IT innovation, research and development

DeepMind Health must be transparent to gain public trust, review finds

Independent review of DeepMind Health says the company should provide more clarity on data and business plans, while legal audit finds its controversial data-sharing deal with Royal Free is lawful Continue Reading

AI is key to keeping IBM compliant with GDPR

Artificial intelligence is vital for keeping IBM compliant with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulation, which, in turn, provides opportunities for business, says the company’s data protection officer Continue Reading

CW Europe: Lufthansa’s HR IT project takes off

Lufthansa says it is confident of landing a company-wide HR IT project after having to go back to the drawing board. Also in this issue, read about the ComputerWeekly/TechTarget IT Priorities survey’s findings that many European technology leaders are expecting to increase IT spending through 2018, and how a major report has reassured Swedish society that artificial intelligence will be a positive force for change despite fears of job losses. Continue Reading

CogX AI show opens with debate on Europe’s lack of dominance

European researchers have made significant breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, but the dominant players all seem to be based in Silicon Valley Continue Reading

Prime minister announces new visa for startups

The government promises new “startup” visa for entrepreneurs, a £2.5bn British Patient Capital fund to support UK companies going global, and plans for two international tech hubs Continue Reading

Australian university reaches for the stars after HPC boost

The University of Sydney has upgraded its supercomputing infrastructure to answer big questions on cosmology and keep pace with growing research needs Continue Reading

CIO interview: Richard Gifford, CIO, Wincanton

The CIO of logistics firm Wincanton, Richard Gifford, is in the process of improving its digital propositions and developing a digital supply chain, while dealing with legacy systems Continue Reading

Mayor Khan bids to make London the world’s smartest city

At London Tech Week, mayor Sadiq Khan launched a city-wide initiative to harness the capital’s technology talent to address London’s most pressing problems Continue Reading

IT teams should rework supplier contracts to free up budgets

There is no money for IT to help the business to innovate digitally, so CIOs should look at how their IT teams can maximise value from existing contracts, survey shows Continue Reading

Wales to launch £100m transformation fund for health and social care

Welsh government promises to increase investment in digital technologies and infrastructure, improve digital leadership and establish a national data resource to share information Continue Reading

BT announces “unhackable” quantum-secured network

In the face of the threat that quantum computers could crack many of the encryption methods used to protect highly sensitive data, BT has developed a “quantum-secured” network Continue Reading

How National Geographic uses tech to captivate its audience

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how the world-famous National Geographic magazine is adapting to the digital age and using technology to better engage its audience. We ask what Microsoft’s $7.6bn acquisition of GitHub means for the open source community. And our latest buyer’s guide looks at the trends in developer tools. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

CIO interview, Marcus East, chief technology officer, National Geographic

National Geographic’s chief technology officer talks about the three pillars of its technology change programme and being “radical and innovative”. Continue Reading

Is 5G more than just another generation of mobile?

Although several mobile network operators have announced launch dates for 5G services, many people remain unsure about the aspirations for 5G, what it means for users, its monetisation and its timescales Continue Reading

Thriving fintech, AI sectors give boost to UK tech funding

British technology businesses have received £5bn worth of venture capital funding since June 2016 – more than France, Germany and Sweden put together – with fintech and AI startups standing out Continue Reading

IT spending reaches 10-year high as CIOs struggle with digital technology strategy

IT leaders have seen their budgets and headcounts rise for the first time in 10 years, but face challenges implementing their digital strategies Continue Reading

Newcastle Council to show off smartest street in Britain

The Great Exhibition of the North will see Mosley Street in Newcastle upon Tyne transformed into Britain’s smartest street as part of a demonstration of IoT technology Continue Reading

5G transformative for UK plc, but potential impacts still vague

5G mobile technology looks set to transform the UK economy for the better, but the immaturity of the technology and lack of standards makes its true impact harder to judge, according to a report by Deloitte Continue Reading

We need to design for security and privacy, says Martha Lane Fox

The digital future is bright, but only if society works through a gear change in its relationship with technology, and demands products and services that are secure and private by design, says internet service pioneer Continue Reading

UK tech firms increase exports by more than 20%

The country’s tech sector continues to blossom and has significantly increased the export of both services and goods in recent years Continue Reading

Canada’s tech sector is targeting Europe – does it have what it takes to compete?

