Qualcomm set to benefit from wider 5G adoption

Comments from Anthony Ginsberg, Managing Director of GinsGlobal Index Funds

Qualcomm has reported a drop in its adjusted earnings per share to 78 cents, but it was not as high as most analysts were expecting. The company was expected to provide a much gloomier report than it did, based off its Q2 numbers.

The company’s shares were up around 3% in after hours trading, while earnings are expected to trail last year’s figure.

Qualcomm’s large investment into 5G has proven fruitful for the San Diego-based semiconductor maker. We believe it will be a leader in the Internet of Things and benefit from the explosion in Cloud Technology too – since companies active in this sector will be dependent on 5G technology.

It’s likely 5G wireless networks will usher in a range of new possibilities for businesses. Health-care startups could use the speed and power of 5G to conduct remote surgery. 5G is predicted to be 100 times faster than the current generation of wireless. Qualcomm Inc.’s venture-capital division is setting aside $200 million to invest in 5G wireless startups – an indication of its commitment to this area.

Qualcomm is partnering with US phone carriers such as Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. – in the race to roll out 5G offerings. In September, Qualcomm announced new mobile platforms that will power lower-cost 5G phones – making them far cheaper than the current $1000 plus cost. This includes new Series 6 and Series 7 chips.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm is both working and competing with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. over 5G intellectual property and to supply 5G-compatible chipsets to smartphone makers as they introduce 5G-enabled phones.

We expect the US-China trade war to simmer down – now that Phase 1 is expected to be agreed to imminently. Qualcomm has previously been hurt by possible trade war worries. Qualcomm will likely be one of the biggest beneficiaries of a reduction in the trade dispute with China. Its share price has already started to show signs of recovery.

The importance of 5G

In the delivery of healthcare – 5G will be of tremendous economic benefit – especially in the areas of telematics and wearables – tracking how people are living. Healthcare accounts for almost 20% of the US GDP – so any efficiency drivers in this area will be widely adopted.

We believe wireless and 5G represent the future of business digitization. Qualcomm is well positioned to benefit from these significant trends. We expect early 5G innovations could occur in enterprise business settings next year.

About GinsGlobal

GinsGlobal Index Funds provides a wide variety of index-linked investment products.  These include traditional Index Funds (mutual funds), Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Principal Protected (Capital Guaranteed) index notes. GinsGlobal has pioneered a common-sense investment approach that has challenged the fund management industry by offering customers a transparent and low-cost way to invest in any asset class whether it be stocks, bonds, real estate or alternative (hedge) investments.

Strogner Together: Women’s Payments Networks Join Forces Across the Pond

Alliance between EWPN and Wnet sees increased benefits on both sides of the Atlantic for women in fintech and payments

Women's Payments Networks Join Forces Across the Pond

Amsterdam and Atlanta – 07 November 2019 – The European Women Payments Network (EWPN) and the U.S.-based Women’s Network in Electronic Transactions (Wnet) share a mission to create better opportunities for women and the men that advocate for them in the fintech and payments industries. As a result of their like-minded goals to improve inclusion and diversity, the two organisations today announced they are coming together to allow their respective members to share the benefits of both networks. Members of both organisations can learn more by visiting EWPN and Wnet.

Through the new alliance, EWPN and Wnet will publish dedicated landing pages where members can access each organisations’ extensive intelligence, networking opportunities events, and programming. EWPN, launched in 2015 to champion diversity and inclusion in fintech and payments, serves over 1,000 individual members and 11 corporate members. Wnet, launched in 2005, serves over 3,000 women each year in the U.S., through events, information and knowledge sharing, and networking opportunities.

“This exciting alliance will see EWPN and Wnet working together, leveraging both networks for the benefit of all our combined members”, explained Martha Mghendi-Fisher, Founder of EWPN. “Both networks are dedicated to improving prospects for all women in the payments industry, increasing inclusivity and diversity. Sharing our insights, knowledge and membership will make us both stronger and allow us to bring about change as quickly as possible”.

Members will also have access to each organisation’s workshops and networking events in various U.S. and European countries throughout the year, as well as mentorship programmes. In addition, individual members of EWPN and Wnet may become members of the other organisation at a discounted rate, even if their employer is not a corporate member or sponsor.

