Loners and freaks who are addicted to video games, love junk food, and inhabit basements: the computer programmer stereotype, propagated by the silver screen, is a serious setback when it comes to attracting talent into this field. And it is much worse when it comes to attracting female talent. In Spain in 2017, the rate of women between 20 and 29 years old, graduating  in science, mathematics, information technology, or engineering per 1,000 inhabitants was 13.1 percent.  The scarcity of female talent in this field can also be witnessed at hackathons, but there’s good news: women are willing to put an end to these clichés.

PSD2 is a European regulation for electronic payment services. It seeks to make payments more secure in Europe, boost innovation and help banking services adapt to new technologies. PSD2 is evidence of the increasing importance Application Program Interfaces (APIs) are acquiring in different financial sectors.

A group of 12 leading regional and digital financial institutions have joined together as investors and members in KY3P®, a company dedicated to working with the financial industry to standardize best practices for managing third-party risk and optimizing the processes by which financial institutions assess and monitor inherent risk in engaging suppliers and entering into third-party relationships.

The maker movement has helped reignite interest in open-source hardware with projects where device components and information are shared openly to allow everyone to contribute to their development and improvement.

That surfing on the internet means leaving a trail of personal information is nothing new. Browsers gather preferences and habits thanks to the cookies installed in computers when surfing.

What happens when you choose a restaurant on the Internet? Or when you want to buy a book? Or find a song? Or get hooked on a new series?  BBVA Data & Analytics in a new item for dissemination explains how the different recommendation systems used by Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify work and how they will extend beyond the consumer and entertainment sectors.

Fair-trade coffee, quality guarantee, ecological tomatoes… consumers read the labels on the things they eat. But is there any way of checking that what they say is correct? In order to do so, you would need a register of the processes to which the product has been submitted, something blockchain can do.

The head of the BBVA Data & Analytics’ Edge team, José Antonio Rodríguez-Serrano, who coordinates the innovation area in BBVA’s center of excellence in data science, shares his insights into five key questions to understand the implications of this exponential technology in different economical sectors and spheres of society.

The widespread use of mobile devices on a day-to-day basis brings with it the risk of very personal information such as bank details, photographs, messages, contacts and emails and a long list of private details falling into unwanted hands.

‘Blockchain’ is still at level 0 in the video game industry, but it has a promising future.

As we have seen in previous articles, the intelligent use of data, with the right talent and the pertinent business strategies for applying creative solutions, can provide insights that help solve a whole gamut of problems and take on board new opportunities. Data places within our grasp an enhanced decision-making ability and a deeper understanding of our clients and what they need. But as in the case of any other tool, these new skills can be put to positive or not so positive use, whether intentionally or not.

Wearables manufacturers are changing their focus from fitness and health, to improving user productivity and connectivity. That´s the great challenge facing a business whose size is expected to double between 2017 and 2021.

BBVA announced the creation of the Information Security & Engineering Risk (IS&ER) unit, a new area within Engineering, to coordinate the group’s information security, cybersecurity and engineering risk efforts. Álvaro Garrido has been appointed head of IS&ER, reporting directly to BBVA’s Global Head of Engineering, Ricardo Moreno.

The world’s tech giants are competing to dominate the field of Artificial Intelligence, which is likely to become the key technology of the digital economy. Who’s leading in this race and what consequences will it have?

Cloud computing offers online computing services. This is the basic definition of a technology that has played a key role in the digital transformation of many sectors, including the financial sector. Managing services on the cloud was never so easy and fast.

The new technologies, and their presence in everyday life, are radically changing the way we look at entertainment, social relationships and work. They have also created new professions that do not yet have a set educational pathway, such as videogame developer.

The number of companies and investors betting on blockchain continues to grow. But how did it come about? What was needed to develop bitcoin, its first practical application? And who were the pioneers of blockchain?

The APIfication phenomenon is by no means restricted to the banking sector. At the API Forum held this week in Madrid, insurance and entertainment companies participated, together with BBVA, to discuss the keys to designing APIs capable of attracting developers.

We live in a digital society. Technology and the Internet are part of the everyday lives of people and organizations. As technologies evolve, risks and threats evolve with them. We need to strengthen cybersecurity, but do we have the resources we need?

One of the things about huge conferences like Money 20/20 in Las Vegas is that you get to see the ideas that will shape the future of the banking sector.

They’re a feature of every computer keyboard, but most people don’t know what they´re used for. However, the “F” keys on any computer actually contain some very useful functions.

What is bitcoin? What do the terms node, mining and hash mean? Following are the 10 key terms from the world of blockchain technology that you need to master.

BBVA’s Group Executive Chairman is convinced that technological advances will be accompanied by greater progress and well-being, but he is also calling for policies and structural reforms that are capable of mitigating the costs of the transition to the new digital society. Supporting research and education, promoting competition and transparency in the markets and developing new employment policies and social protection systems were among the recommendations Francisco González shared at an event organized by El Periódico de Catalunya and BBVA in Barcelona.

BBVA has revealed how a redesign of its award winning mobile app has led to astonishing results in its sales figures.

In a few years, we may not be paying with cash, cards or even with smartphones, but rather, by car. Vehicle connectivity will change the way we manage time and money, but a number of problems still need to be addressed.

