Jersey tipped as destination for fintech & AI innovators

 

Two global technology experts believe that UK companies could get ahead with Fintech and Artificial Intelligence innovation, by using Jersey’s sandbox proposition. Nick Ogden, widely recognised as one of the founding fathers of Fintech, has returned to the British Channel Island to set up his latest venture. Nick started World Pay in Jersey in the 1990s before going on to create the first clearing bank in the UK in 250 years.

He was speaking at the Digital Jersey Annual Review, where Dame Wendy Hall, Regius Professor of Computer Science, University of Southampton, and Co-Chair of the UK Government’s AI Review, also told the audience that Jersey’s autonomy and sandbox culture, means that it can become the AI start-up choice.

Jersey was the first jurisdiction in the world to make full-fibre broadband available to every home and workplace, and also boasts an island-wide Lo-Ra network for IoT data transmission. As an independent island, it offers a complete critical infrastructure on a micro scale, allowing easy access to key stakeholders such as regulator, industry and government. iThe sandbox proposition has been further strengthened by a new ‘digital twin’ of the Island, which allows live data to be fed into it and visualised.

Nick Ogden said Jersey’s reputation and experience as an International finance centre, combined with support from government and regulator, means the Island can be at the forefront of fintech innovation.

Several UK entrepreneurs and established businesses are already using the Island to test and showcase innovation. UK based AirSensa, is creating the first jurisdiction-wide air quality monitoring network in Jersey, and the Island has been chosen as one of seven cities and small nation states in the Pilot Digital Interactive Twin programme, part of the UN Smart Sustainable Cities initiative.

Digital Jersey CEO, Tony Moretta, said the Island is already attracting global interest: “Just in the last twelve months, we’ve signed an MoU with the Bahrain Economic Development Board for Fintech, the New Jersey Big Data Alliance comprising Princeton University among other prestigious institutions grappling with emerging tech in the US, and a consortium of UK Universities led by Glasgow on smart, sustainable agriculture.  Our Sandbox opportunity and world leading connectivity is now clearly recognised as providing the ideal testbed to develop and scale new technologies.”

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