Microsoft opens ‘Reactor’ in Capital’s Shoreditch.
Microsoft has opened its new ‘Reactor’ in Shoreditch in London with a $20 million investment. Reactor will host the company’s accelerator for scale-ups and London’s rising start-ups. It will also host events such as hackathons, technology events and social impact projects for up to 120. The local technology community, including start-ups, coding clubs and technology…
GDPR- cost of compliance sees companies pull out of Europe.
GDPR is looming and is causing headaches for many companies, not just small businesses either. Some experts believe GDPR could cripple a small or midsize organisation for non-compliance. Just the cost of making sure of compliance can be too much for small businesses and many are not ready. GDPR, which was approved by the European…
No rewards for loyalty when it comes to insurance.
Last year a survey of insurance companies found that being loyal to your insurance company gets you nowhere. Insurers give cheaper deals to new customers and offer worse value the longer you stay and many customers who have stuck with their insurer believe their loyalty has been abused. Home or car insurance is routinely offered…
2019 European Elections – concerns over fake news.
The next Elections to the European Parliament are expected to be held on 23–26 May 2019. At the moment, the Parliament boasts 751 seats, representing some 500 million people from 28 member states. which is the maximum number allowed by the EU treaties. However, in the light of Brexit, proposals put forward will redistribute 27…
OLED screens and smartphones.
In July, last year, it was reported that Apple would be investing nearly $3 billion in a new LG facility for making OLED displays. An investment from Apple would, it is said, cover a steady supply of OLED display technology starting in 2019, at around the time we’d expect to see the iPhone 9 coming…
“Machine learning is the big one, not AI.”
Duncan Stewart, Director of technology, media and telecommunications research at Deloitte, Canada, spoke recently, in an interview on CNBC, about machine learning being the dominant tech trend around the world. “Machine learning is the big one, not AI. AI’s a very broad field, we are talking about the very narrow field of machine learning,” he…
Gender Pay Gap – UK below OECD average.
All companies in the UK with more than 250 employees are required to report their gender pay gap. The figures disclosed by the biggest companies have shown that the vast majority of them pay men more than women. There are some exceptions, about 13% say they pay women more on average than men. 7% said…
Elon Musk’s Tesla tips for productivity
Elon Musk is the 46-year-old entrepreneur and CEO of SpaceX, a company with the goal to colonise Mars by using re-usable rockets and Tesla, home of the electric car, as well as the Boring Company, developing tunnel-boring infrastructure technology and Neuralink launched to look into ways to link human brains to computers as a way…
Changing the way we work – Agile Working.
In the business world, flexible working hours have been around for some time with some companies adapting to a more complex, performance driven environment in order to succeed. Now Agile working has become a more familiar term in the UK as it gains popularity across many high-profile organisations. Not just in the UK, but around…
Report focuses on factors likely to transform Capital’s economy.
The London based think tank, Centre for London, recently issued a report focusing on factors likely to transform the capital’s economy over the coming years. The capital is the dynamo of growth in the UK and has seen disruption and transformation before. The report says over ‘the past 70 years, the city has been transformed…
House of Lords Select Committee on AI publishes report.
The House of Lords Select Committee on AI has just released its 181-page report on the need for ethical development of artificial intelligence (AI). The committee interviewed 57 people and took evidence from 233 witnesses during the making of the report. Professor Richard Susskind, spoke about the “unprecedented concentration of wealth and power in a…
Interest only mortgages but homeowners at risk warn FCA
A recent report by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned of the risks of interest only mortgages and the possibility for thousands who are unable to repay their loans losing their homes. The FCA found that many borrowers had not talked to their lender about their repayment options and people with interest-only mortgages are being…
UK’s first 5G city to be selected this summer.
Why does 5G matter? 4G is already generally faster than most regular broadband connections. To bring 5G to all is a huge undertaking, so is it worth it? Well, it’s not just about how fast you can download films and TV or upload speeds. In fact, that would be a huge understatement of the potential…
Cryptocurrencies and Financial Institutions.
Cryptocurrencies have had a troubled past. With a rocky start and early users mainly purported to be making use of the system for criminal activities, Financial Institutions were wary at first and have blown hot and cold in recent years. In March 2016, The Bank of England announced it had made inroads into researching cryptocurrencies…
EU – Venture capital plan to bolster start-ups.
It was reported recently that the EU has launched a capital “fund of funds” targeting innovative start ups in an attempt to turn small companies into “unicorns” by boosting investment. The aim is to narrow the gap between Europe and the USA and China.EU countries have lagged behind international competitors for some time in the…
Tech Companies on the rise.
RSM UK is the seventh largest business advisory firm in the United Kingdom and the sixth largest globally and is a provider of audit, tax and consulting services to middle market leaders, globally. It recently reported that the number of new technology businesses set up in the East of England rose by 46 per cent…