Inline Insights

We are delighted to be hosting fringe events at both the Labour and Conservative Party Conferences this year. We have assembled a panel of leading thinkers on the sharing economy to discuss everything from the economic opportunity for the UK, to some of the emerging regulatory trends. Panellists and event details for the Labour Party fringe event can be found below. The full Conservative Party fringe line-up will be announced early next week.

It has become increasingly common for individuals to find their partners online, a trend which started around 1997. Back then, not everyone acknowledged the benefits of this activity, which was perceived as a rather impersonal way of finding love. In recent years, a new generation of tech savvy individuals has emerged, which regularly uses devices to keep in touch with their friends and relatives, as well as for access to online dating sites or apps. In addition, older adults have also discovered the benefits of online dating services to connect with other people; and today they represent a significant segment of the online dating market. Why struggle to find someone special in a crowded bar when you can do it more easily and effectively from the comfort of your own home?

The American business magazine, Forbes, recently crowned London ‘the world’s most influential city’, paying special attention to the role it plays in leading innovation in technology. The accolade comes on the coattails of Chancellor George Osborne announcing the launch of a major new trade body for the UK FinTech industry, in London’s Canary Wharf.

The concept of mobile payments (“m-payments”) has been around since the late 1990s, but original predictions of rapid growth turned out to be overly optimistic. A lack of interoperability between different services, combined with a lack of consumer trust in these new forms of payment, hindered widespread adoption of m-payment services.

Price Comparison Websites (PCWs) are popular tools amongst tech-savvy consumers, especially in the consumer goods, energy and financial sectors. The key to their attractiveness is that they allow consumers to quickly search for and compare the best deals in the market. PCWs usually operate on either a flat-fee, or a commission-based model and attract new customers via online and offline advertising. Some of the biggest players have become very profitable, thus attracting new companies to enter the market.

Clothes which measure your heart rate and locate you via GPS while you run. Smart watches that can be used as an extension of your smartphone. The ability to access the internet with your glasses.  These are just a few examples of the most recent wearable technology devices.

But is there enough demand for these innovative products? According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), estimated global sales will exceed 19 million units in 2014, more than triple last year’s sales. In 2018, sales are predicted to increase up to 111.9 million units.

The way in which people listen to music has been fundamentally changed by digital technology. The rapid growth in music streaming, in particular, has led some even to argue that it could destroy the music industry entirely. Regulators are having to deal with this digital shift as copyright rules, and other associated regulations, were often designed decades ago. The pace of technological change can also mean that even when regulation is updated, it can quickly become out-of-step with the latest advancements. The disruption is huge, as are the headaches for regulators and policy makers.

The sharing economy makes headlines daily: from anti-Uber protests across Europe to Airbnb's recent £5.9bn valuation, new start-ups entering the private sector are offering more things to share (or rent, swap, borrow or barter) and more ways to do so.

In recent weeks there have been numerous regulatory developments in the peer-to-peer car sector. The ongoing regulatory battles of Uber and Lyft, in particular, are grabbing the headlines and have illustrated how this is an area in which the regulatory environment is far from settled. The disruptive business models of such companies, all underpinned by advances in technology, are forcing policy makers to adapt regulatory frameworks which were often put in place decades ago.

About a year ago, Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon were testing unmanned drones – called Octopers – to start delivering packages to customers in five years’ time. This announcement gave Amazon a PR boost; and was perhaps also initiated in the hope of raising awareness around businesses being given authorisation to use drones commercially.

According to the US drone industry, regulation is necessary for it to be profitable, as current regulations in most jurisdictions prevent unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from flying over densely populated areas.

Last Thursday, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) announced that it is not currently looking to regulate virtual currency. This is a significant announcement as there previously was uncertainty over how state officials, particularly in Japan, would react following the collapse of the leading Japanese Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox and the loss of over $420 million worth of Bitcoins. 

What was once considered a far-off fantasy is now fast becoming reality.  Robots will soon become an integral part of our working lives, and not just in traditional automotive sectors. Inevitably this will have far-reaching consequences for consumers, corporations and governments. This article looks at what is driving the commercialisation of robots, and how governments and corporates are responding.

From guns to body parts,3D printing technology has introduced a digital manufacturing revolution, which is already disrupting some of our well-established industries.

Companies are now able to print silicone, latex, ceramic, clay, play dough, Nutella, or icing sugar. In the medical field, 3D printing brings the ability to print replacement body parts, organs, skin and bones. NASA has recently purchased a 3D printer for the International Space Station in order to produce spare parts and other items, cutting transportation costs and improving safety. In China, a company has used large 3D printers to build 10 detached one-storey houses in just a day. However, technology is advancing faster than regulation. Very soon, regulators will need to consider the implications of the recent emergence of 4D printing.

The development of driverless cars has seen a resurgence of interest of late. This is no doubt partly due to the publicity Google generated from trialling the concept. But how have regulators reacted to the idea of driverless cars. Will regulation stand in the way or facilitate this giant leap forward in transport innovation?

Since being first released on the consumer market in 2005, the global e-cigarette market has been growing rapidly. In the United States, sales grew at an annual rate of 115 percent in the 2009-12 period. It is estimated that the global market could increase to $10 billion by 2017. Some analysts have gone as far as suggesting that e-cigarettes could be outselling conventional cigarettes within a decade.

The Government would be advised to eschew a fracking at all costs approach in favour of a more carefully weighted public strategy.

One of the more eye-catching measures announced in the recent Queen’s Speech was the UK Government’s proposal to change the trespass laws and allow fracking companies to drill under people’s homes without their permission.

Tomorrow's protest against Uber, by an estimated 12,000 London taxi drivers, looks set to cause considerable disruption and have a significant negative economic impact too.  Figures suggest that the protest could cost London’s economy as much as £125 million (see tonight’s London Evening Standard).  The controversy centres on an app provided to Uber's drivers - separate from the one used by the public - that calculates the journey distance and time taken, and then relays this information to remote computer servers to determine the fee.

A bill regulating ridesharing services is expected to be imminently signed by Colorado State Governor John Hickenlooper.  This would make him the first US State Governor to sign into law such a bill. Whilst California was technically the first State to regulate the industry (its rules were created by the State’s Public Utilities Commission), Colorado’s rules are set to be the first crafted and enacted by elected State representatives. The bill will allow provide certainty for ridesharing companies who faced formal complaints from the State’s Public Utilities Commission, which maintained that they were operating illegally.

In a hugely significant development, the European Union Court of Justice (ECJ) has today ruled that Google must amend some search results at the request of ordinary people in a test of the so-called "right to be forgotten".

New rules for unregulated rideshare companies such as Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar passed the Illinois House on Thursday over complaints the push was aimed at stifling competition to the state’s powerful taxi industry.

The chamber voted 80-26 to support legislation sponsored by Rep. Michael Zalewski, D-Riverside, who described his measure as a “comprehensive, thoughtful” consumer-protection step.

“We want to ensure licensure. We want to ensure insurance coverage, and we want to ensure safety of our constituents,” Zalewski told his House colleagues.