Following its free-trade agreement with the EU – and the contrast with its noisy neighbour – Canada is promoting its tech sector to European IT buyers. We take a look at what CIOs can expect Continue Reading

Big data skills shortages – and how to work around them

Businesses are finding it hard to recruit enough people with big data and analytics skills, but for CIOs there are alternative strategies to consider Continue Reading

Boris Johnson wants tech to fight illegal wildlife trade

The foreign secretary wants the country’s “finest technological brains” to help combat poaching and save endangered species Continue Reading

BBC to show World Cup in virtual reality

Broadcaster will trial virtual reality and ultra HD live streams of the FIFA World Cup through BBC iPlayer and a dedicated VR app Continue Reading

HP Inc results boosted by PC sales as it waits for 3D manufacturing to take off

3D manufacturing is HP Inc’s next big growth area, but that is 10 years away. In the meantime, it needs to rely on PC and printer sales Continue Reading

Firms step up spending on digital tech, but struggle with strategy

Businesses and the public sector are stepping up their spending on digital technology, but many business leaders are struggling to keep pace with what it means for their business Continue Reading

Dedicated HPC infrastructure still rules, says Huawei

A Huawei executive makes the case for dedicated high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, despite the growth of public cloud services that have democratised access to HPC and AI capabilities Continue Reading

MPs launch inquiry into automation and its impact on jobs

House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee will look at the impact of automation on workers, businesses and the UK economy as a whole Continue Reading

NHS England chooses care record exemplars

Greater Manchester, Wessex and One London are the three areas chosen to become Local Health and Care Record Exemplars, and will receive national funding over two years Continue Reading

How artificial intelligence is fuelling engine maintenance innovation at Rolls-Royce

The engine maker has established an innovation centre to enable the company to deliver analytics and artificial intelligence-powered services to airlines using Rolls-Royce engines Continue Reading

CW Nordics: Finland delays e-voting plan

Security concerns have re-emerged to further frustrate the Finnish government’s plans to launch a national e-voting system. Also read about a study by the Stockholm School of Economics that looks at the likely impact of AI, machine learning and robotics on people’s lives. And find out why Norway has accelerated plans to scale up its national cyber security infrastructure. Continue Reading

Unified comms bugbears may be easily solved with AI

The concept of unified communications is now so wide-ranging that it is ripe for disruption – or improvement – by artificial intelligence, argues analyst Zeus Kerravala Continue Reading

Amazon, Toys R Us and a tale of two technology approaches

Many factors contributed to the collapse of Toys R Us, but did a partnership with Amazon at the turn of the millennium play a part in its eventual demise? Continue Reading

Blockchain tourism being replaced by its application to business challenges

Deloitte reveals the next 12 months could see businesses move from exploring blockchain to applying it to business challenges Continue Reading

Qualcomm and Facebook working on FWA broadband

Qualcomm is to integrate a number of its chipsets with Facebook’s Terragraph technology to build fixed wireless access broadband solutions for urban areas Continue Reading

Taking the quantum leap: What is quantum technology for business?

Quantum computers are many years away, but the first applications of quantum technology will arrive in only one or two years – so businesses need to be ready Continue Reading

Digital identity: Is the puzzle about to be solved?