Wnet Executive Director Lisl Dutterer announced the collaboration news on stage at the 2019 Wnet Leadership Summit “Leading in a Changing World“, the premier payments industry event designed by and for women leaders and the men who advocate for them.

“By working together, Wnet and EWPN are creating global change and the opportunity for more women to lead in the payments industry”, said Dutterer. “Wnet has been extending our member benefits to women around the globe, and we are excited for the opportunity to work with EWPN’s leadership to accomplish that goal. Sharing our insights, knowledge, and experience will make our organisations stronger and is another effort to bring about positive change across the global payments ecosystem”.

For further information, please contact:

Wendy Harrison – Harrison Sadler, for EWPN

T: +0208 977 9132

E: [email protected]

Jessie Hennion, Wnet Public Relations

T: +1 781-876-6280

E: [email protected]

Notes to Editors

About EWPN

The European Women Payments Network (EWPN) is focused on championing the skills and expertise of women in the burgeoning FinTech and payments sectors. In particular, through mentorship, leadership programmes, networking events and workshops, EWPN is providing the opportunity for women to learn, network, share and celebrate their achievements.

Each year EWPN holds the only Pan-European Conference specifically focused on women working in FinTech & Payments. The conference brings together women from all over Europe for a full-day event, featuring interactive panels, deep-dive workshops, and plenary sessions with industry female leaders.

About the Women’s Network in Electronic Transactions (Wnet)

The Women’s Network in Electronic Transactions (Wnet) is the premier professional organization for women in payments and the men that advocate for them, providing personal enrichment no matter what stage members are in their careers. The organization provides world-class national and regional programming, fosters networking and promotes mentoring to help members achieve greater personal success, influence and professional parity. Founded in 2005, Wnet is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization serving thousands of women in payments annually. For more information about national and regional events and programming, or to become a member, please visit www.wnetonline.org.

Note from editor: see also this article about Promoting Women

Banking disruptor seeks innovative developers in Denmark

Visit booth at GOTO Copenhagen 2019
18-20 November 2019

Banking Circle

London, November 2019 – Since launching in 2015 as the first ever non-bank to provide Virtual IBAN accounts, Banking Circle has been delivering ground-breaking FinTech solutions to help increase financial inclusion. As a next-generation provider of mission-critical financial services infrastructure, Banking Circle is continually growing its team and recruiting innovative developers to build market-leading solutions.

Now the multi-award-winning financial utility, which started life in a small Copenhagen office, is seeking new talent to join the team based in Denmark. Michel André, Chief Technology Officer of Banking Circle, commented: “When Banking Circle launched it had just three employees, but has grown at a tremendous pace with the global team now comprising over 200 people, including more than 50 already based in Copenhagen.

“However, to continue developing so rapidly and delivering solutions which offer true value to businesses around the world, we need to grow our team and bring in new talent with diverse experiences and new ideas.

“We are excited to be attending GOTO Copenhagen 2019 later this month and look forward to showing budding and experienced developers how they can be part of improving SME financial inclusion around the world, which in turn boosts economies. Not only is Banking Circle a great place to work, but it is a FinTech pushing for and inspiring change in the global financial industry today.”

As Chief Technology Officer, Michel André heads up the Banking Circle technology team based in Copenhagen. He has more than 20 years’ experience as a financial services developer, designing and redesigning a wide range of existing and new trading and risk management systems to increase scalability and throughput.

To find out more about Banking Circle, visit its booth at GOTO Copenhagen, or www.bankingcircle.com.

About Banking Circle

Banking Circle is a next-generation provider of mission-critical financial services infrastructure leading the rise of a super-correspondent banking network. Banking Circle empowers banks and financial tech businesses to support customers’ trading ambitions – domestic and global – whilst reducing risk and the operational cost of transactions. Banking Circle solutions are increasing financial inclusion by helping thousands of businesses transact across borders in a way that was previously not possible.

In 2013 Saxo Bank formed a new entity, Saxo Payments A/S, with the purpose of using Saxo Bank’s core capabilities within the non-cash payments market. In October 2015 the company launched the Banking Circle – its ground-breaking product for payments and FX to the Financial Tech industry. In October 2017, the company launched its new identity for Banking Circle, to reflect its position as a financial utility servicing Financial Tech businesses and banks. In September 2018, Banking Circle was acquired by EQT VIII and EQT Ventures, in partnership with Banking Circle’s founders.

