As a resident of Guernsey these days I try to connect on every level. I sadly didn’t get back to the island for Liberation Day on 9th May, but did arrive in time to celebrate my 60th Birthday on the island I now call home.
I was delighted earlier in the month to announce my appointment to the Guernsey Innovation Board. The composition of the board is truly excellent, with industry leaders, education figureheads and people like me!
The remit of the board is to stimulate innovation (no surprise) but the big question is ‘What is Innovation?’
For me, as a digital and future thinker, this is everything from a state operated (or decentralised) stable coin (not fiat backed), to digital ID and medical records arein scope, however the more people I speak to, the more I understand how broad innovation is – whether its education, energy, transport or agriculture all topics are ‘on the agenda’.
Guernsey is a small (well tiny) jurisdiction, that needs to care about itself, nobody else will! It needs energy, food and connectivity controls putting in place. We see regularly shop shelves being empty simply because the weather was too bad for the boat/plane to arrive. Imagine if there was a world crisis – where would Guernsey be on the list of those needing assistance?
I’m up for the challenges, and there will be many. I have written before that I didn’t see me being politically involved in my chosen community again – 12 years as a councillor in UK was a long and often hard slog. However, Guernsey can be agile and nimble and has much of the framework in place already to drive things forward. So given a shove here and a push there perhaps we can make Guernsey a shining light of innovative thinking…
In other news, BallsApp has filled my days, flying back and forth to Dubai, Paris etc has taken so much time plus energy and effort. It’s a massive project and the only way to tell you how great it’s going to be is to speak one-to-one. So call me if you want more info.
Banxlocal is developing as planned.
The new branch due to open in September is shaping up. We need further investment, but the roadmap is set and we are now on track to deliver the most disruptive, yet most needed, fintech innovation in a generation!
Please contact me for any questions. I have reverted to WhatsApp and Telegram in the main these days +447839194950 or @NicholasCollinson respectively.