Feature


The arrival of the fintech movement


Fintechs are making their mark in Scotland I


f you thought ‘fintech’ was just about financial services, then Stephen Ingledew wants you to think again. He says it’s more than just a sector… it’s a movement and is an integral


part of the fourth industrial revolution which is rapidly changing every aspect of our lives. As Chief Executive of FinTech Scotland,


Stephen has witnessed the rapid expansion of this movement, which has grown from 26 fintech firms when he took over the position at the beginning of 2018 to more than 112 when he helped organise the three-week Fintech Festival, which took place in October at venues across the country. FinTech Scotland was established


jointly by the financial services sector, academia and the Scottish Government to lead the development of fintech in a new collaboration initiative to benefit businesses, consumers, communities and the economy.


Stephen explained: “Scotland is


recognised for having a strong financial services sector, entrepreneurial tech companies and universities with a good reputation for commercialisation. So our role at FinTech Scotland is all about bringing these communities together, as well as encouraging the right regulatory and support environment and talent pipeline to help create a world-leading fintech hub. “Fintech is all about starting with the human-need first, rather than the technology and that’s why this approach has a wider role to play to improve transactions in society as a whole. In fact, we say that fintech is far too important to leave it to the financial services industry alone.” Long before the term was coined,


Scotland was building it’s own fintech expertise in the area of payments with a cluster of entrepreneurial companies in the Fife region pioneering digital payment


Stephen Ingledew receiving his Evangelist of the Year award at the Scottish Financial Technology Awards


Advertorial


For the next generation of facilities management, look to your lighting


Brian O’Reilly, Managing Director of Glasgow LED tech company EGG Lighting


HAVE you ever bought a new phone, only to find the newest version announced a week later? It can be difficult to decide the best time to upgrade when you know that a technology is always improving. But now facilities managers have one less decision to worry about, because this year’s winner of The Glasgow Business Award for Innovation in Business, EGG Lighting, is set to provide upgradeable LED lighting to businesses throughout Scotland. When LEDs started to replace traditional


incandescent bulbs, companies’ energy bills plummeted. But due to the longevity of LEDs, they do not typically come with replaceable lightbulbs, and a company may lock themselves into 10 to 20 years without being able to benefit from another upgrade. Managing Director at EGG Lighting, Brian O’Reilly, explains that this does not need


to be the case. Much like its better-known cousin Moore’s Law from the IT field, a model called Haitz’s Law projects the rapid increase in LED efficiency over time. EGG Lighting, the Innovation in Business award winner has designed in a route for repair, and the accompanying business model has been independently verified by the Wood Group. The evidence is that EGG’s upgrades will pay for themselves with the energy savings generated, as predicted by Haitz’s Law. This will help reduce both energy and material waste in the LED industry. Now, a new wave of savings is on the horizon. With the advent of digital integration, EGG Lighting unveiled its Internet of Things (IoT) enabled lighting in its application for the GBAs. EGG Lighting


is providing a platform of complementary offerings – product, service, digital IoT platform, and business model. Brian O’Reilly explains: “As our world becomes more complex, we need more integrated systems”. It is this sort of cross-disciplinary insight and co-operation which is key to making Glasgow businesses flourish in the years to come.


www.egglighting.com | 0141 416 2624 | brian@egglighting.com


www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com 35


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