News

Technology startups

• September 12, 2023 12 Sep'23

  European fintech investment plummets, but more sustainable future lies ahead

  Investment in European fintechs has seen a dramatic drop, but a more sustainable sector will result from investment discipline

• September 07, 2023 07 Sep'23

  Government AI taskforce appoints new advisory board members

  An initial progress report published by the Taskforce provides detail on new appointments to its external advisory board as well as rebrand to focus on “frontier” artificial intelligence

• September 06, 2023 06 Sep'23

  Saudi Arabian fintech gets Mastercard boost

  Saudi-based fintechs could soon benefit from Mastercard's extensive payments network

• August 31, 2023 31 Aug'23

  Home Office and MoD seeking new facial-recognition tech

  The UK’s Defence and Security Accelerator is running a ‘market exploration’ exercise on behalf of the Home Office to identify new facial-recognition capabilities for security and policing bodies in the UK

• August 31, 2023 31 Aug'23

  MPs say UK at real risk of falling behind on AI regulation

  MPs in charge of scrutinising the UK government’s proposals for regulating artificial intelligence have warned that time is running out for the introduction of new AI legislation before 2025

• August 18, 2023 18 Aug'23

  Europe’s fastest supercomputer trains large language models in Finland

  Much of the innovation in natural language processing comes from large enterprises in the US, resulting in proprietary technology with a bias towards English. One consortium in Finland decided to change the game

• August 18, 2023 18 Aug'23

  BSI launches sustainability-focused startup accelerator

  Startups selected to participate in the BSI and Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership’s joint sustainability startup accelerator are working in a diverse range of areas and using a variety of technologies to positively affect society

• August 16, 2023 16 Aug'23

  Accenture’s Brussels AI lab to focus on European public sector and health

  Accenture will use its Brussels AI lab to test AI and generative AI's application in the European public sector

• August 15, 2023 15 Aug'23

  TSB and Fintech Scotland lab open for applications

  High street bank opens applications to its latest fintech programme in partnership with Fintech Scotland

• August 03, 2023 03 Aug'23

  Plexal takes on new cohort for cyber security leadership scheme

  Six more cyber security startup founders have been selected to take part in Plexal’s latest Cyber Runway Ignite programme, which is designed to help them develop their leadership skills

• July 25, 2023 25 Jul'23

  Mayor of London announces startup funding

  Seven technology startups working on the Mayor of London’s Poverty Prevention Challenge will receive up to £50,000 each to further develop their proposals, designed to help alleviate the cost-of-living crisis for the capital’s most vulnerable

• July 18, 2023 18 Jul'23

  Traditional IT outsourcing rockets as Europe’s businesses cut costs

  Overall spending on IT services is up in European countries despite continued reduction in investments in cloud-based contracts

• July 13, 2023 13 Jul'23

  Civil society groups call on EU to put human rights at centre of AI Act

  Dozens of civil society groups are calling on EU institutions to prioritise people and human rights in AI legislation as secretive negotiations begin

• July 12, 2023 12 Jul'23

  Ofcom’s online safety preparedness efforts hobbled by government

  Despite Ofcom’s progress so far, UK government changes to the scope and timetable of the Online Safety Bill are hobbling the ability of the regulator to successfully prepare for the new regime

• July 11, 2023 11 Jul'23

  EU formally grants data adequacy to US

  The European Commission has formally granted the US data adequacy, allowing companies and organisations to freely transfer personal data across the Atlantic via the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. But privacy activist Max Schrems has already committed...

• July 04, 2023 04 Jul'23

  Scotland’s Techscaler programme joins forces with CivTech

  The partnership between the scaler programme and the innovation accelerator means CivTech alumni companies will be offered Techscaler membership and gain access to its technology hubs, education initiatives and support

• June 28, 2023 28 Jun'23

  Scottish government tech accelerator opens latest funding round

  The Scottish government’s CivTech accelerator is seeking technology businesses to help develop new tools to improve public services, as well as to address pressing social and environmental issues

• June 22, 2023 22 Jun'23

  Lloyds Bank to open tech centre in India

  UK bank taps into Hyderabad tech ecosystem by opening a tech centre focused on improving digital experiences for customers

• June 19, 2023 19 Jun'23

  Visa takeover means economic turmoil won’t slow Tink’s progress

  Tink is one of the pioneers of the open banking sector, and under Visa’s light-touch ownership is continuing to think like a startup

• June 14, 2023 14 Jun'23

  Banks still investing heavily in legacy payments systems

  Banks are missing out on additional revenues through payment services because they are stuck with inflexible legacy payments systems.

• June 13, 2023 13 Jun'23

  GoCardless cuts jobs and wants its ‘startup spirit’ back

  Payments fintech unicorn GoCardless will cut its workforce in the UK as part of a 15% reduction in its global workforce

• June 12, 2023 12 Jun'23

  Annual spend on regtech to reach more than £200bn by 2028

  Global corporates will spend over $200bn in 2028 as the technology is used to help organisations in more industries comply with complex regulations.

• June 08, 2023 08 Jun'23

  CDEI publishes portfolio of AI assurance techniques

  The UK’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has published a variety of case studies to show how different assurance techniques can build and maintain trust in artificial intelligence systems

• June 08, 2023 08 Jun'23

  Government and industry figures meet to discuss AI regulation

  Tech industry figures are broadly supportive of the need for artificial intelligence to be regulated, but despite growing consensus, there is still disagreement over what effective AI regulation looks like

• June 07, 2023 07 Jun'23

  Open banking regulator sets out next steps

  Plans for ongoing evolution of the UK open banking sector have been set out by regulator in bid to grow the open banking sector in a ‘safe, scalable and economically sustainable way’

• June 06, 2023 06 Jun'23

  TechUK publishes ‘UK tech plan’ for next government

  Technology businesses are calling on UK politicians to devise a ‘comprehensive, forward-thinking strategy’ to realise the benefits of technology ahead of the next general election

• June 05, 2023 05 Jun'23

  UK has time limit on ensuring cryptocurrency regulatory leadership, says Parliamentary report

  Parliamentary report makes 53 recommendations to the government's plans to regulate cryptocurrency

• June 01, 2023 01 Jun'23

  HSBC explores quantum computing for finance sector

  UK banking giant works with quantum computing specialist to explore the technology’s potential in the finance sector

• May 24, 2023 24 May'23

  Two-thirds of all 2022 breaches resulted from spear phishing

  Research by Barracuda Networks has found that, despite the low volume of spear-phishing attempts, the attacks are highly successful and have major consequences

• May 24, 2023 24 May'23

  JPMorgan’s UK digital retail bank adds more than a million customers in a year

  The app-based bank launched in the UK by US giant JPMorgan has added one million customers in the past 12 months

• 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