End of Year Round-Up 2022 has been a busy year for the APPG AI – as the buzz around the new Chatbot ChatGPT – has demonstrated, this technology is developing at pace and the use cases are increasingly visible and impressive. As all the speakers at an event in Parliament this week (6th December 2022) stressed – …
Category archives: Digital Technologies
Electronic Trade Documents Bill
One of the most important bills you’ve never heard of Today (12th October 2022), in the House of Lords, the Government introduced an incredibly important piece of legislation. The Electronic Trade Documents Bill will allow the digitization of trade documents. A small sounding Bill, it is nonetheless one that will have a colossal impact. This …
Delivering a UK Science and Technology Strategy – Report Published
Today (4th August 2022) our report on delivering a UK science and technology strategy, “Science and technology superpower”: more than a slogan?, is published by the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee on which I am honoured to serve. There is a tremendous economic opportunity for the UK if we invest, streamline, and focus on delivering …
Continue reading “Delivering a UK Science and Technology Strategy – Report Published”
AI Policy Debated in House of Lords
I was delighted to take part in a debate in the House of Lords highlighting the work of our Select Committee on AI. Our original report, AI in the UK: ready, willing and able?, was published in 2018 and made a large number of recommendations to the government. A follow up report was published in …
UK Fintech Week Round Up
What a brilliant and busy week celebrating UK Fintech. As the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen MP, said on Monday “fintech is punching higher and harder”. In his speech he also highlighted progress one year on from the Kalifa Review and I’m particularly delighted that Ron Kalifa himself is chairing the Steering Group …
Blockchain APPG Evidence Meeting – Government, Democracy and Voting
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Blockchain held an evidence session considering how distributed ledger technologies (DLT) could support democracy. Chaired by Martin Docherty-Hughes MP, I was delighted to join the discussion and sit on a virtual panel alongside other witnesses: Dr. Luke Riley, Head of R&D, Quant Network Dr. Robert Herian, Associate Professor of …
Continue reading “Blockchain APPG Evidence Meeting – Government, Democracy and Voting”
Access to Cash Crisis
Thousands of bank branches closed Analysis of bank branch closures since 2015 have shown not only that huge numbers of bank branches are closing but also that closures are happening at an accelerating pace. Over 700 bank branches closed last year alone and 220 branches are already scheduled to close this year (2022). In total, …
Tech Green Finance
Green Finance Week at TechUK I was delighted this week to participate in TechUK’s Tech Green Finance Week. COP26 has been a welcome stimulus and TechUK has taken the opportunity to explore what the new announcements mean for the technology and financial services sectors and what role technology will play in mobilising climate finance. I …
2021 UK Blockchain Landscape
I am delighted to welcome the publication today, 3rd November 2021, of an incredibly useful overview of the 2021 UK Blockchain landscape. The overview breaks down on a company-by-company basis more than £1,6 billion worth of investments into UK blockchain companies, maps our entire blockchain ecosystem of entrepreneurial talent and sets out the most prominent …