Posts Tagged ‘innovation’

4 Important Factors when Raising Funds

Thursday, July 8th, 2010
  1. Market. This is possibly the most important factor to consider: is there market demand for your product? If there isn’t you will have a chance even with a mediocre product, however, if there is already a strong market, even an extraordinary product might not do the trick.
  2. Momentum. You have to continuously show that you are working on your product. You need to have people using your product, not just once, but also coming and a good marketing strategy. This will indicate that you have some traction in the market.
  3. Team. You need to have a reliable team around you. Only hire people you know and that will stand behind your product and work on it with 100% effort.
  4. Naysayers. If people are saying what you are attempting can’t be done, that is a good sign. It means that they don’t know how to do it and as a result you know you have discovered something new.

For a more detailed account please see http://bit.ly/d99jDF

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Venture Capital, entrepreneurship, innovation | 1 Comment »

Silicon Valley in Europe?

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

The Russian president ordered the setting up of an international centre for technological innovation earlier this year. Through this, he hopes to attract young entrepreneurs and venture capital and private equity companies to the region. Construction on offices flats and labs will be started shortly, just west of the capital Moscow.

It seems that Russia wants to build its own Silicon Valley and it is clear that they are doing their best to attract both capital and intellect. They will be offering low rents, income tax exemptions and other perks to those willing to settle down in the area. The organizers are using the following pitch to attract companies: “Come, live, create and do good for yourself, Russia and the whole of civilization” (WSJ, 2010). For the moment, the main focus will be on ICT, Biotech, energy efficiency and nuclear technology.

If you want to read more on the topic, please visit: http://bit.ly/9IHDyu

Tags: , ,
Posted in entrepreneurship, innovation | 1 Comment »

Hard Times for German High-Tech Startups

Friday, June 18th, 2010

The Economic Crisis has led to a decrease of investment in high-tech startups by 70 percent in 2009. The most hard-hit from this have been the high-tech industries, which mainly need money in the seed phase to get off the ground. In 2009, only 8 million Euros were invested in seed funding, which is detrimental, as especially high-tech startups need a lot of money at the beginning.

The Problem is that investors want security that seed funding generally does not offer; most of the time it means high risk and low cost-efficiency. In Germany the selection of high-tech startups is limited, which leads investors to invest internationally rather than locally. Currently there are too few people risking to become self-employed, which is in part due to the lack of seed-stage investments.

The mentality in Germany has to be changed in order to get the startup motor running again. Financing should already occur in the research phase, which will increase the likelihood of people creating startups, as this idea is being encouraged very early on. With private investors not willing to invest in the seed phase, public investors have to step up and help the high-tech market get back on its feet.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Venture Capital | No Comments »

Ninth Heidelberg Innovation Forum on the 22nd of April, 2010: Cleantech and Green IT

Friday, April 9th, 2010

26 Cleantech and Green IT companies present their business ideas at the Heidelberger Innovation Forum on the 22nd of April, 2010.

The Keynote speakers this year are Wolfgang Seibold, partner at Early Bird Ventures, and entrepreneur, investor and founder of Beyond A Strategy Inc., Mona Pearl.

Since 2005, the Heidelberg Forum has helped early-stage companies find suitable investment opportunities, with great success: during the past events 250 entrepreneurs from 10 different countries presented their innovative ideas and more than half of them established valuable contacts to important investors in their respective sectors.

The conference will take place at the Studio of the Villa Bosch and the evening reception will be at the Palais Prince Carl in the old city of Heidelberg. During the evening reception, the best business idea will receive an award.

Please see the following link for any further information: http://heidelberger-innovationsforum.de/index.php?id=139&L=3

Tags: , , ,
Posted in clean technology | No Comments »

E-Energy: exploring the future of energy in Germany

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Although having met the Kyoto protocol quota in 2008, Germany continues to make efforts for a cleaner environment. Offshore wind turbine parks are the rising stars on sea and German multinationals such as Siemens, Deutsche Bank and E.ON have joined forces to build solar fields in the Sahara desert.

However, nowadays, governments and multinationals are not the only actors anymore: there is an overall growing demand for clean technology solutions. Households and small companies are starting to produce their own electricity, generating energy with mini power plants or solar panels. The “electricity era” est arrivé.

E-Energy is one of Germany’s approaches for a society where all Germans can actively contribute to the energy supply system. In accordance with words such as E-Commerce or E-Government, the notion refers to ICT on the one hand and electricity on the other. The project demonstrates “how the immense potential for optimization presented by information and communication technologies (ICT) can best be harnessed to enhance the efficiency and environmental compatibility of the power supply and to ensure supply security.”

