Deal or No Deal?
This week saw the publication of an interesting report on merger and acquisition activity from the global accounting and business advisory firm Moore Stephens. The report tells us that a quarter of the M&A negotiations in Britain in 2016 fell through. And the number of these negotiations was down almost 20% year on year to start with. Are our corporate leaders losing the art of the deal? Or are they applying sensible caution during uncertain times? It’s not unusual for a business to hesitate on a large-scale transaction, particularly when it can send their level of debt soaring. And uncertainty... 
Delegates at this week’s IoT Expo at Olympia took time to discuss the cities of tomorrow. These cities are close enough for us to see. We can see their lights, and they dazzle us. Not satisfied with having our lives made easier, safer and more fulfilling by the use of smart devices, we see a future – a near future – of interconnected transport, optimum and eco-friendly use of energy, and a skilled workforce, many of whom will be employed in newly created, hi-tech roles. Some initiatives will come from government and some from the business community. Ideally public and... 
Online activity dominates our lives to such an extent that it’s easy to forget just how early we are in its development. Exhibitors and visitors at IoT Global this week are attempting to draw up a road map for global connectivity in the years ahead, and while there are indicators to follow, nothing is set in stone. Where do we want the Internet of Things to take us? We might hope for a future of shared knowledge. That fits well with the development of Ubuntu, a Linux operating system published by Canonical, which is prominent at IoT as an exhibitor... 
SME innovation is the lifeblood of an economy, and each January offers two high profile showcases of that talent. On the 23rd and 24th IoT Global brings together buyers, sellers, manufacturers and investors over two days that will help shape our understanding of the IoT ecosystem. And we’ve already had our appetites whetted at CES 2017 in Las Vegas. Gary Shapiro, the President of the Consumer Technology Association and driving force behind CES raised a few eyebrows when he criticised the UK government for failing to help British start-ups make an impact. He noted that five times more French companies were exhibiting... 
Next week’s IoT Tech Expo at Olympia brings together an impressive list of industry leaders and thought leaders, ready to debate the significance and the future of the Internet of Things. One thing sure to be discussed is the impact on the employment market. Not only in job creation – although that is a very hot topic – but in redefining how we see our jobs. For decades, non-specialists have been able to say that IT was “somebody else’s job”. Now, with connected devices on planet earth already outnumbering people by a factor of three to two and with 50...