Fintech, FX analytics and academia get ever closer at BarcelonaTech’s Computer Science faculty

The correlation between wood-paneled academia and plate-glass financial technology is getting ever stronger, with the latest example being today’s announcement by British news analytics company Acuity Trading that it is to collaborate with the Department of Computer Science at Spain’s Unversitat Politecnica de Catalunya.

Acuity Trading’s collaboration with the learning institution, known colloquially by its acronym UPC, or by its short form BarcelonaTech, aims to facilitate the collaboration between Acuity Trading and UPC in research matters pertaining to computational finance, using a series of mechanisms including statistics, econonmetrics, mathematical finance and computer science.

Founded by fluent Spanish speaking industry professional Andrew Lane in London, Acuity Trading entered the world of analytics in January 2013. Mr. Lane had spent almost ten years at Dow Jones before establishing the company, concentrating on sales and business development in Southern Europe, based in Madrid, and is currently based in Barcelona.

A year at a subsidiary of NewsCorp International ensued, where Mr. Lane worked within product and sales to grow sales of FX related content to institutional and retail clients in Europe, as well as Latin America.

Speaking today on the collaboration,  UPC Professor Argimiro Arratia stated

“I welcome the development of this strategic relationship between the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya and Acuity Trading. It provides our students and department with the opportunity to work closely with industry and forge relationships with business owners who are at deploying Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology in their business.”

Mr. Lane made a commercial statement today that

“With NLP technology advancing at its current pace and the surge in its applications across many industries, Acuity Trading is keen to stay at the forefront of developments and to maximise its potential in our product offering both now and in the future.

“We hope that through academic partnerships, such as this one with the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, companies such as ours not only support young scientists with the essential skills to enter the industry but also ensure that the academic staff and the Universities themselves are better prepared to support the future direction and needs of our sector.”

“We are really excited to be working with Professor Arratia and his team on this research project. With close ties to Barcelona, being able to access the skills of such talented professionals on our doorstep is both exciting and testament to Barcelona’s growing reputation as a technical hub.”

Featured Image: UPC’s highly advanced campus