Originators of the E-Energy project are the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), whose Exist program will be presented on the EVM by Dr. Jens Mundhenke, the German Federal Environment Ministry (BMU) and several big German multinationals and energy producers such as Siemens, SAP, EnBW, RWE and Vattenfall. These players have brought together € 140 million for the setup of research studies on the individual production of green energy in six German model regions.

By making private households single energy providers, the four-year project aims to optimize the energy supply system from distribution to consumption and wants to rethink the current power grid. With smart electricity meters, individual households that produce energy are connected with the bigger, already established energy producers. In case the household’s energy production exceeds its own consumption, the excess electricity can be sold back to the energy providers at a profit. That way, individuals feed the power grid and become an active participant in the energy market.

Has your company developed a consumer-oriented clean technology solution? What clean tech projects have already been originated in your country? Feel free to leave a comment!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in clean technology | No Comments »

The power of the battery business

Friday, March 19th, 2010

In our previous blog entry, we have pointed out that the clean technology market is getting bigger and the investment industry is closely watching innovations in the energy storage and efficiency sector. In a BusinessWeek article, Michael Butler, chairman and CEO of Cascadia Capital, a US investment firm, forms his view on the future of the battery business.

Driven by new technologies and innovation, the storage battery market is expected to grow worldwide from $36 billion in revenues today to more than $50 billion by 2015. Thereby, Butler alludes to the overall rising demand for clean technologies and the increasing need for cutting-edge batteries and energy storage innovations. Without them, “we run the risk of remaining stuck in the petroleum era”, which he regards a dangerous place when aspiring long-term prosperity.

According to Butler, the increasing need of clean technologies is generated by the growing demand for hybrid car batteries (for hybrid vehicles), ultracapacitors and renewable energy, such as solar and wind power. The private sector and also governments are starting to see the industry’s opportunities and have developed research projects and funding programs in order to stimulate innovation in the green energy sector.

Despite government and private sector efforts, which Butler considers essential for the battery business’ future, he claims that we have not been able to fully grasp the array of possibilities of the energy storage market yet: “We also need to look beyond batteries, to a combination of available and efficient next-generation energy storage technologies that can help us reach our commercial and environmental goals.” Only by constant improvement of battery performance, continuous innovation in ultracapacitors and experimental research on battery technologies conducted by universities worldwide, the market’s full potential can be discovered.

Tags: , ,
Posted in clean technology | No Comments »

Lessons in European entrepreneurship

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Almost a year ago, Stefano Bernardi, a junior venture capitalist and entrepreneurship aficionado, has started up thestartup.eu. On this blog, which tackles topics on the European start-up scene, he has recently discussed a European entrepreneurship and innovation seminar held at Stanford University.

During eight classes, European hi-tech tycoons have shared their insights on technologies, innovation, venture finance, entrepreneurship and research, thereby focussing on regional differences in Europe.

The sessions took place this winter but have afterwards been put online as video presentations. Interested in learning more about European entrepreneurship? Visit http://www.thestartup.eu/2010/02/european-entrepreneurship-stanford and http://www.europeanentrepreneursatstanford.com/.

Tags: , ,
Posted in General | No Comments »

EVM @ Innovact, the European forum for innovation

Friday, March 5th, 2010

This week, on the 2nd and 3rd of March, about a thousand innovation enthusiasts gathered in the sparkling city of champagne, Reims (France) to attend Innovact, a European forum for young and innovative enterprises organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Reims and Épernay.

A delegation of the Continua team travelled to France and saw innovation in all its aspects: young enterprises, incubators, universities, delegations, (governmental) associations, research organisations, consultancies and investment firms coming from 20 European countries. During the two forum days, we all have intensively networked, discussed products, projects, problems and solutions, took part in workshops on innovation, technologies and entrepreneurship and listened to keynote speeches on strategies and other industry-specific issues.

As the Innovact forum and the European Venture Market are striving for the same goals, namely to promote European innovation and entrepreneurship and to improve communication and networking between entrepreneurs and investors, we have engaged in a long-lasting partnership. With both the Innovact forum and the EVM, we are eager to create new business opportunities, while aiming for a more competitive and dynamic economy in Europe!

We have met a great deal of fellow innovation addicts and look forward to being in touch with them in the future. Innovact team: merci beaucoup for organising this outstanding event!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in General | No Comments »