Solving the digital identity problem is key to the future of the digital economy as a whole – but how close are we? Computer Weekly looks at what is happening with Gov.uk Verify, private sector involvement, and lessons the UK could learn from other countries Continue Reading

IT executives think businesses are slow at adopting digital transformation

Digital transformation may be impeded by the slow speed at which businesses are ready to adopt new, digitally empowered ways of working Continue Reading

One-fifth of global banks think AI will boost customer experience

Economist Intelligence Unit survey shows nearly three-quarters of businesses think retail banking could be mostly automated by 2020 Continue Reading

AI could transform cancer diagnosis, says prime minister

Theresa May says artificial intelligence could revolutionise diagnosis of chronic diseases and save 22,000 lives a year by 2033 Continue Reading

Augmented reality can improve efficiency for retailers

Augmented reality has been positioned as a way to extend digital experiences onto the retail shop floor – but it has far more uses behind the scenes Continue Reading

Beware of the digital bandwagon

The rush to become ‘digital by default’ could drive costs up and have a damaging effect on understanding customer demand, writes John Seddon Continue Reading

GlaxoSmithKline R&D creates data platform using Hadoop for the internal sharing of scientific data

GlaxoSmithKline is making better use of the data it has about the development and trials of medicines through a Hadoop-based platform Continue Reading

Why Microsoft's AI is about helping anyone's intelligent agent

Microsoft believes businesses need to be connected to AI innovation. The way it wants to achieve this is through its AI platform for developers Continue Reading

UK tech sector growing 2.6 times faster than overall economy

The latest Tech Nation report on the UK’s IT sector reveals strong growth and positivity, but fears around Brexit in London’s tech engine Continue Reading

AI is more than just doing things cheaper and faster

Choose the parts of AI to deploy to demonstrate return-on-investment and differentiate your brand, says Volkswagen Australia’s chief customer officer Continue Reading

CIO interview: Phil Lewis, director of digital experience, Boden

Fashion retailer Boden is going through a transformation process, using digital elements across the business and fostering innovation Continue Reading

NHS England on the cusp of launching first citizen identity pilot

The NHS will begin trialling its identity verification system with a non-clinical service shortly, with 20 other services in the pipeline, according to NHS England chief digital officer Juliet Bauer Continue Reading

Australia needs to invest more in R&D to move forward

Innovation and Science Australia has made 30 recommendations for the government to consider if the nation is not to become a global backwater. Continue Reading

A strong UK-India bond on tech can benefit us all

The UK tech sector can benefit from the government’s work to forge closer ties with India’s burgeoning digital economy Continue Reading

Santander latest traditional player to open digital bank

Santander is the latest traditional bank to follow an industry trend and develop a digital banking unit Continue Reading

Will government IT be ready for Brexit?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as the UK government struggles to get new IT systems up and running before Brexit, we examine the challenges ahead and the departments with the biggest problems. We look at serverless computing and ask why this emerging cloud technology is so important for IT leaders. And we discuss the latest best practice in mobile strategy for SMEs. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

HSBC blockchain trial proves trade finance utility model

HSBC and ING used blockchain to successfully complete a real-world trade financing transaction as part of a pilot Continue Reading

Gatwick Airport completes £15m network upgrade to support expansion plans

Gatwick’s new network promises to drive IoT applications, offer free passenger Wi-Fi and provide robust connectivity across the airport campus Continue Reading

Wise conference 2018: Tackling the female patent problem

Research by Wise found fewer than 10% of patents filed in the UK have involvement from women. At its annual conference in 2018, Wise set out to discuss why this is the case and how we can address it Continue Reading

Building a tech future between the UK and India

A new tech partnership between the UK and India will benefit the digital economy in both countries, says secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport Matt Hancock Continue Reading

GDS wants to take 'hands off control' on digital identity, says Gov.uk Verify boss

Gov.uk Verify boss Nic Harrison says GDS wants to take its “hands off the controls” of identity, as he confirms target of 25 million Verify user accounts “won’t all be created by government” Continue Reading

Government must support SMEs, says Oliver Dowden

The minister for implementation, Oliver Dowden, provides further details on the GovTech competition and talks about GDS’s role as an “innovation incubator”, losing data policy to DCMS and the importance of SMEs Continue Reading

UK railways to save billions of pounds through digital signalling

Network Rail hails digital transformation plans as “a turning point in the history of our railways” Continue Reading

