Inline Insights

Governments all over Europe are crafting policies and regulations that will lead to electric vehicles almost entirely replacing diesel and petrol cars within thirty years. In the UK, national policies are focused on creating the infrastructure for the electric vehicle revolution, but other policy initiatives and conflicting local priorities could impede the wider public policy goal.

In a modern world that is churning out technological innovations in sectors that did not even exist 20 years ago, many people will have common conceptions of what constitutes ‘disruptive technology’: the rise of robots, smart cities and self-driving cars. And yet, equally disruptive are the technologies that are developing within sectors that have prospered for centuries.

Another day, another report on artificial intelligence? Not quite. 

Published today, the 180-page volume by the House of Lords’ Select Committee is more than just the latest contribution to the emerging debate about the opportunities and challenges of AI. Led by experienced lawyers such as Baron Clement-Jones and renowned scholars like Lord Anthony Giddens, former director of the London School of Economics, it might well prove influential both in the UK and beyond.

Are large online businesses paying their fair share of tax? This was the question debated on Tuesday 27 March by MPs in Westminster Hall, the small debating chamber in Parliament. 

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.

The UK Government has released a position paper stating its desire for a future customs arrangement with the EU27. The release of this paper before an agreement on the EU’s priority areas is a statement from the UK that it is determined to start talks on the issue.

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. 

A key area impacting UK nationals abroad and EU nationals in the UK are the rights they will be likely to receive once the UK exits the European Union in 2019. There is still a lot of uncertainty over what these rights will be, but an inevitability is that nothing is cast in stone until final treaty is signed in March 2019.

To a rather muted fanfare, the British Government published its industrial strategy green paper last month. As far as the energy and climate change audience were concerned, in the run-up to the publication of the strategy, the Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Department (BEIS) – a department still in its infancy - was essentially facing two challenges:

The clamour for clarity from the Government on its Brexit intentions has finally produced two important announcements from the Prime Minister and senior Cabinet Ministers at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham: 

In July, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – the body that regulates loan-based and investment-based crowdfunding in the UK – launched a ‘call for input’ on the current rules applied to crowdfunding in the UK.

The concept of energy storage is not new. However, technology advancements and the increased sense of urgency in relation to decarbonisation have gradually drawn attention to the possibilities of storage.