Domiciled  in the European Union, Banking Circle specialises in providing global banking services including accounts, payments, lending and foreign exchange services to financial institutions, including FinTechs, banks, acquirers, payment service providers, FX brokers, money transfer businesses, e-wallets, and alternative payment providers.

For further information and interviews please contact the Banking Circle Press Office: 

Wendy Harrison – Harrison Sadler

T: 0208 977 9132

E: [email protected]

AI Reveals Misrepresentation of Engineers Online

Royal Academy of Engineering and leading consumer brands join forces to change the face of engineering, after AI reveals misrepresentation of the profession online

  • Major brands, leading businesses and high-profile engineers have come together in a bid to change the online image search results for the word ‘engineer’
  • Over 100 organisations and counting1 including the BBC, Facebook, ITV, Transport for London, Ocado, Rolls-Royce and National Grid have signed a pledge to address the misrepresentation of engineers and engineering online and in popular culture
  • The Royal Academy of Engineering employed an Artificial Intelligence algorithm trained on online image search results for ‘engineer’ to generate artificial images of what it learned a typical engineer looked like – the majority of images generated were of a white man wearing a hard hat
  • 6 November is This is Engineering Day – a national awareness day in Tomorrow’s Engineers Week to celebrate the unsung contribution that engineers make to our lives, and to call upon media, image providers, recruiters and advertisers to paint a more representative picture of the profession and those who work in it
  • Amazon’s Alexa2 will answer questions about engineering and This is Engineering Day

Major brands, leading businesses and high-profile engineers have come together in a bid to change the online image search results for the word ‘engineer’, as an AI programme trained on the results of an online search for images of engineers found that it vastly misrepresents the profession.

The announcement comes on This is Engineering Day, part of a nationwide campaign led by the Royal Academy of Engineering – and supported by a range of brands and engineering companies – to change the misrepresentation of engineering online, celebrate the contribution of engineers, and encourage more young people to consider a career in the profession.

To test the representation of the profession online, an AI machine learning model, otherwise known as a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), analysed over 1,100 images of engineers sourced online,3 and generated images based on this given dataset. The images generated by the GAN showed how narrowly an engineer is typically portrayed online: the majority of the generated images were of a white male wearing a hard hat. An online search, conducted by the Royal Academy of Engineering on 21 October 2019, found that 63% of images on the first page of the search results were of a person in a hard hat4, despite the fact that only a small minority of professional engineers wear hard hats most of the time.

The Royal Academy of Engineering has created This Is Engineering Day, which takes place in Tomorrow’s Engineers Week, to radically change this narrow stereotype, and celebrate the varied and vital roles that engineers play, from developing medical technologies like brain scanners and clean energy solutions, to powering the social media platforms and smartphones we rely on to keep in touch every day.  

Over 100 brands across the UK that depend on engineering – including the BBC, Facebook, ITV, Transport for London, Ocado, Rolls-Royce and National Grid – have signed a pledge5 to increase the public visibility of more representative images of engineers and engineering, and helped create a new library of free to use images of engineers that better represent what engineers and engineering really look like (www.flickr.com/thisisengineering/)6. This has been developed to encourage website owners and image users to deploy a more diverse range of images when showcasing engineers and the industries in which they work.

The campaign’s partners and supporters will also be challenging this misrepresentation on social media and through a range of different activities and events on This is Engineering Day including:

  • Amazon Alexa2 will answer questions about ‘This is Engineering Day’ and the role of engineers, and Amazon will run engineering-focused tours and STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) workshops in its fulfilment centres on 6th November
  • Network Rail showcasing real images of engineers on 60 screens across 15 stations in the UK, and across the Virgin train network
  • Facebook and Ocado creating and promoting new engineering video content featuring its engineers
  • Google hosting an engineering takeover at its Portsmouth Digital Garage on 6 November

Many of the emerging and in-demand jobs identified by the World Economic Forum7 are engineering jobs, yet every year the UK is short of up to 59,000 engineers, while only 12% of the engineering workforce in the UK are female, and 9% are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Research from EngineeringUK8 shows that more needs to be done to raise awareness of engineering careers and encourage young people to consider the profession. Over three quarters (76%) of young people aged 11-19 and 73% of parents do not know a lot about what those working in engineering do.