Year 2049. Three decades have passed since Richard Deckard began hunting down and retiring Nexus 6 models. The Wallace Corporation has built an empire on the ruins of Tyrell Corp, designing a new generation of replicants, more obliging and integrated in society.  Through the implementation of memories, the new models have an emotional foundation that makes them more stable than their predecessors, much more similar to humans.

BBVA Group Executive Chairman Francisco González presided over the first edition of the Spanish Computer Science Society (SCIE) – BBVA Foundation Research Awards. These accolades recognized the work of six young Ph.D. recipients who are conducting high-level research in Spain.

Using Docker in the deployment of software in productive systems solves many problems related to agility and the normalization of these processes. But, like all technology that breaks with prior IT processes, it generates new challenges or requires different solutions for persisting problems. One of those is the management of secrets.

One billion people experiencing firsthand all that virtual reality has to offer that’s Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitious goal. Soon, he will launch a unique new tool to help achieve it: a pair of virtual reality glasses called Oculus Go, which will sell at a relatively affordable price and work without a computer or smartphone.

This year’s event, which will be held in Toronto, will be attended by Alicia Pertusa, BBVA’s Head of Digital Transformation, CIB, and BBVA’s Head of Securities Services Alexis Thomson, who will share insights into the integration of blockchain in financial services and the challenges and opportunities brought on by this exponential technology.

Futurist Jerome Glenn, CEO of Millennium Project, urges companies and governments to be proactive in the face of technological advances and outlines three different scenarios in which artificial intelligence can determine the course of society.

The development of new technologies as a means to alleviate workloads is part of the day to day running of businesses. Increasingly, robots, artificial intelligence, and computer algorithms are taking over humans in the execution of mechanical tasks. However, many theoreticians are wary of the consequences this development will bring upon the workplace. Darrel M. West discusses the impact of these emerging technologies on society in the book ‘The Next Step. Exponential Life’, which can be downloaded for free from the BBVA OpenMind project website.

Companies usually don’t brag about not having a clear roadmap, but Amazon is different. The head of technology at the company since 2005 explains that constant change and trial and error are essential to Amazon’s innovation policy.

Managing internal data appropriately can be the key to optimizing a company’s human resources – from predicting whether a candidate will be successful to combating brain drain.

BBVA’s Group Executive Chairman said that developing the best banking application in the world (according to Forrester) has been a work that “has taken many years.” To get to this point, Francisco González underscored that “the most important thing was when we adopted ‘agile’ work methodologies that allow us to deliver upgrades every three months.” The application helps customers make better financial decisions and manage their financial lives better. Ultimately, he stated, we “want to be the best adviser of our customers.”

It’s always new times for innovation. It has always been and it will always be. It’s in our nature to challenge the model to stress the rules. Even our own model.

In the United States, there are already $20 billion under management by robot advisors and for the moment, the numbers testify to the success. Improving their knowledge of the investor could turn robo-advisors into a financial tool of the first order.

The R3 consortium is working with 12 financial institutions –including BBVA– and TradeIX in an initiative that aims to re-design the trade finance infrastructure through the use of distributed ledger technology, or DLT.

The combination of data from financial operations and advanced machine learning techniques allows BBVA to identify patterns and design tools that offer increasingly personalized and intelligent products and services.

For months now, ‘blockchain’ has been a core topic of interest for online media outlets and social networks, sparking endless debates. This list of eleven Twitter accounts offering high-quality blockchain-related content will help you wade through the clutter.

Kevin Mitnick, the top cybersecurity keynote speaker, is back for another round of Bright Perspective events this coming fall in tandem with BBVA Compass, and his first stop took him to the Magic City.

Since August 1, there has been more than one bitcoin in the crypto-currency markets. On that day, bitcoin cash debuted in the ever-expanding world of blockchain-based virtual currencies. These are the five keys to the new crypto-currency.

Under 30, entrepreneurs and digital. This are the common traits that define the young Europeans chosen by Forbes magazine in its ’30 Under 30′ list. A mobile navigation aide for the visually impaired, a meal kit delivery platform, a t-shirt that allows users to peek inside the human body, a nightlife finder in London… Many tech-related projects that deserve special attention.  Here we take a look at a few of them.

If you ask scientists in the field of artificial intelligence when they expect fiction to become reality and robots’ intelligence to exceed that of humans, they would likely say it’s right around the corner, sometime between 2030 and 2050.

Machines are getting smarter: trading trillions of dollars in stocks around the world, driving cars, performing surgical operations (570,000 last year), managing and running entire hotels, making cocktails on cruise ships in the Caribbean… truly, we are living in the age of the machine.

Computers already know how to paint, write poetry, compose music and come up with jokes without assistance. They aren’t able to break molds like the great masters, but machines can be creative, explains Ramón López de Mántaras in the book The Next Step. Exponential Life, which can be download for free on the website of BBVA’s OpenMind project.

The technology company recognizes BBVA’s digital transformation by including it among the first companies to test their new range of processors.

There are currently 197 unicorn companies in the world, with 24 new additions so far this year. Fintech, smart building, cybersecurity, messaging… the new arrivals come from a wide range of sectors. Among the veterans, Uber is leading the way with a valuation of $68 billion.