There is a great momentum building in the European and global technology markets. Entrepreneurship is flourishing, and the infrastructure to build and support young companies is improving daily. Where last year, we gathered in Zaragoza to discuss the challenges in the Innovation Ecosystem, this year, we celebrate the successes. Certainly, many challenges remain. Still, as you heard from the speakers and saw in the companies at Innovate!Europe, this marketplace has moved very far, very fast.

Eleven months ago, investors, entrepreneurs, public officials, customers, and service providers came to Zaragoza to talk about the challenges in the innovation ecosystem. There was a lot to talk about, too:

• Were the engines of innovation running properly?
• How could small European startups really compete in a global marketplace?
• Could they effectively commercialize the technologies they were inventing?
• What were investors thinking?
• Were the large platform providers really offering a hand up to early stage companies?
• Could entrepreneurs – and investors, for that matter – overcome the cultural and social stigmas regarding risk and even success?

These were big questions and we bravely took them on in wonderfully interactive discussions where the lines between the stage and the audience blurred so that ideas and comments could be debated among all the delegates. And finally, we put all this thinking into the white paper which by now many of you have downloaded and read.

Speakers Included...
	Niklas Zennström Skype
	Gil Penchina eBay Europe
	Sherry Roberts Symbian
	Loic Le Meur Six Apart
	Mike Arrington TechCrunch
	Fred Destin Atlas Venture
	Mark Tluszcz Mangrove Capital Partners
	Judy Gibbons Accel Partners
	Mike Carr British Telecom
	Juan-Alberto Belloch Mayor of Zaragoza
	Francisco Ros Minister of Industry, Spain
See the sessions and full speaker line-up...

Now, 11 months later, we returned to Zaragoza, but this time, we were not wringing our hands and wondering why the innovation ecosystem wasn’t working as effectively as it could. We were not standing in the shadow of the US market or the emerging Chinese power house.

At this second edition of Innovate!Europe, we were here to celebrate.

We celebrate progress . . . In just a very short space of time, Europe has emerged as – yes, believe it – a technology startup power house. Sure, the rate of entrepreneurship does not yet equal that in North America on an absolute basis, but entrepreneurship is rapidly growing and perhaps even outstripping the US on a relative basis.

Without question, in the past 11 months, I have seen more and better small companies coming out of Europe than I have seen the previous 10 years combined. It has – almost – become fashionable to be an entrepreneur in Europe today. The cultural stigmas, while not gone completely, and fading quickly.

What’s happened? For starters, a great many of the innovating entrepreneurs creating and riding the European startup wave have come out of university in the past few years. They have grown up knowing computers from their earliest days. Many can barely remember dial-up networking; broadband connectivity is almost always taken for granted. Best of all, most of these young entrepreneurs have heard cautionary tales of the Internet crash of 2000, but few really experienced it.

For this generation, building companies is a natural act. They aren’t defying custom or eschewing lifetime jobs so much as embracing their exciting ideas and working to bring them to reality.

Indeed, we have reached a cultural turning point at which entrepreneurship drives new social and economic growth.

We celebrate a global market . . . Companies coming to the market today cannot – and do not – think solely of their local markets. European startups must embrace their global aspirations from the onset, and in doing so, these companies may actually have an advantage over their North American counterparts.

The truth is every European startup – while it might focus on its local market – must compete in a global market from the outset. Why is this?

Because customers understand their options. The abundance of information about just about any thing suggests that customers will have a strong understanding of the competitive feature set of just about any product offering. You will not be able to cut corners and omit features because, after all, you’re only selling in the Spanish or French, or German markets. Your customers know what is available in the US, the UK, China, New Zealand . . . and they will expect you to deliver a competitive feature set, regardless of localisation.

Today, when I speak with European entrepreneurs, it is quite obvious to me that these companies know the scope of their competitors around the world. They understand that they can’t just be the best offering in their local market in order to win the day, they have to be competitive on a global scale.

Of course this also means that companies will move more quickly from local to international markets . . . and that can only be good for innovation – also on a global scale.

We celebrate success . . . In the last year, we have seen some spectacular exits. Certainly, Skype’s Niklas Zennstrom has become an entrepreneurial hero in Europe and beyond. But Skype is not the only example… entrepreneurship is paying off and paying off well.

