News

Technology startups

• May 22, 2023 22 May'23

  Worker-focused AI Bill introduced by backbench MP Mick Whitley

  Using the 10-minute motion rule, backbench Labour MP Mick Whitley has introduced a worker-focused artificial intelligence (AI) bill to Parliament, which outlines a similar approach to AI being advocated by unions in the UK

• May 17, 2023 17 May'23

  Home Office pushes for more police facial-recognition deployments

  An independent report commissioned by the biometrics commissioner of England and Wales reveals that the UK policing minister is pushing for wider adoption of facial-recognition technology by police, and further criticises the government’s proposed ...

• May 16, 2023 16 May'23

  Plexal launches Cyber Runway 3.0 accelerator programme

  The latest iteration of Plexal’s government-backed cyber security startup accelerator will run four work streams to boost startups at various stages of maturity and growth

• May 12, 2023 12 May'23

  MEPs vote in raft of amendments to EU AI Act

  The proposed amendments to the EU’s AI Act have garnered a mixed reception from both industry and civil society, with the former seeing it as too stringent and the latter as not stringent enough in many areas, despite positive progress in others

• May 03, 2023 03 May'23

  Cyber Action Plan for Wales launched

  The devolved Welsh government has set out four priorities in an action plan designed to foster cyber resilience, talent and innovation across the country

• May 03, 2023 03 May'23

  US competition watchdog issues generative AI warning

  Generative AI can be used to manipulate people into making harmful decisions, says US Federal Trade Commission in warning to firms building and using AI-powered tools

• April 27, 2023 27 Apr'23

  Zopa’s emotional journey to becoming a bank

  Zopa Bank’s CEO sees no reason why the app-based bank should not be as big as the high street giants

• April 26, 2023 26 Apr'23

  UK government introduces Digital Markets Bill to Parliament

  The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will seek to level the playing field in digital markets by empowering regulators with new tools and powers to directly enforce competition and consumer protection laws

• April 24, 2023 24 Apr'23

  Amazon Web Services selects 14 startups for space accelerator

  The cohort of startups will use AWS and its resources to accelerate the research and development of their technologies and boost their growth

• April 21, 2023 21 Apr'23

  Prototype cyber tech has revolutionary potential

  The so-called CHERI protection model developed at the University of Cambridge is showing great promise for future cyber security technologies

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  Banks don’t want to develop fintech in-house

  Banks are increasingly partnering with fintechs to gain access to their platforms, with few interested in developing such capabilities in-house

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  Good Friday Agreement key to growth of Northern Ireland cyber hub

  Now 25 years since the historic Good Friday Agreement ended the Troubles, Northern Ireland has become a flourishing centre of cyber security excellence and has ambitions to grow further

• April 20, 2023 20 Apr'23

  UK SMEs are the most tech savvy in Europe

  UK SMEs have taken to contactless payments faster than their counterparts in continental Europe

• April 18, 2023 18 Apr'23

  Reduced spending on cloud services weighs European IT services market down

  Reduced spending on cloud services in the EMEA region meant a year-on-year drop in total IT and BPO services spend

• April 14, 2023 14 Apr'23

  Global spending on IT and BPO down as cloud deals slow

  Spending on IT and BPO services drops as demand for cloud services slows

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  Sweden and Finland make advances in quantum computing

  Separate Swedish and Finnish quantum computing projects make promising advances in the technology of the future

• April 13, 2023 13 Apr'23

  ICO responds to UK government AI regulation plans

  The ICO has officially responded to the government’s plans for regulating artificial intelligence as outlined in its recent whitepaper, but called for clarity on certain aspects before the proposals are taken further

• April 11, 2023 11 Apr'23

  Scotland links its tech scaler programme with the NHS

  As part of the deal, firms part of the tech scaler programme aimed at helping startups scale up will be given access to NHS regional test beds

• April 05, 2023 05 Apr'23

  Nordic app-based bank offloads its peer-to-peer lending business

  Danish fintech Lunar has sold its peer-to-peer lending business to Sweden’s SaveLend

• April 05, 2023 05 Apr'23

  Developers say Apple and Google are running app store monopolies

  Coalition for App Fairness and its members speak to Computer Weekly about alleged anti-competitive practices of Apple and Google in their respective app stores, and call for urgent regulatory action to level the playing field

• March 31, 2023 31 Mar'23

  Generative AI central to Accenture’s tech vision

  Generative AI will play a central role over the next 10 years as the digital and physical world become more and more integrated

• March 30, 2023 30 Mar'23

  How millions of consumers and businesses are using open banking

  SMEs and consumers are increasingly turning to open banking services to help them manage their businesses and lives

• March 29, 2023 29 Mar'23

  UK’s open banking industry at a crossroads

  The UK open banking sector is at a crossroads and suppliers need more certainty about its direction, says report

• March 29, 2023 29 Mar'23

  UK government publishes AI whitepaper

  Artificial intelligence whitepaper outlines UK government’s proposals to regulate the technology, which are based around creating an agile, “pro-innovation” framework

• March 29, 2023 29 Mar'23

  Lloyds Bank looking for fintech partners

  Lloyds Banking Group wants to partner startups in the financial services sector in its latest fintech and insurtech programme

• March 27, 2023 27 Mar'23

  CBI launches campaign to boost UK tech unicorns

  The CBI has launched a campaign to transform the UK’s technology unicorns into decacorns valued at $10bn, with specific policy recommendation due to be published later in 2023

