Fintech is an emerging industry focused on enhancing global financial activity through the introduction and development of new technologies. The fintech industry looks set to see phenomenal growth over the coming years, as financial companies seek ways to improve services through replacing historically slow methods and systems with disruptive technologies to streamline and embrace new ideas.
Futuristic technologies such as BLAIQ-NET are being created and new breakthroughs are being made all the time. The PDF attachment explains what BLAIQ-NET is and how its progress is accelerating.
Investors and prominent business-people around the world will be maintaining a close watch on the trends, disruptions and investment opportunities emerging across the fintech sector. Matthew Ledvina has a long-term professional interest spanning the financial sector and various new technologies, particularly the rise of artificial intelligence.
Self-Learning Algorithms
Self-learning algorithms are creating rapid advances in artificial intelligence. Recently, two technology giants – Alibaba and Microsoft – both separately developed a self-learning algorithm with the capability to beat the average score achieved by humans in a comprehensive reading test set by Stanford University. The artificial intelligence programmes were required to evaluate the implications of three abstract concepts, connecting and understanding these concepts to correctly answer the questions on the test. This represents a major breakthrough in AI and opens up numerous possibilities for future applications.
Leveraging Technology Across Developing Economies
Significant growth has been seen n recent years in terms of access to technology in developing economies. However, the fact remains that approximately half of the population of the world still does not have access to the internet. The infographic attachment looks at some statistics for global internet use.
As multiple technologies begin to converge, delivery of internet access and affordable, off-grid electricity is becoming increasingly prevalent. This opens up the possibility of up to four billion new users entering the online universe, creating a wave of disruption. The developing world is already being transformed through access to a range of technologies, particularly in the healthcare and agriculture sectors.
Fintech Diversification
Until relatively recently, fintech has been associated solely with blockchain and cryptocurrencies. However, experts predict a rise in fintech across various other sectors over the coming years, including manufacturing and healthcare, diversifying and expanding to areas other than digital currency and blockchain technology. The embedded short video gives a brief description of how blockchain works.
Synthesised DNA for Digital Data Encoding
A single gram of DNA is capable of holding up to a billion terabytes of data, which is something that many companies and governments are seeking to harness. The US government and enterprises within the data storage sector are exploring the development of synthesised DNA for data storage, revolutionising the way we store information. While the technology for this may still be in its infancy at present, there are many that believe synthesised DNA as a data storage centre is an exciting possibility.
Urban Transportation
Helsinki has recently piloted a brand new urban transportation scheme to solve the problem of urban mobility. Users download an app for mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) and can then use this to gain access to the entre transport infrastructure of the city on a pay-as-you-go basis, including taxis, trains, bike-sharing, ride-sharing and buses. Private investment in MaaS businesses across the world has seen more than $70 billion in private investment since 2014, suggesting that while Helsinki may be leading the way, the urban transport revolution looks set to become more widespread. Investment opportunities in MaaS are rapidly increasing across the developed world and this tech mega-trend has the potential for huge technological disruption.