Indeed, Innovate!Europe is a celebration of 35 companies that have been selected from more than 100. It is a celebration of new opportunities in emerging global markets. And it is a celebration of the great momentum that we took on as a challenge at our first Innovate! event last year, but that we can see is driving real change and opportunity now.

Our confirmed speakers include:

• Isabel Aguilera, Google Spain and Portugal
• Miguel M. Latasa Alzuri, Informatica El Corte Ingles
• Michael Arrington, TechCrunch
• Juan-Alberto Belloch, Mayor of Zaragoza
• Jean Bourcereau, Ventech Capital
• Niclas Bergstrom, ReadSpeaker
• Mike Carr, British Telecom
• Sherry Coutu, Angel Investor
• Fred Destin, Atlas Ventures
• Anthony Dyer, The Connectivity Warehouse
• Philip Gallagher, Guidewire Group
• Judy Gibbons, Accel Partners
• Marc Goldberg, Occam Capital
• Rafi Haladjian, VIOLET
• Tariq Krim,Netvibes
• Alberto Larraz, Government of Aragon
• Loic Le Meur, Six Apart
• Cedric Maloux, AllPeers
• Brian O'Malley, Enterprise Ireland
• Gil Penchina, eBay Europe
• Sherry Roberts, Symbian
• Francisco Ros, Ministry of Industry, Spain
• Nicolas Rose, Partner, XAnge Equity
• David Rowe, Microsoft EMEA
• Steve Schlenker, DN Capital
• Hervé Schricke, XAnge Private Equity
• Gary Stewart, Goa Internet Services
• Mark Tluszcz, Mangrove Capital Partners
• Mark Veverka, Barron's
• Javier Rodriguez Zapatero, Yahoo! Iberia
• Niklas Zennström, Skype

Check back here for additional speaker updates and bios.

The 2006 Advisory Board is still growing, but currently includes:

• Claudia Blumhuber, Global Finance
• Philippe Collombel, Partech International
• Sherry Coutu, Porpoise Ventures
• Giuseppe Curatolo, TLcom Capital Partners
• Niall Davis, First Ventury
• Fred Destin, Atlas Venture
• Rosemary Forsyth, The Forsyth Group
• Marc Goldberg, Occam Capital
• Bruno Giussani, Author
• Chris Grew, Wilmer Hale
• Alberto Haddad, Melcion & Co.
• Miguel Latasa, Infomática El Corte Inglés
• Simon Levene, Yahoo!
• Jonathan Medved, tenXGroup
• Loic LeMeur, SixApart
• Julie Meyer, Ariadne Capital
• Mårten Mickos, MySql
• Gil Penchina, eBay
• Chemi Peres, Pitango Venture Capital
• JP Rangaswami, DKW
• Danny Rimer, Index Capital
• Heidi Sinclair, Burson-Marsteller

Since 1983 Accel Partners has provided venture capital backing for innovative companies in the technology industry. The business always looks for outstanding management teams who wish to build world-class internet, software and networking companies regionally and globally. With over $3 billion under management, Accel’s legacy is in helping entrepreneurs build highly successful companies who have completed IPOs that created over $100 billion in market capitalisation. These companies include category-defining names like Actuate, Agile Software, AMCC, Arrowpoint, Foundry, Macromedia, Portal, Polycom/PictureTel, Uunet, Veritas and Real Networks.

For more information, visit the Accel Partners website at www.accel.com.

Director General, Informatica El Corte Ingles

Mr. Latasa has a degree in Economic Science from Universidad Complutense de Madrid(1959-60/1963-64). He gained his doctorate from the same university (1964-65/1965-66) whileworking at S.I.E. (Sociedad de Investigación Económica - The Organisation for Economic Research) where he specialised in statistics, macroeconomics, and market analysis. Later, Mr. Latasa also obtained an advanced degree in operations management from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In May of 1966, Mr Latasa joined Informática El Corte Inglés as a systems analyst working on the installation of the first mainframe computer system (IBM 360-40) in August of 1967. Until 1971, he participated directly in this process, assuming also the position of overall Chief of Information Studies that included the Department of Analysis and Programming, as well as Data Processing and the Department of Economic Studies and Market Analysis. In 1974 he was appointed Director of Data Processing for El Corte Inglés, a role which he carried out for the entire Group of companies until 1998. In 1986 Informática El Corte Inglés S.A. was created and Mr. Latasa was appointed Managing Director and in 1994 became Chairman. Currently, he is CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors for both the Computer Systems and Technology divisions of Informática El Corte Inglés.

