​Through a global study, the Business School at Manchester Metropolitan University have explored the emerging and growing field of the Internet of Things (IoT), specifically SMART City initiatives.
Professor David Bamford, Chair in Operations Management at Manchester Met, says:
 “We wanted to understand how much stakeholders really understood about IoT and SMART cities, for example: are they just buzz words they have heard?; do they actually perceive a true value?; are organisations improving their competitiveness using IoT? 
To answer these questions we adopted a global multi-stakeholder approach to establish a baseline for current understanding of IoT and SMART cities.
We have also developed a business model framework to help identify the value, requirements, opportunities, and so on, of IoT SMART City initiatives to different stakeholders, and explored emerging issues and possible future horizons deriving from new technologies.” Professor David Bamford, Chair in Operations Management, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School.
The Global Multi-stakeholder Survey - Internet of Things received over 200 responses, and Professor David Bamford will be sharing some of the results during the Trailblazing Tech conference.

The University OF Manchester has received a £2.5million donation to University of Manchester boosts region’s FinTech credentials.  The donation was made by Greensill, a leading British FinTech company founded by Lex Greensill, who is also an Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) MBA alumnus (Class of 2006).  

Greensill offers working capital finance to millions of customers all over the world, combining advanced technology and capital markets expertise to allow businesses of any size access to cash at rates previously preserved for the largest multinational corporations.
The donation will enable the University to drive the FinTech agenda in the North West with a new Chair in FinTech, as well as other key academic posts and PhD scholarships over the next five years.

The Greensill Chair in FinTech investment sees the appointment of Markos Zachariadis as Professor of Financial Technology and Information Systems at AMBS. Part of Professor Zachariadis’ role will involve managing projects which will build the University’s public profile in FinTech, as well as creating partnerships with leading businesses to work on projects.

The funding will also enable the collaboration of academics from across the University to promote multidisciplinary research and support student entrepreneurship in FinTech and related fields.
According to the latest UK FinTech State of the Nation report, $3.3 billion was invested in UK FinTech in 2018 and the number of FinTech firms is set to double to more than 32,000 by 2030.

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice Chancellor at The University of Manchester, said: “This generous donation from Greensill is very forward looking and will enable the University to spearhead the understanding and sharing of FinTech expertise across business communities locally, nationally and globally. As well as funding the Greensill Chair position, we will also develop our teaching capabilities by creating two lecturer posts, allowing us to plan for growth in undergraduate, postgraduate and executive education in this developing field. Two postdoctoral research fellows and four PhD scholarships will also enable us to carry out ground-breaking research and help us to create strong links with businesses, policy makers and authorities, positioning Manchester at the forefront of this evolving field.”

Professor Fiona Devine, Head of AMBS, said: “It is an honour to receive support from Lex Greensill as an MBA alumnus of Alliance Manchester Business School, the donation marks a significant milestone in the development of FinTech in the North West. I am delighted we have appointed Professor Markos Zachariadis as Greensill Chair in FinTech and to be able to realise our ambitions for the University’s FinTech strategy.” 
Lex Greensill added: “At Greensill we are passionate about how finance and technology can change for the better the way we live and work. To that end, we look forward to developing an ever-closer relationship with Alliance Manchester Business School. We are delighted to be able to give back to an institution that was so important to the foundation of our firm.”

​The partnership will be celebrated at an event on FinTech in the North West at AMBS in Spring 2020. 

​To celebrate and showcase the vast array of talent our region has to offer, pro-manchester is offering companies developing exciting tech a great opportunity.

Whether you’ve invented a world-class product, or you’ve made some impressive changes to already existing tech, we want to hear from you.

Competitors will be in with a chance of showcasing their trailblazing technology in front of an impressive row of judges, which will include representatives from FinTech disruptors, OpenMoney; innovative law firm, TLT; 5G advocates, MIDCommunications, the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and more.

pro-manchester COO, Nicola McCormick said: “Our Trailblazing Tech Conference welcomes an impressive list of tech giants each year, including the likes of The Hut Group, HPE and TalkTalk to name but a few.

“With this, we felt it was a great opportunity for our region’s talent to showcase the disrupting tech they are developing behind the scenes to get recognised for their hard work. It also gives them the opportunity to raise awareness of their product to potential investors across our region.

“We’ve already had some interesting companies put themselves forward in what will be the first year we’ve done this. We’re really looking forward to this segment of our conference.”

The companies the judges favour most will showcase their tech at pro-manchester’s Trailblazing Tech Conference, with the most impressive decided by judges and delegates alike.

The winner will win the inaugural Trailblazing Tech of Manchester Award as well as the opportunity to speak with the judges and gain invaluable insights and advice from them too.

Those that are interested should email nicola.mccormick@pro-manchester.co.uk and register their interest. 

A report by Which? in 2017 revealed that 92% of people have never heard of open banking. Over recent years open banking has become one of the most accessible fintech revolutions to date and is changing the way in which people manage their finances.

What is open banking?