Dr Hayaatun Sillem, Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, says:

Engineers play a profoundly important role in shaping the world around us – from designing our cities and transport systems, to delivering clean energy solutions, enhancing cybersecurity and advancing healthcare – but that’s simply not reflected in online image searches. 

That’s why on This is Engineering Day I’m appealing to anyone who uses or promotes images of engineers to join us in challenging outdated and narrow stereotypes of engineering. We want to ensure that engineers are portrayed in a much more representative way, and that we help young people see the fantastic variety of opportunities on offer.  

Engineering is everywhere, and This Is Engineering Day gives us an opportunity to shine a light on the people who make possible so many features of modern life that we take for granted.  I hope that by inviting the public to discover a different side to engineering, we will be able to inspire more people from all parts of society to choose a profession that shapes our world.”

The This is Engineering free public image library is available now at www.flickr.com/thisisengineering/ for media, photo, advertising agencies and the general public to view and use in projects, articles, campaigns and on social media. The library and This is Engineering Day are part of the This is Engineering campaign, led by the Royal Academy of Engineering to give more young people, from all backgrounds, the opportunity to take up engineering careers. More information on the campaign can be found at www.ThisisEngineering.org.uk, @ThisisEng on Twitter and @ThisisEngineering on Instagram.

1 – Brands involved in the campaign include Google, Amazon, Facebook, Ocado, Ferrari, Anglian Water, Heathrow, Network Rail, TfL, Virgin Media, BBC, ITV, EDF Energy, Science Museum Group, as well as the list of corporate partners below, as well as professional engineering institutions and many UK universities.

2 – Amazon’s Alexa, will answer the below engineering and This is Engineering Day questions:

  • ‘Alexa, Tell me about This is Engineering Day?’  
  • ‘Alexa, How can I get involved with This is Engineering Day?’ 
  • ‘Alexa, When is This is Engineering Day?’
  • ‘Alexa, What does an engineer look like?’
  • ‘Alexa, Tell me a fact about engineering’
  • ‘Alexa, What is This Is Engineering?’ 

3 – The Generative Adversarial Network was trained by Stylianos Moschoglou, a PhD student in Machine Learning at Imperial College London and Machine Learning Scientist at Facesoft.io. Due to the GAN image being too low res and pixilated for print purposes, a digital artist has retouched the image, without changing the likeness.

4 – Researchers at the Royal Academy of Engineering analysed the search engine image results for “engineer” to assess what is being shown as representative images of engineers and engineering. The assessment took place on 21st October 2019 using Chrome extension “Fatkun” to search for the term ‘engineer’ on Google. Accepting that statistically the vast majority (as much as 95%) of online visitors rarely search beyond the first page in Google searches, only the first results page of 452 images was assessed. The results were downloaded to a library and counted manually.  The results revealed most images (63%) featured hard hats. 

5 – Please click here to see the pledge – https://bit.ly/2JBv1bj  

6 – The new public photo library, which has been contributed to by some of the biggest brands in the world, will be sent to stock image providers, website owners, media, advertisers, and recruiters to encourage them to use these real images of engineers to help increase visibility around the profession – www.flickr.com/thisisengineering/

7 – The Future of Jobs Report 2018, World Economic Forum http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2018.pdf. Please see notes to eds for more information.

8 – Research carried out by EngineeringUK. Data from the 2019 Engineering Brand Monitor captured in Jan – Feb 2019, based on a sample of 2,514 pupils aged 7-19, 1,023 educators, and 1,810 members of the public

About This is Engineering

About This is Engineering

This is Engineering is a campaign to raise awareness of the breadth of careers in engineering and help address the significant engineering skills and diversity shortfall that is holding back growth and productivity across the UK economy. The campaign aims to give more young people, from the broadest possible backgrounds, the opportunity to take up an exciting, engaging, rewarding and in demand career.