• March 24, 2023 24 Mar'23

  Accenture to cut 19,000 jobs globally

  Accenture is cutting ‘structural’ costs which includes a reduction of 19,000 staff and a consolidation of office space

• March 23, 2023 23 Mar'23

  Tech Nation says UK needs roadmap to help tech sector reach $4tn

  In its final report published before shutting for good in April, Tech Nation has outlined success of the UK’s tech sector to date, and explores at a high level what needs to be done to ensure massive future growth

• March 17, 2023 17 Mar'23

  UK government to create code of practice for generative AI firms

  The code will look to strike a balance between copyright holders and generative AI firms so that both parties can benefit from the use of copyrighted material in training data

• March 16, 2023 16 Mar'23

  Budget 2023: startups extra funding via R&D relief and pensions

  UK government aims to promote increased investment in research and development-intensive startups through tax relief measures, relaxed pension rules, and new investment zones

• March 14, 2023 14 Mar'23

  AI interview: Elke Schwarz, professor of political theory

  Elke Schwarz speaks with Computer Weekly about the ethics of military artificial intelligence and the dangers of allowing governments and corporations to push forward without oversight or scrutiny

• March 13, 2023 13 Mar'23

  HSBC buys Silicon Valley Bank UK arm for £1 following collapse

  UK tech ecosystem welcomes government intervention to facilitate HSBC purchase after the collapse of SVB left many UK startups unable to access their deposits

• March 10, 2023 10 Mar'23

  Technology minister Michelle Donelan defends data reforms

  Secretary of state Michelle Donelan has defended the government’s new data reforms as providing certainty for businesses while simultaneously retaining high standards of data protection, but industry figures are having mixed reactions

• March 08, 2023 08 Mar'23

  UK government introduces revised data reform bill to Parliament

  Designed in close collaboration with technology businesses, the UK government is re-introducing an updated version of its Data Protection and Digital Information Bill to Parliament, which civil society groups say upends key safeguards

• March 02, 2023 02 Mar'23

  UK government migration scheme to boost tech ties with India

  The UK has agreed to allow thousands of young Indian professionals to work for two years in the UK as part of a migration exchange

• February 28, 2023 28 Feb'23

  Industrial safetytech startups secure £150m funding since 2020

  Industrial safetytech investment reached a record high of $100m in 2021, and remains significantly ahead of pre-pandemic funding levels despite a dip in 2022

• February 28, 2023 28 Feb'23

  Two years on from the Kalifa report, UK fintechs speak out

  Two years after the UK government’s Kalifa fintech report, entrepreneurs warn of a continuing Brexit headache and slow regulatory reform

• February 28, 2023 28 Feb'23

  Government announces national fintech hub

  The UK Treasury has announced a centre for fintech innovation, two years after a major report recommended one

• February 22, 2023 22 Feb'23

  UK HSE to launch regulatory sandbox for industrial safety tech

  The sandbox will see the regulator work with industry and tech startups to accelerate the development and adoption of a range of safety-related technologies, with a particular emphasis on data and analytics

• February 21, 2023 21 Feb'23

  Seven million people in UK used open banking services in 2022

  More than seven million people used services that harnessed open banking last year, with 1.2 million of these first-time users

• February 20, 2023 20 Feb'23

  App-based Zopa bank buys BNPL fintech

  App-based Zopa bank is adding a buy now, pay layer platform to its technology stack through its first acquisition

• February 16, 2023 16 Feb'23

  Helsinki’s tech and business ecosystem in 90 days

  Helsinki gives tech entrepreneurs a taste of life and business in Finland for 90 days as it bids to attract global tech startups

• February 15, 2023 15 Feb'23

  UK saw fintech investment collapse in 2022, but is still a world leader

  Fintech investment in the UK sees steep drop, but the country was still a top destination for capital

• February 13, 2023 13 Feb'23

  KPMG launches metaverse and digital twin hub in Saudi Arabia

  The Saudi Arabian government’s commitment to investing in metaverse technology has attracted a KPMG centre of excellence to its shores

• February 06, 2023 06 Feb'23

  Estonian anti-money laundering platform used to fight APP fraud

  A real-time data-sharing platform originally built to identify money laundering is also being applied to the fight against authorised push payment fraud

• February 01, 2023 01 Feb'23

  NCSC for Startups inducts four companies into programme

  Four more startups are set to join the NCSC accelerator, which helps the UK government develop technology and approaches to pressing cyber security challenges

• February 01, 2023 01 Feb'23

  PayPal slashes 2,000 jobs in face of tough economic outlook

  Fintech giant making thousands of redundancies as global economic outlook remains poor

• January 31, 2023 31 Jan'23

  Tech Nation to shutter after more than a decade

  Tech Nation due to shutter after losing core funding to Barclays Eagle Labs, which will take over its role in supporting UK technology startups and scaleups

• January 24, 2023 24 Jan'23

  Executive interview: Andrew Roughan, CEO, Plexal

  Plexal CEO Andrew Roughan talks about how tech startups collaborate with the government to transform public services, the barriers to entry, and how the process can be improved

• January 20, 2023 20 Jan'23

  Barclays Eagle Labs awarded Digital Growth Grant over Tech Nation

  Barclays Eagle Labs incubator to take over Tech Nation’s role in administering UK government digital growth grant amid backlash from startup ecosystem