Managing Director, GlobalFinance

Ms. Blümhuber founded GlobalFinance in early 1999. From her personal relationships with numerous asset managers, private equity firms and corporates, Ms. Blümhuber is widely known as one of the best-connected advisors internationally in the investment community. Over the past few years, she has led various private placement and M&A transactions and has advised institutions on private equity. Ms. Blümhuber's background is media. She was a journalist and independent film producer, and a project director at Bayerische Landeszentrale für Neue Medien (BLM), a state media agency. She also worked at Multimedia Support Center (msc) where she acted as a consultant on raising capital and brought the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Entrepreneurship Center to Germany. Ms. Blümhuber also teaches entrepreneurship at the TU München and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of Munich and sits on the Advisory Board of the European Technology Forum (ETF). Ms. Blümhuber studied at the TU and LMU München, was a research fellow at Harvard and has close connectionsto the MITSloan School of Management.

General Partner, Europe, Partech VC

Philippe Collombel joined Partech in 2001. His previous experience includes managing Internet strategic initiatives for @carrefour, a subsidiary of the leading retailer Carrefour, and for Accenture. Mr. Collombel serves on the boards of Pertinence, Netsize and Cartesis. He holds an executive degree from Northwestern University, a masters degree in Law and Economics from the University of Paris, and is a graduate of Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.

Chairman, Porpoise Ventures

Sherry Coutu pursues a portfolio of interests which include investing in early stage companies, holding non-executive directorships at several private companies and public companies, and serving as a trustee of two charities. In addition, she is an active member of the CambridgeAngels, vice-chair of the Prince’s Trust Technology Leadership Group, a member of the Cambridge University Development Committee and a member of the European Leadership Council of the Harvard Business School.Prior to her portfolio career, Mrs. Coutu established and sold two software companies that continue to serve the financial services industry. The first was acquired in 1997 and currently has operations in more than 70 countries,and the second was floated on the London and NASDAQ markets in 2000 and currently serves 1.7 million retailfinancial customers in the UK. She has been named by Tornado Insider as one of the Top 20 Trend Setting Women in Europe and is a past finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year with Ernst and Young and Businesswoman of the Yearwith Veuve Cliquot. Prior to her entrepreneurial ventures, Mrs. Coutu worked as a consultant with LEK consulting, Accenture, and Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte. She is married and has three young children.

General Partner, TLcom Capital Partners

Mr. Curatolo is a General Partner of TLcom Capital Partners, where he focuses on mobile network infrastructure as well as innovative applications of material science to the information technology sector. Prior to TLcom, he was a Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet Ventures in London, an affiliate early stage venture capital fund of DFJ, one of the oldest and most successful Silicon Valley VC funds. During his tenure at DFJ, Mr. Curatolo led the firm's European effort in wireless communications and was heavily involved indeveloping the firm's position in emerging technologies such as nanotechnology and innovative applications of material sciences. Previously he was a Vice President with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity, where since 1998 he focused on European early-stage technology investments. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, he was a Consultant in the San Francisco office of Bain and Company. While at Bain he focused on designing and implementing growth strategies for several clients operating in the telecommunication and technology sectors. Mr. Curatolo graduated in Business Administration at the Bocconi University of Milan and holds an MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Partner-IT, First Ventury

Mr. Davis is a Partner at First Ventury, one of Germany’s leading Venture Capital firms, where he focuses on open source, enterprise software, security, Internet applications, IT in healthcare, ITinfrastructure, compilers, operating systems, wireless communication, and home entertainment systems. He is a member of the Board of webEdition, XtraMind, and Rotani and an advisor to Portalium Ventures Fund I (Israel). Mr. Davis was previously CEO of Astarte New Media AG. He also has extensive experience as a technical director and software developer, and in all commonly used IT systems and development environments. Mr. Davis holds a BA Business Systems from London Metropolitan University, London. He also completed the EVCA Institute Private Equity Management Training.

Partner, Atlas Ventures

Fred Destin is a Partner in the information technology sector and joined Atlas Venture in 2004. Prior to joining the Paris team, Fred managed Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein's OM Technology Investments Fund where he focused on infrastructure software. He worked closely with management teams in the US and in Europe as Director of Inxight Software, Kasenna Inc and Vordel Ltd, among others. Previously, Fred served as Venture Manager at Speed Ventures, a seed stage technology investor funded by Permira Ventures and Soros Partners. He was also an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs in London, and has further experience with Zurich Capital Markets and J.P. Morgan. Fred holds a Masters in Financial Engineering from the University of Brussels (Solvay).

