Inline Insights

Prime Minister Theresa May put data protection at the heart of the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU when she delivered her latest set piece Brexit speech on 2 March.

The London Assembly’s Transport Committee has today published ‘Future transport - How is London responding to technological innovation?’

The UK Government has published its long-awaited response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech yesterday to the World Economic Forum in Davos saw her repeat calls for international action to regulate aspects of the tech sector that are disrupting the established economic players and norms.

Over the past six months, brightly coloured bikes have appeared across European cities as bike-sharing, and in particular dockless bike-sharing, has featured with ever growing prominence in public debates. sharing.

This summer, Londoners will have noticed the addition of new bicycles parked in various locations across Britain’s capital. Closer inspection of these bikes reveals that they are ‘oBikes’ - a bicycle which you can unlock with an app on your phone and use at very little cost, without the need to park at docking stations. 

On 6 October, a new acronym was introduced to the world of aviation and climate change. CORSIA – the Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation – is the outcome of what many in the aviation industry have described as an “historic agreement” to tackle the burgeoning problem of aviation emissions.

The prospect of video gamers becoming paid professionals, and people placing bets on the outcome of contests, would have seemed unthinkable a few years ago.

More than a week on from the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the political vacuum at the top of both main UK political parties means that the country’s policy priorities and future direction remain unclear. However, against an uncertain background, some potential implications for the Tech sector can be foreseen:

Robots are rapidly gaining public visibility as their development accelerates in conjunction with recent innovations in the domains of artificial intelligence, machine learning, machine-to-machine and machine-to-human interaction.

Boom and Bust

The EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has been up and down a rollercoaster over the last decade. Launched with considerable optimism in 2005 as one of the European Union’s prime policy instruments for tackling climate change by placing a price on greenhouse gas emissions, it has since gone through what can be most appropriately termed a “boom and bust” cycle.

At the end of Phase I in 2007, the price of an EUA effectively hit zero, as there was no provision to carry Phase I EUAs into the second phase.

According to recent research by management consultancy A.T. Kearney, the global market for 3D printing is set to grow from $4.5 billion today to $17.2 billion by 2020. With this rapid growth will come added scrutiny from policy makers and regulators. To support its long term growth, and for the industry to fulfil its remarkable potential, a supportive regulatory and policy framework will be critical. To help build this framework, and to put in place policies that will stimulate industry growth and accelerate the uptake of 3D printing technology across the economy, it will be imperative for industry associations to play their part and to engage with key policy makers and regulators.

Like many growing sectors in the sharing and on-demand economy, meal-sharing platforms are changing how individuals interact and consume. Innovative businesses are providing alternative catering services, often with a community or social focus, that disrupt the traditional choice between restaurants, takeaways and home-cooking.

In our previous analysis piece on the topic of online dating we explored the importance of industry regulation, as market actors continue to innovate and find new ways of marketing and delivering their services to users. New technology, in the form of smartphones, tablets, or wearable tech devices, has provided online dating companies with new tools to deliver their services and reach out to new customers.

The EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), the EU’s flagship climate policy instrument aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions at least economic cost and incentivising investment in the low-carbon economy, has been back in the news - for once in a positive sense.

The technology sector has rightly become a source of optimism for all UK politicians in recent years. Rapid growth, job creation and sustained investment have become the norm. Recently published statistics from Tech City UK in its Tech Nation report indicate that digital job growth in the UK will outperform all other occupation categories by 2020. In addition, 1.46 million people - 7.5% of the entire UK workforce - are already employed in the digital industries. Importantly, the report found that 74% of digital companies in the UK operate outside of London, with significant clusters of activity in areas such as Greater Manchester, Brighton and Hove, Belfast and South Wales. The supply side is clearly getting stronger with the presence of not just a thriving tech start-up scene, but also a significant number of established and global tech players operating, and investing, across the UK. On the flip side, the demand side is becoming more demanding. Businesses and consumers increasingly expect digital, and not analogue, to be the default. This, of course, is both a great challenge and opportunity for the sector.

In our recent analysis piece about the future regulation of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), we provided some insight into the main EU institutions and agencies involved in the creation of harmonised rules across Europe. Since then, the 2016 deadline the European Commission had initially set for new regulations to be approved has been removed, and not replaced.

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), more commonly referred to as ‘civil drones’ or ‘unmanned aerial vehicles’ (UAVs), can perform tasks that manned systems are sometimes unable to perform. They can be useful for surveillance purposes, border control, agriculture, firefighting, or media and entertainment, amongst other applications. The EU and some of its Member States have in recent years acknowledged the benefits of this new technology. The latter have, in certain cases, introduced new regulations that enable the industry to flourish, whilst minimising potential issues that may arise within their territory.

With the news on Monday that the UK Government has announced an independent sharing economy review, to be led by Love Home Swap CEO Debbie Wosskow, and also the recommendation last week from Labour Digital in its Number One in Digital report that the Government should “conduct a review the rules and regulations surrounding the sharing economy”, it is evident that this issue is becoming increasingly a topic at the forefront of politicians’ thinking. Given these developments, as well as the recent publication of reports from Nesta and PwC, it proved a timely moment for Inline to gather leading thinkers, business representatives and policy makers at both the Labour and Conservative Party conferences to discuss what this all means for the UK.

Following on from our event on Tuesday 23 September at the Labour Party conference, we have assembled another panel of leading thinkers on the sharing economy for an event at the Conservative Party conference on Monday 29 September. We will be discussing a number of issues such as the economic opportunity for the UK, and some of the emerging regulatory themes in the sharing economy.