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Innovate!Europe 2008
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Guidewire Group Newsletter "From the Desk of Chris Shipley"
A monthly helping of unbiased insight and market context around companies and trends in the innovation ecosystem.
Agenda
Within the city centre and walking distance from one another. Maps are available at the Innovate!Europe Registration Desk.
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Tuesday 8 May 2007
| 17h00 – 19h30 | Registration The Palafox Hotel |
19h00 – 21h00 |
Welcome Reception |
Wednesday 9 May 2007
| 08h00 –09h30 | Registration Teatro Principal Foyer |
08h00 –09h30 |
Breakfast |
9h45 – 11h45 |
General Session |
Welcome |
Chris Shipley – opening remarks |
Panel: |
From Open Source to Open Innovation - Fueling the fire of entrepreneurship The European technology market has long embraced the value of open source technology. As the philosophy of developing open systems spreads, this affinity for openness has expanded beyond the technology and into the methods by which companies are being built and run. It’s about R&D. It’s about business development. And most of all it’s about the way in which the players – both large and small – interact in the ecosystem. With the European market as such fertile ground for the growth and expansion of this open source philosophy, there are substantial commercial gains being made.In this session - a discussion with some of the players who are helping make this open innovation market and philosophy a reality.
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Moderator: |
Chris Shipley, Cofounder, Guidewire Group
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| Demos: | Ghosts, Avatars and Voices in the Machine:
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Fireside Chat: |
Dr. Hermann Hauser, Cofounder
of Amadeus Capital, “Investor of the Year” |
11h45 – 12h15 |
Coffee Break & Innovator!Showcase |
12h15 – 13h45 |
General Session |
Panel: |
What's R&D Got
to Do With it? In this session, a conversation with people who are redefining R&D and its role in brand and corporate development.
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Moderator: |
Cathy Brooks, Senior Analyst, Guidewire Group
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| Demos: | Rich Media Gets Richer
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| 13h45 – 16h30 | Tapas Lunch and Innovator!Showcase Teatro Principal |
17h00- 19h00 |
General Session |
| Demos: | Remaking the Internet
in Your Image
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| Panel: | Power Angels: A New Breed of Investors Spread Their Wwings European entrepreneurs have faced many challenges, not the least of which has been trying to find investors amidst a fractured ecosystem. Over recent years this has improved and the latest asset coming in to help is coming from within the entrepreneurs’ ranks. A band of successful entrepreneurs have emerged, bringing their considerable business acumen and checkbooks to help bolster efforts for start-up companies.In this session, several of these Power Angels will discuss the growth of the market, their role in bringing it forward and where things go from here.
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Moderator: |
Löic Le Meur, Entrepreneur, Blogger, and Vlogger
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| Demos: | An Enterprise and
Application Development Taster
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| 20h00 – 23h00 | Annual Innovate!Europe
Networking Reception & Dinner NH Gran Hotel |
21h00 – 23h00 |
Late Night at Innovate! (No-host beverages)
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Thursday 10 May 2007
| 08h00 – 09h30 | Registration Teatro Principal Foyer |
08h00 – 09h00 |
Breakfast |
10h00 – 11h30 |
General Session |
| Demos: | Realizing the Global
Village – Communities
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Fireside Chat: |
Tariq Krim, Founder & CEO of Netvibes – Interviewed by Chris Shipley |
| Demos: | It Takes a Village to …
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| 11h30 – 12h00 | Coffee Break & Innovator!Showcase Teatro Principal |
12h00 – 13h45 |
General Session |
| Panel: | Mobile technology
- at an Economic Crossroads The ubiquity of mobile devices, combined with the increased computing power they offer have enabled greater potential for collaboration across widespread areas with diverse and mobile teams. For emerging start-ups growing in the fertile European ecosystem this means teams are not tied by geography and can move - literally and figuratively - as their businesses require. Unfortunately, the economics of mobile computing haven’t caught up; and pricing models for mobile plans often force prohibitive cost barriers for small companies. In addition, new businesses are trying to disrupt the economics and business. This session brings together some the players who are taking on these challenges and hear how the European market could soon overcome these obstacles.
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Moderator: |
Thomas Crampton, Correspondent, International Herald Tribune
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| Demos: | On the Move – Great
Mobile Technology Solutions
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13h45 – 16h30 |
Tapas Lunch and Innovator!Showcase |
| 17h00 - 19h00 | General Session Teatro Principal |
Fireside Chat: |
Martin Varsavsky, CEO of FON, “Entreprenuer of the Year” – Interviewed by Chris Shipley |
| Panel: | Building Business
by Playing Games Shakespeare said: “all the world’s a stage”. In today’s technology-infused existence that metaphor shifts to the multi-level environment created by the world of gaming. Once the domain of teenage boys, gaming has become a powerful platform for building businesses, establishing relationships and generating money. From the creation of entirely new business models and economies to the use of gaming technology as a way to engage with customers and employees to the use of games as an avenue for brand development and marketing – gaming isn’t just for kids. In this session some of the leading players talk about how it’s time for business to come out and play.