CW Benelux: Rotterdam charts course to become world’s smartest port

The Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands is using internet of things and artificial intelligence technology from IBM in a bid to become the world’s smartest port. Also read how companies in the Netherlands are only partly ready for the country’s version of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and why the European Central Bank thinks cash will remain in use in the Eurozone for a very long time. Continue Reading

Government launches GovTech competition

Implementation minister Oliver Dowden will launch competition for UK tech firms to help solve the country’s social challenges, using funding from the £20m GovTech challenge fund Continue Reading

How enterprises can cope with digital disruption

Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst says enterprises can take a leaf from DevOps and build modularity into their technology infrastructure to prepare for the forces of digital disruption Continue Reading

NatWest fintech investments bear fruit as SME loans platform goes live

Online lending platform enables small businesses to apply for loans of up to £150,000 in 10 minutes Continue Reading

Microsoft predicts five-year wait for quantum computing in Azure

Industry experts predict it will take 10 years for quantum computing to become a reality, but Microsoft believes it has the research edge, with systems, software and technology to get there in five Continue Reading

Nordic CIO interview: Helena Skarle, Handicare

Swedish CIO believes more women might get the top IT jobs if organisations look beyond IT skills Continue Reading

Fibre network breakthrough has implications for data security

Researchers have devised a new protocol that they claim vastly extends the range of quantum key distribution over fibre networks Continue Reading

Fresh blow for Facebook as court refuses stay in Max Schrems legal action

Facebook has lost a legal attempt to delay the Irish High Court from seeking answers from the European Court of Justice over the legality of EU-US data transfers Continue Reading

CW500: The advent of AI

For better or worse, artificial intelligence is one of the most talked-about technologies today, and it is here to stay. The latest CW500 Club investigated what AI actually is and the opportunities it can offer Continue Reading

Finnish government launches regional digitisation plan

Finland’s government allocates €400m to support digital projects run by the country’s local authorities Continue Reading

CIO interview: Martyn Wallace, CDO, Scottish Local Government Digital Office

Scottish local government’s chief digital officer describes the challenges of driving digital change across the country’s councils Continue Reading

Starship’s autonomous delivery robots get commercial roll-out

Having successfully trialled its autonomous delivery robots in the UK and US, Estonian startup Starship Technologies is embarking on a full commercial roll-out Continue Reading

Australia government earmarks A$70m to refresh supercomputers

The investment will fund replacements for two supercomputers at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in an effort to bolster Australia’s research capabilities Continue Reading

Jeremy Hunt launches review into training NHS staff to use new tech

Jeremy Hunt announces a review that will look at how to train NHS staff to use new technologies such as artificial intelligence, genomics, digital medicine and robotics Continue Reading

Doing analytics the Disney way

The Walt Disney Company’s head of solution integration tells how analytics helps to personalise the customer’s Disney experience, and how tech plays a leading role in The Lion King’s Broadway success Continue Reading

British banks target Israeli security technology

British banks are turning to Israel’s high-tech sector to protect against cyber attacks Continue Reading

Almost all London law firms are using or plan to use artificial intelligence

Law firms are harnessing artificial intelligence to reduce the manual creation and checking of legal documents Continue Reading

European Commission unveils €1.5bn AI funding

Given the UK's new artificial intelligence sector deal, the European Commission is unveiling its own initiative to make Europe a world leader in AI Continue Reading

Commercialising Innovation - scaling tech start-ups

Innovation and innovative people are spread evenly around the globe. But there is more of an uneven challenge to bring products and services successfully to market. Many times this is due to a lack ... Continue Reading

Government promises £300m extra funding as part of £1bn AI sector deal

To become the number one destination for artificial intelligence, the UK needs more specialist skills, and a new injection of funding is aimed at boosting the country’s AI skills pool Continue Reading

Scotland’s digital health and care strategy highlights need for collaboration

The Scottish Government will create a joint decision-making board, a national approach to service redesign and a national digital platform to ensure interoperability Continue Reading