This is Engineering is led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, in collaboration with EngineeringUK. The campaign has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering and our corporate partners. More information about the campaign is available at www.thisisengineering.org.uk and @ThisIsEng on Twitter

Strategic partner

EngineeringUK

Founding Principal partners

BAE Systems

National Grid

Principal partners

Anglo American

BP

Centrica

Rolls-Royce

Shell UK

Siemens

Major partners

BT

Facebook

Sponsors

MBDA

Mott MacDonald

Petrofac

Teledyne e2v

WSP

Principal university partners

University of Leeds

University of Oxford

Major university partners

Anglia Ruskin University

Aston University

Heriot-Watt University

Imperial College London

University partners

Cranfield University

University of Exeter

University of Southampton

University of Glasgow

About the Royal Academy of Engineering

As the UK’s national academy for engineering and technology, we bring together the most successful and talented engineers from academia and business – our Fellows – to advance and promote excellence in engineering for the benefit of society.

We harness their experience and expertise to provide independent advice to government, to deliver programmes that help exceptional engineering researchers and innovators realise their potential, to engage the public with engineering and to provide leadership for the profession.

We have three strategic priorities:

  • Make the UK the leading nation for engineering innovation and businesses
  • Address the engineering skills and diversity challenge
  • Position engineering at the heart of society

We bring together engineers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics, educators and the public in pursuit of these goals.

Engineering is a global profession, so we work with partners across the world to advance engineering’s contribution to society on an international, as well as a national scale.

About EngineeringUK 

EngineeringUK is a not-for-profit organisation, which works in partnership with the engineering community to inspire tomorrow’s engineers and increase the talent pipeline into engineering. EngineeringUK leads engagement programmes The Big Bang and Tomorrow’s Engineers, creates inspiring engineering careers resources and produces a body of research including the flagship State of Engineering report.

About Tomorrow’s Engineers Week

Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (#TEWeek19) takes place from 4-8 November 2019 and aims to change perceptions of engineering among young people, their parents and teachers and to inspire future engineers. Tomorrow’s Engineers Week is led by EngineeringUK, a not-for-profit organisation which works with the engineering community – employers and professional institutions – to inspire tomorrow’s engineers. To find out how to get involved, visit www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk/teweek

This is Engineering is a campaign to raise awareness of the breadth of careers in engineering and help address the significant engineering skills and diversity shortfall that is holding back growth and productivity across the UK economy. The campaign aims to give more young people, from the broadest possible backgrounds, the opportunity to take up an exciting, engaging, rewarding and in demand career.

Read also about Digitalisation and 4IR in MENA: Augmented Intelligence from Data and Self-Learning

Volvo receives Europe’s largest order for electric buses

Volvo Buses has received the largest single order for electric buses in Europe. Volvo Buses will deliver 157 electric articulated buses to Transdev starting in 2020. The buses will operate on a number of routes in Gothenburg. With their introduction, emissions and noise will be significantly reduced, and the electric buses will be able to operate in sensitive areas or zones with special restrictions. 

“It is immensely gratifying that we have secured Europe’s largest ever single order for electric buses – no less than 157 buses. Volvo is a pioneer in electromobility and sustainable public transport. We have a holistic system perspective for cities that encompasses vehicles, services and charging infrastructure. We focus on solutions that offer high reliability and high service levels for route operators and passengers. This large order confirms that electric buses are already recognised as a sustainable and financially viable solution for demanding high-capacity public transport needs,” says Håkan Agnevall, President of Volvo Buses

“Transdev is today Europe’s leading operator of electric buses and we know what challenges there are with the transition to electric propulsion. We’ve therefore been extremely thorough in choosing a partner with a holistic approach, a partner that will be able to deliver both buses and charging infrastructure on time and with excellent uptime. Being able to announce that we have chosen Volvo as our partner for city bus operations in Volvo’s home city of Gothenburg is of course particularly satisfying,” says Gunnar Schön, CEO of Transdev Sweden

All of the buses will be of the recently launched 7900 Volvo Electric Articulated model. The Volvo Electric Articulated can carry 150 passengers with an energy consumption that is 80 per cent lower than that of a corresponding diesel bus. The Volvo Electric Articulated combines high passenger capacity with low operating costs. The buses will be charged at quick-charge stations along the route, using the industry common charging interface OppChargeTM, in order to ensure the most efficient operation possible. In addition to the electric buses, the order includes 27 Euro VI buses for regional operations, running on biodiesel. 

