Data is a valuable commodity given up far too willingly for convenience when signing up to ‘free’ apps and platforms. 

How often do you read the pages and pages of terms and conditions before ticking the ‘I agree’ on these social media sites? A 2017 Deloitte survey of 2,000 US consumers found that over 90% accepted legal terms and conditions without reading them.

This Thursday 8th March, it is International Women’s Day (#IWD) a day focused on celebrating inspirational women and their achievements.

As many of you reading this will know, IWD started over 100 years ago (when some women in the UK also got the vote) yet progress has been frustratingly slow. In 2017 Feminism was apparently 2017’s most looked up word so perhaps we are at an inflection point?

Data will continue to be the fuel of the digital economy and this year it underpins all our tech themes. We believe blockchain technology has only just started to revolutionise industries, IoT adoption will surge as it drives productivity and government regulation will have to move fast to catch up with past innovation. A year on from our Ten Tech Trends for 2017 - A quantum leap the digital revolution continues to displace and disrupt. 

The UK currently adheres to the UK Data Protection Act 1998. However, this will be superseded by the much tougher GDPR despite Brexit; which was agreed in December 2015 in Brussels. It is imperative that all businesses (whatever the size) who control or process personal data understand the implications and requirements they MUST update or adopt to be fully compliant or face bankruptcy fines.

Simon was delighted to support Peter with the Invested Investor initiative; which is publishing online and offline content to help educate angels and entrepreneurs to prevent mistakes and produce more successful exits. 

Here we share their latest podcast 'The Digital Invested Investor' where Simon describes his angel investment journey. He also talks about several topics including the digital economy and the importance of STEM.

Here we share a great inspirational story of mentee Kym Jarvis and her unexpected journey with Viridian Consultants towards innovation supported by Innovate UK.

Here we post The Sunday Times article - Q&A with Angel investor and SwiftKey backer Simon Thorpe 

published on 17th September 2017.

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Whilst on work experience Alex Ainsworth (Yr11 student) from The Bishop's Stortford College explored the growing phenomenon of autonomous vehicles.

In 1908, the Ford Motor Company created the world’s first mass produced automobile, the model T. In 2016 Ford announced its plan to have fully autonomous vehicles in operation by 2021.  As such, with the demise of driving seemingly on the horizon, this raises many questions

The translation and interpretation industry has doubled in the past seven years, advancements in translation technology have enabled translators and interpreters to improve their performance. While on work experience, Wendy Cowen (Yr11 student) from The Bishop’s Stortford High College explored how translation technology is breaking down language barrier

Whilst on internship Gary Kirby from the University of Leeds continued the 'chain' in the series of posts on cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

The huge impact of e-Commerce and home deliveries are revolutionising the retail industry and radically changing our shopping habits. Rose Nott from Birmingham City University has written an article on the future of the online shopping experience.

The drone industry is the latest technology to disrupt the retail and delivery ecosystems. Whilst on work experience Lottie Wilkinson (Yr10 student) from The Herts and Essex High School investigated how Amazon is incorporating drone technology in its business.