'Big Data' is useful but caution is still needed when drawing conclusions
OVER 30 YEARS AGO, in the early days of the personal computer, I worked on the commercialisation of a machine intelligence algorithm from...
The internet is not as green as we imagine
THE INTERNET MAKES a major contribution to reducing global warming, we all know that, don’t we? As we travel less to attend meetings and...
Tech success story propels Edinburgh into the global 'unicorn' league
THE COVER OF the February 1st issue of Fortune magazine features a striking illustration of a unicorn wearing a hoodie, making it look...
EU and Scottish Government missing out on expert advice
A WHILE AGO I bumped into Professor Anne Glover, the then Chief Scientific Advisor (CSA) to the President of the European Union at a...
Regional banks' traditional sterling banknotes defeat their purpose
I DON’T KNOW about you, but for the last few years I have chosen to carry Bank of England (BoE) banknotes rather than the notes supplied...
Public funds are instrumental in the prosperity of private enterprises
EVERY NOW AND AGAIN somebody writes a book that breaks out of the narrow field of innovation policy for which it was intended and gains a...
Action needed to ensure fairness around spinouts
THE WORLD OF high-technology, high growth start-ups is a challenging one. Would-be entrepreneurs have to cope not only with developing a...
Predictions of 1970 economic report now being borne out
SOME FORTY YEARS AGO, when I was a young engineering student at university we were introduced to the Limits to Growth (LtG), a report...
Skills shortfall means we must encourage students into engineering
EVERY NOW AND THEN I give a talk at a Scottish high school where I try and encourage them to consider following a career in engineering....
The time for Scotland to chose its future has finally arrived
WELL, HERE WE ARE, September 2014, and we are finally confronted with making the decision on the most significant constitutional issue we...
In search of a solution to the problem of growing businesses of scale
EVERY THREE MONTHS Ascendant, a corporate finance company based in London, publishes a review of investment trends for the technology...
Capital transport system was on the right track a century ago
AFTER YEARS of what can fairly be described as an absolute shambles – chronic delays, incompetent construction, and costs running way out...
Funding situation for start-ups much improved since 1984
WHERE WERE YOU when Insider was founded back in 1984? Well, I know exactly where I was because I was also founding a new enterprise in...
Energy needs must be met, but without ravaging our environment
CAMPAIGNERS ARE CURRENTLY jumping on the protest bandwagon trying to stop the development of ‘fracking’ – the recovery of natural gas...
Two-year exercise fails to yield research licensing solution
AN ENORMOUS amount of our money, £3bn or so, is spent every year on research at leading universities. Not surprisingly, many think that...
Scots games sector is prolific but notable successes are rare
PASSENGERS on Edinburgh’s No. 14 bus may have been puzzled at the huge posters promoting a computer game – Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV) –...
An innovative new approach to informal investments
IT’S ALWAYS been tough to raise investment for a start-up company but over the last few years it has got much worse. The banking crisis...