“For us as a mobility supplier, it is vital to always be able to offer passengers good service and functional vehicles, but it is also important that our drivers have a good working climate. New buses, in particular quiet electric buses, not only result in cleaner cities – they also improve the everyday working environment,” explains Gunnar Schön.

“Electromobility creates new exiting opportunities for urban planning since we now get emission-free and quiet public transport that can operate closer to the city’s residents. Volvo aims to be a leader in increased electrification and to be a partner for cities that wish to implement long-term sustainable public transport solutions for their inhabitants,” concludes Håkan Agnevall.


Gothenburg, November 5, 2019
For further information, please contact: 
Joakim Kenndal, Manager Media Relations, Volvo Bus Corporation,                       
Phone +46 739-02 51 50 or e-mail [email protected]


Unikrn Offers the Best Job in Gaming: A $50,000 Salary for New Streaming Talent

One gamer will kickstart a lifelong gaming career with one of esports’ oldest teams.

Unikrn Offers the Best Job in Gaming A USD50,000 Salary for New Streaming Talent
Unikrn Offers the Best Job in Gaming A USD50,000 Salary for New Streaming Talent

 November 5, 2019 Unikrn, the world’s longest-operating esports-first betting operator, is seeking an ambitious gamer to help build an audience in 2020. The winning streamer will be given a 6-month partnership with Unikrn and $50,000 to stream full-time and build an audience. Anybody can apply for the unprecedented opportunity at unikrn.com/best-job.

 Streaming is one of Earth’s fastest-growing entertainment sectors, but more than 99% of Twitch streamers are unpartnered and have no way to monetize their passion. Nearly 4,000,000 broadcasters have streamed every month in 2019, with only about 35,000 partnered broadcasters. With over 50,000 average live channels in any given moment, breaking into the industry is harder than ever before.

 “Becoming a professional streamer requires a lot of luck,” said Mike Dalton, VP Marketing for Unikrn, “We believe that for every streamer who builds an audience, there’s three gamers with amazing potential to offer the community something fresh who just never get an opportunity to be noticed.”

 The awarded contract will include a 6-month period to represent Unikrn as an official streamer for Unicorns of Love, one of gaming’s most beloved fan-focused esports franchises, and a $50,000 stipend.

 Unikrn was awarded as the best Esports Bookmaker of the Year for 2019, its first full year of operation with its own wagering licenses, and has options for fans to enjoy gaming both with and without gambling. Its wagering options include Unikrn UMode, the world’s only way to bet on your own success in online matchmaking games.

 This could be the best opportunity in esports for 2019, and it’s open for any esports fan to enter.

 “The Unicorns of Love family is changing today,” said Jos Mallant, UOL’s Owner, “We can’t wait to welcome a fan into our clan to stream or compete in 2020.”

 Streamers may enter the search until Nov 30, 2019.

ABOUT UNIKRN

Established in 2014, Unikrn is one of the world’s leading esports companies, building extensive crossroads through betting, content and gaming. Unikrn began operations with its fully-owned IOM licenses in November, 2018 and was awarded EGM Esports Bookmaker of the Year 2019. Unikrn has been a leading endemic bookmaker in esports and video games for years and has patent-pending technologies and completely unique gaming experiences.

Those unique experiences include Virtual CS:GO & SFV, skill-based betting on online matchmaking, streamer better, esports and sports bookmaking, daily gaming giveaways and an online casino, each available as regulator approved.

Internet of People, the New Internet Paradigm

In the typical Internet infrastructure, people and their devices were somehow mere end-users of applications; however, users, along with the expansion of the Internet, started establishing tighter interactions with their devices and – through them – with other individuals. The concept of the Internet of People reflects the active roles that humans are playing and is also the answer created to solve the new types of interactions.

Internet of People, the New Internet Paradigm.

So what is the Internet of People?

Internet of People, also known as IoP, is the connection between people through the Internet and other technologies. It resembles a digital cooperative, which offers open- source and decentralized infrastructure. It uses blockchain and advanced peer-to-peer technologies to enable people to communicate and do business without compromising their privacy and free from third-party censorship.

