How to fix the innovation gap: A conversation with Judy EstrinIn this video interview, the author of Closing the Innovation Gap: Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy says we are living off the previous generation’s research investments and thus failing to make the basic research investments needed to seed innovation in the future. Estrin taps her years of experience in nurturing Silicon Valley companies to describe what’s necessary to help new ideas thrive. She also offers some advice to the incoming administration on how to begin reinvesting in fruitful research.

]]> http://www.startup-boost.com/?feed=rss2&p=28 http://www.startup-boost.com/?p=29 http://www.startup-boost.com/?p=29#comments Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:42:57 +0000 admin http://www.startup-boost.com/?p=29

Peter Harboe-Schmidt 

has the great pleasure to announce the launch of his book   

 THE ULTIMATE CURE

The story:

Young Swiss scientist Martin Rieder is working hard on a dream 

project with his brilliant colleague, Tanya Karnov. A discovery 

that promises a breakthrough in cancer cure. But one crucial

element is still missing: investors with deep pockets.

In the midst of their fundraising efforts to prepare for the 

first trials on humans, unexpected and troubling events start 

occurring in the laboratories. Are they the result of a lack of 

professionalism or is someone deliberately causing them?

Oscillating between maddening reality and nascent paranoia, 

Martin finds himself caught up in a situation in which everything 

appears to be getting out of hand.

Written with a healthy dose of humour, THE ULTIMATE CURE

depicts one man’s dramatic against-the-clock struggle with the 

uncontrollable elements of life and the innermost foundations 

of his own beliefs.

For more information, please visit the web site: www.the-ultimate-cure.com

It seems we are still far from the situation that prevailed back in 2002 when seed and 1st round funding was very scarce. Even funds that were supposed to provide Venture Capital had turned to LBO’s or taking quoted firms back to private. It took 2 to 3 years before things went back to normal. The irony then was that VC’s started complaining from 2004 about the reduced dealflow, given the lack of funded start-ups in the past 3 years.

I am interested in evidence and testimonies about reduced availability of funds in France and Switzerland. If you have information in that respect, please drop me a note using the  contact section of the site.

Thanks!

Jean-Philippe Lallement

Beyond the detailed and precise information, the purpose is to make us think about the ingredients of significant and repeated (high tech) entrepreneurial success. The rich eco-system of Silicon Valley has not (yet) been replicated to the same extent in Europe, mainly due to cultural reasons in my opinion. Yet other models are being tried in Asia and India with convincing results.

In our new borderless world of Internet and extended networking, it will be interesting to see if many of the cultural obstacles to start-up creations are finally removed and an even-playing field develops. Yet for a long time to come, the Silicon Valley phenomenon will remain THE reference model.

A very stimulating book indeed! Here is the teaser:

<<

Is the world of start-ups misunderstood? This economic phenomenon of major importance, which appeared fifty years ago in Silicon Valley near San Francisco, seems to face scepticism and even suspicion. It may still suffer from the consequences of the excesses of the Internet bubble in the late nineties.

However Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Yahoo and Google were all start-ups and they prove that the emergence of start-ups is not mere speculation. Neither is it limited to these famous success stories.

The book tells the exceptional story of start-ups which have created, in Silicon Valley, a true ecosystem. It explores why this model has relatively failed in Europe. And the author concludes by stating that the Old Continent and any region interested in high tech should draw inspiration more efficiently from the successes of Silicon Valley. Successes created by individuals driven by passion, desire and dreams.

For this reason, it should be read by a large public, not only by specialists of innovation or by high-tech entrepreneurs, but also by anyone puzzled by the thrilling world of start-ups.

>>

On the economic front, a global slowdown is anticipated and actually welcomed as competition for natural resources exacerbates. The slowdown may however be quite moderate so that demand for natural resources and energy is likely to remain strong and inflationary pressures could strengthen. Unbalances in growth between BRIC (Brazil Russia India China) + other Asian and Middle East countries, and USA / Western Europe should increase, with significant economic consequences - the recent bail out of large US / European banks by Asian and Middle East sovereign funds illustrates well the on-going phenomena.