EC sets out plans for sharing health data across borders

The European Commission wants to introduce EU-wide standards for health records, and allow EU citizens to access and share their patient information securely across member states Continue Reading

Home Office Brexit app only works for Android users

Home Office app for EU citizens registering to stay in the UK post-Brexit only works on Android devices as iPhones do not share passport chip data Continue Reading

NHS shared care records: progress, projects and privacy

Sharing health records across health and social care has been something the NHS has worked towards for a long time. As the NHS ramps up its plans, has it finally got the right balance between patient care, privacy and feasibility? Continue Reading

The dawn of open banking in Australia

Financial services firms will need to embrace DevOps and modernise their IT infrastructure to compete with more nimble fintech companies in an open banking regime Continue Reading

Data and digital infrastructure key to genomic sequencing success, say MPs

Science and Technology Committee says genomics had potential to revolutionise the NHS, but is worried delays to NHS digital projects and data sharing concerns could threaten progress Continue Reading

AI is renewing interest in high-performance computing

Growing adoption of artificial intelligence is spurring interest in high-performance computing beyond research institutions Continue Reading

Thales to open ‘digital factory’ in Asia

India and Australia are potential candidates for Thales’s new coding centre that will support digital transformation efforts Continue Reading

Blockchain: Paving the way for broad adoption

The foundations have been laid for organisations to begin standardising on the technology, talent and platforms that will drive future blockchain initiatives Continue Reading

UK and Indian governments agree tech partnership

Agreement aims to identify organisations in the two countries that can work together and open up opportunities for tech entrepreneurs Continue Reading

CW ANZ: OpenStack gains a foothold in Australia

In this issue of CW ANZ, we look at how OpenStack has changed the way Australian enterprises operate their IT infrastructure. Also read how Australia’s Citic Pacific Mining is digging into IoT technology to track vehicles, and how Telstra is investing in two submarine cables to bolster Asia-US connectivity. Continue Reading

CW ASEAN: SD-WAN helps find best route to cloud

This year, more enterprises will adopt a “cloud-first” SD-WAN architecture to support their increasingly cloud-based application mix. In this issue of CW ASEAN, we take a closer look at how ASEAN enterprises are gearing up for this eventuality. Also, read how a new HPE facility in Singapore will help build collaborative partnerships across the internet of things, and how communications service providers should embrace microservices and DevOps to thrive in the digital economy. Continue Reading

Protecting your intellectual property in a digital world

Your business is creating innovative computer code, slick user interfaces, and is using digital technology to solve new problems. How do you protect your investment? Continue Reading

Huawei debuts its first intent-based networking proposition

At its Shenzhen Analyst Summit, Huawei unveiled its intent-based networking concept, promising to address enterprise customer pain points around network management Continue Reading

Russian energy giant makes digital tech adoption a priority

Russian oil and gas giant Gazprom Neft is exploring the use of the latest digital technologies across its entire business Continue Reading

Moving away from analogue health in a digital world

Healthcare records still rely on faxes, email, mail and paper, but the innovative use of technology will lead to major improvements in medical care Continue Reading

Huawei invests in 5G mobile networks, but eases back on the hype

Telecoms supplier Huawei has been updating the industry on its 5G vision at its annual Analyst Summit in Shenzhen, China, but shied away from making bold predictions Continue Reading

Santander uses Ripple technology to offer international payments

Santander has launched an international fund transfer service for retail customers in the UK about two years after it started testing the blockchain-based application Continue Reading

Ethics key to AI development, says Lords committee

House of Lords Select Committee calls for government to draw up an ethical code of conduct, which organisations developing AI can sign up to Continue Reading

Machine learning is the new normal: AWS

Cloud supplier AWS wants to put machine learning capabilities into the hands of more people in the nascent market for cloud-based AI services Continue Reading

The seven levers of digital transformation

Organisations that embark on digital transformation projects often run into difficulties. Following the seven principles of digital transformation will help them reap the benefits of digital technology Continue Reading