The advantage of the Internet of People’s decentralization

The goal of IoP is to eliminate the middlemen during our online activity, enabling us to perform perform any transaction or sharing information with our consent freely. The decentralization that IoP offers saves us from data breaches or misuse of our data. It is well known that companies gather and the excessive amount of data from the users and, frequently, they sell it, re-direct it, or use it for means users don´t even know.

Besides the systematized rupture of our privacy, another issue is that as companies don´t always store users´ data with the required level of security, our information and identity are at risk of being publicly exposed. The same way IoP enables authorized information sharing, it also enables device-to-device connection without a central server routing the connection, which ensures privacy.

The origins of IoP

Internet of People project was founded by Luis Fernando Molina with the financial support of Lan Tschirkly, who abandoned it in June 2017. When Molina discovered the Bitcoin, he decided that he would take advantage of the underlying technology to solve the problem humans face of “unlimited concentration of power.” Molina, with Tschirkly’s support, first created a group of tech-savvy adventurers created the “Fermat Community,” which later split into IoP and Fermat Community.

The technology behind IoP

IoP uses a combination of Proof of Work and Proof of Stake systems, combined the so-called SHA256 algorithm, an algorithm that transforms data into text and uses unique digital signatures that need to be proved by one of the above mentioned proof systems. The good news is that the most common devices, from a PC to a smartphone can mine IoP tokes, without the need for sophisticated hardware or software.

The future of IoP

Although the numbers for IoP don´t seem appealing enough to invest on it yet, it’s underlying concepts of freedom and decentralization, along with the solution it presents to data privacy and security as growing needs, may indicate that there are great chances of development and global growth for IoP.  

The time for big companies and institutions to decide whether to bet on it or not is soon to arrive. Would you bet your two cents into it?

See also about Modern Monetary Theory, Blockchain and more.

Understanding Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology finds its origin in the digital coin named Bitcoin. It was invented primarily to sustain it. Although blockchain is tightly associated with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, these are just the top of the iceberg.

Blockchain technology finds its origin in the digital coin named Bitcoin. It was invented primarily to sustain it

Currently, blockchain technology is being used in other commercial applications, and annual growth of 51% is expected for 2022 in several markets, including financial institutions and Internet of Things (IoT).

What is blockchain technology, and what makes it secure?

A blockchain is a list of digital records or blocks of data that are stored in a linear chain that is constantly growing. It´s a kind of digital general ledger than can be shared with many users and that keeps record of every transaction. Each block contains encrypted data, for instance of a Bitcoin transaction, and is linked to the specific user that made it. There´s no way to alter the data in them since they are time-stamped and connected to the previous block.

The security of blockchain relies on the fact that it can be updated only with the agreement of all the participants and the system itself. 

The information of the whole chain is kept in each node, so each participant has an exact copy of the entire chain. If someone wanted to attack the service, he should overturn or nullify every node in the net given that just one operative node is enough for all the information to be available. 

As new records are created, these are verified and validated by the nodes and added to a new block that is linked to the chain. Once added, this block becomes unalterable. For a transaction to be accepted and added, some specific digital signatures or requirements must be met. For example, people that use the crypto-currency Ethereum, must meet several conditions to demonstrate that they have that crypto-currency and can operate with it. 

Why is blockchain useful for?

As it is a peer-to-peer network, where transactions are time-stamped, and that enables managing all the information exchange among the users in an autonomous way, without the need for an administrator, it is an excellent tool for all types of businesses. Any information that needs to be kept intact and available can be safely stored in a blockchain. 

Many industries, such as transport, fintech, and sanitary services, to mention just a few, are taking advantage of this technology that streamlines processes, improving productivity. 

Challenges organizations or companies could face with blockchain

Thanks to blockchain, the operative models and business-making models of the companies and organizations could undergo a total transformation with the adoption of blockchain technology. Many organizations are using blockchain technology for their transactions. Still, if it were massively adopted, one of the challenges that governments of extremely controlled sectors will have to solve is the lack of regulation.

Blockchain is complex, and it takes a longer time to process any transaction. It can take hours to complete a transaction. And the more it grows, the slower it gets. This could be an obstacle for specific industries.

