival Didi Chuxing and to local company Yandex in Russia. Uber’s Chief Executive, Dara Khorowshahi said the deal…

The Treasury select committee have announced MPs have launched a formal inquiry into household finances. Personal debt is now at levels unseen since the financial crisis. According to the government website, the scope of the inquiry will take a broad look at the state of UK household balance sheets, including whether households are saving adequately…

What are the experts saying about public cloud services and its effectiveness to help businesses with compliance regulation? The Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on 25th May 2018 meaning any businesses who operate with the European Union will have to spend more and more time on compliance and data security.  The new…

Tech Nation 2017 called their third annual report the most comprehensive analysis of the UK Tech Ecosystem, a journey across the UK’s digital landscape that provides a data-rich analysis of Britain’s thriving digital economy and clusters. In a foreword to the report Theresa May, the UK Prime Minister said; “Today more than 1.5 million people…

The phrase ‘digital transformation’ has become something of a buzzword.  It is, however, far more than that.  It has been described as “the profound transformation of a business and organisational activities, processes, competencies and models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of a mix of digital technologies and their accelerating impact across society in a strategic…

According to ‘futurist’ Chris Riddell, the tech world is experiencing a major ‘trust crisis. At a recent conference, he warned that big brands must rebuild trust with consumers on data safety and use technology to create transparency. In an interview with CNBC in the US, Riddell, who describes his job title as “fundamentally seeing how…

On March 5th, the Data Protection Bill had its second reading in the House of Commons.  It will now pass to the committee stage where it will be scrutinised by a cross party committee of MPs. The Bill is about governing how data is used in the UK. The EU’s, GDPR, General Data Protection Regulation,…

The International Federation of Robotics said recently that in manufacturing there are now 74 robot units per 10,000 employees on average, compared to 66 units in 2015. The highest growth rate is in Asia, China in particular. And software automation, informed by machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), will have a profound effect on our…

The recent investigation in the US by Robert Mueller’s special counsel into the impact of Russia in the 2016 US election entered a new phase after Mueller’s team indicted 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian organisations for their “conspiracy” to illegally influence the US presidential campaign.  Unprecedented in American history, the indictment was a direct…

Google is to ban online advertisements that promote cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings. A notice said the policy would be introduced in June but did not give an explanation why. The move is part of a wider crackdown on the marketing of a new breed of high-risk financial products. Announcing its decision in an update…

The changing face of retail and the way we shop is having a huge impact on our high streets. We are shopping more and more online. Consumers find it easier and cheaper than going to the shops and the online giants like Amazon and Ebay are playing a big part in changing our shopping habits. …

Recently a study by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) thinktank laid out what it calls Britain’s “new class structure”. The RSA/Populus survey of more than 2,000 workers, found that while about 30% of respondents said they lived comfortably, 40% said their finances were permanently precarious. The remaining 30% said they were not managing to…

At the World Economic forum in Davos last January, billionaire investor, George Soros criticised what he called ‘tech monopolies,’ such as Google and Facebook, saying they were a threat to democracy and warning that social media platforms were “obstacles to innovation,” and raising concerns about their power to shape people’s attentions. Soros reserved his strongest…

In the recent report by the NIC, the National Infrastructure Commission, it says that a new area, dubbed the Oxbridge Corridor which many believe has the potential to become the UK’s ‘Silicon Valley,’ could support 1.1m new jobs by 2050. The government supports this view and has appointed Ian Stewart MP as its official champion to…