Frontiers of Financial Technology: Expeditions in future commerce, from blockchain and digital banking to prediction markets and beyond

Financial technology innovation has exploded in the popular consciousness, and promises a radical transformation of the global financial services industry. Over $20 billion is expected to be invested in fintech projects in 2016. How can executives, investors, and entrepreneurs make sense of the new inventions that are driving this change? MIT Professor Alex “Sandy” Pentland, called by Forbes one of the seven most powerful data scientists on the planet, is joined by fintech intrapreneur and educator David Shrier in curating an exploration of several major trends and technologies that are changing the face of financial services. Coauthors include Deven Sharma, the former President of S&P, and Alex Lipton, the former head of quantitative analytics for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. From blockchain to artificial intelligence, this series of articles helps the reader grapple with this exciting area of technology innovation.

David Shrier is Managing Director of MIT Connection Science and leads creation and launch of other new initiatives for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. David recently advised the European Commission on commercializing innovation with a focus on digital technology. He specializes in building new revenue on established platforms, having developed $8.5 billion of growth opportunities with companies including GE/NBC Universal, Dun & Bradstreet, Wolters Kluwer, Disney, Ernst & Young, AOL Verizon, and Starwood, as well as leading private equity and VC funds. He has started and/or led a number of private equity and venture capital-backed companies as CEO, CFO or COO. David teaches courses and workshops for MIT such as "Future Commerce", "Data Academy", "Big Data and Social Analytics", and "Future Health". David Shrier was granted an Sc.B. from Brown University in Biology and Theatre. Professor Alex "Sandy" Pentland holds a triple appointment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Media Lab (SA+P), School of Engineering and School of Management. He also directs MIT's Connection Science initiative, the Human Dynamics Laboratory and the MIT Media Lab Entrepreneurship Program, and has been a member of the Advisory Boards for Google, Nissan, Telefonica, Tencent, and a variety of start-up firms. For several years he co-led the World Economic Forum Big Data and Personal Data initiatives. He has pioneered the fields of wearable computing and computational social science, generating several successful startups and technology spinoffs. Sandy was recently named by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development. Sandy has previously helped create and direct MIT's Media Laboratory, the Media Lab Asia laboratories at the Indian Institutes of Technology, and Strong Hospital's Center for Future Health. In 2012 Forbes named Sandy one of the "seven most powerful data scientists in the world", along with the founders of Google and the CTO of the United States, and in 2013 he won the McKinsey Award from Harvard Business Review. Prof. Pentland's books include Honest Signals and Social Physics. He was named to the National Academy of Engineering in 2014. Sandy holds a BGS from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from MIT.