On the innovation front, the current powerful trends are expected to develop at full speed; it’s hard to list all the numerous trends that are fundamentally reshaping our way of living with accelerated momentum but here is my own priority list:

- sustainable development - watch in particular the emergence of green sites leveraging social networks

- renewable energy and cleantech

- social networking and entrepreneurship leveraging web 2.0

- mobility

- videomania

- google and apple mania, with a bunch of new projects such as semantic search, google health, etc… that will lead entire industry sectors

- and of course biotech and medtech

Significant opportunities in particular develop at the convergence of technology and societal trends - such as green community networks, mobile videos, etc…

Definitely the environment is very much in favour of innovation and provides plenty of room for entrepreneurship. It’s up to us!

I wish you a very healthy, enjoyable, energetic and successful New Year.

Jean-Philippe Lallement, Founder

On 10th October, 2007 in Estoril, Portugal, the members that participated in the Business Angels Leaders Forum, co-organized by FNABA (Portuguese Business Angels Federation), EBAN (European Business Angels Network) and ACA (Angel Capital Association), from US, decided to create the World Business Angels Association, effective January the 1st,2008.

This event took place under the EU Portuguese Presidency, and Jaime Andrez, President of IAPMEI (Portuguese SMEs Agency), closing the event, declared “This is an important step for developing Business Angels community worldwide, and the Portuguese EU Presidency, will promote this movement in the next EU Competitiveness Ministers Council, to be held in Portugal, in November”The following regions were represented by the association:

• North America, through ACA
• Europe, through EBAN
• Arab Countries, through ABAN (Arab Business Angels Network)
• North Africa

The following countries/regions were present:
Angola, Australia, Brasil, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Finland, France, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom

What came out of the speaker presentations was clearly that success is more often than not very close to failure. The two companies involved in the solar energy market, as machine manufacturer (www.3-s.ch) and PV solar cell manufacturer (www.flexcell.com), had to reinvent their business models several times in the late 90’s early 2000’s as the market did not pick up. Thanks to the rapid growth emerging from 2002 onwards they survived and now thrive.

Nothing new, obviously, to many entrepreneurs. It is difficult, if not impossible to get in the market exactly at the right time - not too early with the risk of running out of cash, not too late with the risk of being left aside. It was certainly hard to predict how fast alternative energies could ramp up back then, although debates about Peak Oil have been ongoing for a while but without consensus.

The two start-ups have shown two fundamental qualities that made them survive: frugality and flexibility. They kept very low running costs and reajusted their model as needed. Congratulations and a good reminder of good practices!

As an interesting market information, it is now expected that solar energy will cost less to produce than other traditional sources of energy by 2010-2012. There is still room for exponential growth ahead!

The pitches of young researchers and entrepreneurs confirmed that a variety of solutions were being developed to make clean energies more efficient and cost-effective. Among them, smart energy storage solutions for private consumers and as an efficiency tool for energy producers (elected best project by the audience), the combination of electric motors and solar energy, or smart ways to recycle CO2 and actually produce energy from this recycling.

I found the variety and the quality of research emerging from EPFL on these topics amazing. It probably signals the overall intensity of the research going on around the world. As an entrepreneur, you do not want to be left out. As an investor, you want to intensify your investments in that field, although some form of bubble will undoubtly develop and there will be a time to get selective.

So watch out, we will come back soon with more insight on Energy and Cleantech, as well as other environment-friendly technologies such as water treatment that emerges as a phenomenal growth industry- while a huge worldwide challenge as well.

In the meantime, here is an interested report on Cleantech from 3I, the next technology revolution.

Jean-Philippe Lallement

Our intent is to gradually build up content, based on the additional experience we gather from our work with innovative start-up’s, forums and conferences we attend, and exchanges on this site and other sites related to innovation and entrepreneurship.

Innovation and high tech entrepreneurship are exciting topics but creating a successful start-up is definitely a challenging task, even for serial entrepreneurs. I strongly believe that by capitalizing on the sharing of experience from a community of active entrepreneurs, chances of success can be significantly improved. With this site we expect to bring our contribution to the knowledge base of the community.

Enjoy, and please let us know your feedback and suggestions!

Jean-Philippe Lallement, Founder