Founding & General Partner, Forsyth Group

Ms. Forsyth has been the General Partner of the Forsyth Group since she founded the company in 1981. Recognising the potential growth of Information Technology within business, the Forsyth Group was the firstExecutive Search Consultancy to focus on the emerging technology market. During the 24 years since founding the company, Ms. Forsyth has developed extensive search experience across all technology sectors and conducts "C" and Board level assignments for technology companiesin Europe and the United States. Prior to founding the company, she was divisional managing director of an International Executive Search Firm. She has also been a key contributor and advisor to the investment community in relation to the establishment oftheir corporate pre- and- post IPO infrastructure. Ms. Forsyth holds a Master’s degree with honours in Psychology and an M.Litt degree in Education Psychology, both from Aberdeen University in Scotland.

Author

Mr. Giussani is a writer and commentator, the Producer of the TEDGLOBAL conference(Oxford, 2005) and an Affiliated Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He blogs at giussani.typepad.com. He lives in Switzerland. Mr. Giussani is a contributor to several newspapers, magazines and websites in Europe and in the United States. Most recently, his work has appeared in, among others, L'Hebdo, Weltwoche, Time, the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal Europe, the NeueZürcher Zeitung, InfoWeek and the Sunday paper Il Caffé.

Managing Partner, Occam Capital

Based in Paris (France), Mr. Goldberg is a managing Partner of Occam Capital with over 20 years of experience in the software industry in the US and in Europe. He founded Occam Capital in 2004 to focus on under-served Europe IPin the Information Technology industry, and build a technology consolidation fund that would support the local innovation community, and deliver superior return to its investors. Most recently Mr. Goldberg was a General Partner of RVC, the manager of the Reuters Greenhouse Fund, theCorporate VC arm of Reuters. RVC was instrumental in some of the most profitable European transactions withID2 (sold to Sonera), MetaMerge (sold to IBM), Orchestream (LSE IPO), Fantastic Corporation (Neue Merk IPO), Tradeum (sold to VerticalNet), as the Greenhouse fund was invested in 82 companies and generated 16 IPOs and27 trade sales.Before RVC, Mr. Goldberg was involved both as an entrepreneur and senior executive in Technology and Product Management in large and small technology companies: Renaissance Software (sold to SunGard), Rational Software (sold to IBM for $2.1B), Thales-Syseca (Paris) , KMPG-Nolan Norton (Palo Alto), and Reuters (London). After more than 15 years away from France, he is now back in Paris where he lives with his wife and three children. He's passionate about Venture Capital, technology, innovation, Europe, running marathons, great food and good wine.

Partner-Corporate Department, Wilmer & Hale

Mr. Grew advises technology companies in public offerings, venture capital transactions, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. He regularly advises high technology (particularly computer software and hardware) companies with respect to their international business operations and transactions, as well as investment banks, venture capital firms and other financial intermediaries that serve technology companies. Mr. Grew has acted for issuers or underwriters in public offerings on the following stock exchanges: Copenhagen Stock Exchange; London Stock Exchange; Nasdaq Europe (formerly Easdaq); Nasdaq; Neuer Market; NouveauMarché, SWX Swiss Exchange; and Stockholm Stock Exchange. Mr. Grew has been recognised in various legal publications, including Business XL(as one of "The Power Top 50,"the 50 most influential venture capitalists and advisors in the United Kingdom); The Insider's Guide to Legal Servicesin Digital Media and E-commerce (as one of the "Digital Dozen," the top 12 individual lawyers in E-commerce);Legal Business magazine (as a "Legal Expert" in private equity – 2001 to date); Chambers Guide to the UK LegalProfession (as a leader in E-commerce – 2000 to date); and Chambers Global, The World’s Leading Lawyers (asan leader in Communications: E-commerce – 2000 to date). Mr. Grew also has been profiled in various publications, including The Wall Street Journal (Europe) (as a "Top DealMaker: The Adviser"); Time Magazine (European edition) (as "The People’s E-Advocate") and Tornado Insider(cover story – "Chris Grew: An American lawyer in London").Mr. Grew is the editor of Full Ratchet: The Trans-Atlantic Venture Capital Review and is a frequent author on venture capital in the technology industry.