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Moderator: |
Chris Shipley, Cofounder, Guidewire Group
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| 19h30 - 21h30 | Closing
Reception & Innovate!Honours Awards Palacio de la Aljaferia |
All of our conference sessions this year will focus around the Four Cs: Communications; Collaborations; Content; Commercialisation.
Communications
Around the world, people are experiencing a fundamental shift in how they communicate – both in terms of the technology and the psychology of engagement with one another. That is creating market and social disruption on a massive scale. An array of companies like Skype, FON, Rebtel, Jajah, MobileSphere, are delivering communications solutions that flatten the global marketplace and dramatically accelerate the pace of business.
These pressures add to the already burgeoning challenges placed on the telecommunications market by technological advances, emerging companies, and new entrepreneurs who embrace VoIP, open networks, and other enabling technologies. All of these factors upset the economics of communications while giving an advantage to businesses and people who can now be in closer contact.
What does it mean when you have a global team that can work in real time to bring a product to market? What does it mean when the cost of international calling goes to zero? How quickly will markets expand when the cost of delivery of digital goods goes to zero and the time to delivery is measured in nanoseconds? How does that affect the pace of business globally? And how must your organisation adapt?
This extended connectivity is pushing a major economic shift, because business with strong communication can move across borders more easily. And in doing so can enjoy ever-expanding markets in which to grow.
Collaboration
With communication, comes an ability to join with others to create, build, and distribute just about anything. Technical advances and plummeting costs of communications infrastructure, shifting media paradigms, social networks, and an always-connected lifestyle are combining to create a global collaborative environment. Whether sharing ring tones or photographs, creating as part of a global workgroup, or telling the world what you think by commenting on a blog post half way around the world – we are collaborating freely across time zones, geography and cultures.
Crossing geographic and cultural boundaries also requires adaptability. Without the flexibility to modify how you interact and incorporate others’ perspectives into your own, you will find yourself sitting on the sidelines as those with the skills to acclimate take the lead.
Just as it accelerates business, this global information sharing is doing more to shift cultures of entrepreneurship than any business school. Traditional business operations are being eclipsed by wholly new methods. Today, a 20 year old in Romania can team with a product manager in Silicon Valley and loop in an interface designer in India – the global village has become a global office.
How will this dynamic, collaborative marketplace affect your product design, your customer base, and your business?
Content
The Internet liberated media, and content will never be the same. Our persistent connection to the web has forever altered the nature of content – both in how it is created and how it is obtained. With the means to consume, create, and distribute written, spoken, and visual content now democratised, individuals have become empowered – and powerful – participants in the media mix.
In this new paradigm, creator and consumer of media are undistinguished. The audience decides which voices are credible and which are not. No longer is trust tied necessarily to major brand name media outlets. A single voice or small group can gain power by establishing personality and credibility. Individuals enjoy access to nearly anything they want, whenever and wherever they want it; and with the always-on nature of today’s world the chances are more than likely that this information is delivered as soon as it emerges.
The democratization of media is good, yet with the good comes a new set of challenges. The tsunami of information can overwhelming. People are spending so much time consuming media online that there’s little time to digest and gain perspective. We worry about keeping up (“Can we create another YouTube?”) without putting information in perspective (”How does YouTube change our world?”).
Commercialisation
Content isn’t just about the text, images and video. Where business is concerned, the new content-driven market is about interaction, community and anything else that engages the new consumer/creator with your product. It is no longer good enough to bring a product to market. Now customers play a direct role in shaping product strategies. How does a global community impact your brand? What does the new creator/consumer mean for IP protection, information distribution, or rights management?
You can have the world’s best engineering and most elegant technology, but without attention to the market your ability to take a great idea to fruition is now both more simple and more complicated than ever. You must plan for commercialisation from the outset of product development. With access to so many markets there is much opportunity, but every market requires a different perspective, a different conversation.
Whether it’s an application that is commerce or the commerce of an application, we are facing more opportunities today than ever before. Through easier communication, simplified collaboration and user-generated content – new businesses are emerging. And these businesses, by the nature of the environment in which they are born, are defined as global from the very start.
Yet while the barriers to global communications are much lower, the one that remains high is being heard above the noise created by the other three. How do you come up with an idea, find a solution, create a business and then become a global entrepreneur? More importantly with so many more models and more understanding of business, the marketplace can take hold of and force your business. You put up a Web site, the market finds you, and your business can take off. Accidental commercialisation can be as damaging as not commercialising at all. In today’s global market, it’s about more than understanding your market. It’s about maintaining control of the dialogue or at least remaining a participant.