In short, open banking means that your financial providers have to share your financial information (this includes balances, transaction history and spending habits) with third parties, so long as you give them permission to do so. 

These third parties dubbed ‘account aggregators’ access your financial information through your bank, building society, loan and credit card providers to compile all your balances and transactions in one place, often in an app.

​What are the benefits?

Anthony Morrow, CEO and Co-founder of online financial advice service OpenMoney, believes that this innovation is revolutionising the industry for the better, “Open banking is evolving financial services to make managing money easier and more transparent for customers, something we’ve always championed.”

“The ability to see a snap-shot of your overall financial position in one place, will allow people to get a better in-depth understanding of their finances.”

Whilst open banking encourages innovation and competition in the finance industry, Anthony says it can also lead to better outcomes for consumers with the collection and use of their data.

“Many of these apps allow you to analyse your spending across accounts and create budgets and savings goals for the future.”

“At OpenMoney we believe financial advice should be accessible and affordable for everyone. Our app uses data insights and analyses spending habits to provide personalised advice for every single customer. Our technology gives advice that’s truly in the best interests of our customers and allows them to make better decisions over their finances.”

Whilst we are still in the early stages of the open banking phenomenon, it’s brought more choice and transparency into the financial services industry and people are now being given the tools and guidance to make the best use of their cash possible.

​Anthony Morrow will be speaking at the Trailblazing Tech Conference this coming March. One of the key themes for the conference will be The Banking Revolution.

Blog by Sector Group Manager, Ilona Alcock

Advances in health tech can start to sound like something out of your favourite scary movie but what’s the reality?I caught up with Charlotte Lewis, Senior Associate at Mills & Reeve and Chair of pro-manchester’s Healthcare sector committee, to sort the facts from the fiction.

Is immortality just for vampires?

It is for now!

We are definitely living much longer though, largely as a result of public health measures such as childhood immunisations, the introduction of universal health care, medical advances and lifestyle changes, including a decline in smoking. By 2018 life expectancy at birth in England had increased to 79.6 years for males and 83.2 years for females.
Whilst most people want to live longer (even if not forever), they also want to live well during that period.  Healthy life expectancy in England in 2015-2017 was only 63.4 years for males and 63.7 years – meaning, on average, men would have spent 16.2 of those years and women would have spent 19.4 of those years in ‘not good’ health.

One of the aims of the NHS Long Term Plan is to focus on prevention and wellness. This requires not only system changes within the NHS but a mindset change amongst the population. Technology is already playing a key part in this transformation as more people are monitoring their own health, diet, sleep, exercise and mood with the help of digital devices such as smart watches and apps.  It is expected that this technology will be built into other items including clothing and possibly even the body itself.

Technology in the body… are we veering back into sci fi here?

Not at all, Digital Health is set to revolutionise medicine with the use of things such as nanotechnology.  Pills can be fitted with tracking systems which, when combined with a sensor on the skin, track digestion and the absorption of drugs after swallowing them. For example Otsuka and Proteus Digital Health have created a digestible sensor with a type of drug against mental illness. With the patient’s approval, the ingestible sensor communicates with a wearable sensor patch if the drug is taken, then the information is transmitted to a smartphone or tablet of the care giver or the patient.

RaniPill is a “robotoic” pill which is designed to puncture the inside of the intestinal wall with a drug-filled needle thanks to an inflatable balloon. The first human trial successfully tested out the inflatable balloon part of the design.  Further human studies will be conducted later this year and will include a drug-filled resorbable needle.

Impressive stuff! What else is in development?

Digital tattoos are on the horizon. With the development in 3D printing as well as circuit printing technologies, flexible electronics and materials, these digital tattoos could allow healthcare experts to monitor and diagnose critical health conditions such as heart arrhythmia, heart activities of premature babies, sleep disorders and brain activities noninvasively. By tracking vital signs 24 hours a day, without the need for a charger, it is especially suited for following patients with high risks of diseases such as stroke.

What about cyber surgeons? Surely that’s still fiction?

Actually not!

The world’s first telesurgery (uses wireless networking and robotic technology to allow surgeons to operate on patients who are distantly located) was carried out in 2001 by a surgical team in New York who performed a successful two-hour-long laparoscopic cholecystectomy on a female patient at a hospital in Strasbourg. Since then there have been huge advancements but the quality of the wireless connection is a huge risk.  It is expected that 5G technology has the potential to have a hugely positive impact on wirelesses human telesurgery.

Big data has been something of a modern horror story in the news recently, is that the case when we use it for healthcare too?  

With any personal data, it is essential that we have the proper regulations and protection. It is understandable that people are cautious about who has access to their health records, for example.

However, AI and big data can lead to huge improvements in predicting certain conditions. Google is investing heavily in health alerts and an algorithm from DeepMind predicted 90% of cases of acute kidney injury up to 48 hours before it occurred. This early intervention could prevent the need for dialysis or kidney transplants.

​Ultimately, these advances could get us closer to the longer, healthier lives we all want.