Despite the above, the biggest challenge that blockchain technology faces is the reluctance of private and public sectors, along with the skepticism of the potential users who, as with each new technology, need time to learn, get used, and trust.  

See also about Modern Monetary Theory and Internet of People – IoP

Global Lending Automation Platform Trade Ledger Announces £1.5m Funding Round Led by Hambro Perks

The world’s first open banking business Lending-as-a-Service platform has completed a £1.5m funding round led by Hambro Perks, the leading UK early-stage venture firm.

Martin-McCann-CEO-Trade-Ledger
Martin McCann CEO Trade Ledger

London, 30 October 2019 – Trade Ledger, the ground-breaking business lending platform, which automates commercial lending processes for global banks and alternative finance providers, today announces strategic investment in a £1.5M round led by Hambro Perks, to further accelerate revenue growth.

Established in 2016 and now operating on three continents, Trade Ledger’s unique lend-tech platform automates all types of digital business finance, helping bank and non-bank business lending organisations alike to fast-track economic growth through process automation and scaling of business credit operations. Trade Ledger uses financial data APIs (often referred to as Open Banking), Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Process Automation technologies to enhance or replace old and costly legacy bank systems for origination, credit decisioning, take on and loan management, enabling new cutting-edge working capital solutions for business customers. The resulting new lending solutions can reduce the time-to-cash from 90 days which is the industry average to 4 minutes and are better tailored to the working capital needs of modern high-growth businesses. 

Trade Ledger’s co-founder, Martin McCann, and his team believe that transforming business lending operations through the Trade Ledger Lending Platform is the single biggest area of opportunity for commercial banks and financial services organisations to benefit from Open Banking in the near future. “There is a £1.2 trillion gap in credit that businesses need to optimise growth which is why we created this lend-tech”, explained McCann. “We believe that only by reimagining new types of credit services only possible with this lend-tech, can banks solve this massive business problem profitably and at scale globally. By leveraging open trade data via APIs alongside other enterprise-grade enabling technologies, financial institutions can drive significant operational efficiencies and product innovation within their internal operations and dramatically increase market share.”

“My co-founder Matt and I launched Trade Ledger in 2016 to improve the business customer’s experience in their financial supply chain, by helping banks re-imagine the entire process”, continued Martin McCann. “With the increasing threat of big technology firms like Google, Amazon and Alibaba bridging the gap between traditional financial services and the supply-chain eco-system, incumbent banks and lenders must start thinking about how they remain relevant. Trade Ledger is currently the only true platform in the world that can help them do this at a global scale in the business lending sector.”

George Davies, Partner at Hambro Perks added: “We are delighted to be backing Trade Ledger as Martin, Matt and the Trade Ledger team continue to develop market-leading tech that benefits businesses around the world. Hambro Perks is committed to supporting brilliant founders and teams that are building global businesses, and we believe that Trade Ledger has enormous global potential. We are very excited about Trade Ledger’s rapid growth and to support Martin and Matt as they tackle the barriers that have created such a vast undersupply of working capital for businesses across the globe.”

The Trade Ledger Platform provides a complete innovation layer that masks the clunky traditional corporate business banking environment and delivers an excellent consumer-like experience. Trade Ledger supports compliance with new regulatory requirements through aggregation and normalisation of better credit risk data whilst underpinning the wider commercialisation of open data and adoption of new banking business models to generate new revenue streams. The platform orchestrates value in the lending ecosystem by moving organisations from process-led engagement to an automated data-driven lending model.

About Trade Ledger

Trade Ledger (www.tradeledger.io) is the world’s first open banking lending platform that gives banks the ability to assess business lending risk in real-time. This will enable banks to address the £1.2 trillion of undersupply in trade finance lending globally while providing high-growth companies with the working capital needed to sustain growth.

About Hambro Perks

Hambro Perks (www.hambroperks.com)  is a London based venture firm that backs and builds leading technology companies. Founded by Dominic Perks and Rupert Hambro CBE, Hambro Perks invests at an early stage and helps companies to scale with capital and strategic support. The firm invests from both its permanent capital and Co-Investment EIS Fund that is open to high net worth investors and is soon to launch other funds. Hambro Perks has backed more than 40 businesses such as the digital pharmacy Echo, the geocoding system What3Words, and the Muslim matchmaking app Muzmatch.