news and events....
Polish Tech Startups in Silicon Valley, California
by George Slawek, Exec. Director, Eurocal Group, LLC on 12/16/11
November 28 – 30th, 2011 Palo Alto, California - Polish technology startups were on display in Silicon Valley. Under the leadership of Dr. Robert Barski, Director, Academic Enterprise Incubator University of Zielona Gora , three winners of the “Kreator Innowacyjnosci” under the "InnoFirma" entrepreneurship competition in Poland - organized by the Polish Business and Innovation Centers Association and subsidized by Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education – were invited to visit and experience the world-renowned Silicon Valley startup ecosystem. Michal Bieniek, Aperion Synthesis, Marcin Wisniewski, i3D and Bartosz Kubik and Maciej Wojenski from EkoEnergetyka went through an intensive Silicon Valley immersion program designed and facilitated by the Eurocal Group and Silicon Valley Link.
Program Description
Day One – Silicon Valley Workshop including: history and growth of Silicon Valley, business development, marketing and sales, venture capital, intellectual property, pitching and networking, US market entry strategies.
Day Two- Series of presentations and interactive sessions with invited guests and Silicon Valley professionals held at the law offices of K & L Gates, in Palo Alto, CA, including: IP Considerations in the US, Best Practices for Expanding into the US, Communicating Across Cultures, Getting Your Message Heard in the US, with real interview, Opening US Channels, Experiences Coming to the US by a Polish entrepreneur, followed by an evening event with local venture capital investors.
Day Three-Travel day in Silicon Valley with visits to: Plug n Play incubator, one-on-one meeting with venture capital investor from Rembrandt Capital, tour of Google campus and visit to Stanford Research Institute (SRI) followed by an evening “pitch” competition at the Founder’s Institute.
Partnering with the Polish Business and Innovation Centers Association the Eurocal Group and Silicon Valley Link designed and developed the program to promote Polish technology in Silicon Valley and maximize the entrepreneurs’ time in Silicon Valley, creating a greater understanding of why this region is home to so many world class technology companies, and the leader in innovation and entrepreneurship. Equally importantly, the program was designed to show how Polish technology companies can plug into this region to enter the US market, attract US venture capital, and build world-class companies with global potential.
"One of the main benefits was the access to an extensive, high energy entrepreneurial ecosystem in Silicon Valley. I've also gained knowledge and skills how to communicate information about my company to clients and potential investors." - Michal Bieniek, CEO Apeiron Synthesis.
Eurocal Group & REC Solutions sign a new strategic partnership.
by George Slawek, Exec. Director, Eurocal Group, LLC on 08/10/11
On August 3rd, 2011 George Slawek, Executive Director of Palo Alto-based Eurocal Group signed a strategic partnership with REC Solutions Sp.z.o.o., a Wroclaw-based technology solutions center.
The aim of the partnership is to provide US-based technology companies access to world-class engineering talent from one of Poland’s top software development houses. REC Solutions’ CEO Krzysztof Kulinski and VP Seweryn Krajewski are leading the company’s global partnership strategy leveraging Eurocal Group’s presence and expertise in Silicon Valley. Key industries to be served are: Web services, Social Media, Mobile, Location Based Services, Gaming and Embedded Systems.
INSEAD Global Innovation Index 2011 - Switzerland No. 1, US No. 7 & Poland No. 43
by George Slawek, Exec. Director, Eurocal Group, LLC on 07/03/11
On June 30th, 2011, INSEAD, a leading international business school, announced the findings of the Global Innovation Index 2011 edition. Released jointly by INSEAD and its Global Innovation Index 2011 edition Knowledge Partners, Alcatel-Lucent, Booz & Company, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The Global Innovation Index is computed as an average of the scores across inputs pillars (describing the enabling environment for innovation) and output pillars (measuring actual achievements in innovation).
Top Ten Ranked Economies in the Global Innovation Index 2011
1.Switzerland
2.Sweden
3.Singapore
4.Hong Kong
5.Finland
6.Denmark
7.United States
8.Canada
9.Netherlands
10.United Kingdom
This year's rankings show that innovation has become a global phenomenon. European economies (Finland 5th, Denmark 6th, Netherlands 9th and UK 10th), two Asian (including Hong Kong, China 4th) and two North American economies (the United States 7th and Canada 8th) in the top 10.
European Innovation
Western Europe and Scandinavia
The five Scandinavian economies - Sweden (2nd), Finland (5th), Denmark (6th), Iceland (11th), and Norway (18th) - showed strong performances both regionally and globally. Within the European Union (EU), the Netherlands and the UK are in the top 10. In the top 20 are Germany (12th), Ireland (13th), Luxembourg (17th) and Austria (19th).
Central Europe
Central European economies generally lag their North and Western European neighbors. Estonia leads the way in this region followed by Hungary, which moved up 11 places to No.25 and Serbia showed a significant improvement moving up 46 places to 55th in the global rankings (see table below)
International Patent Filings
Central European countries continue to be plagued by the lack of international patent filings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
Poland for example scored a 25.1 for national patent filings however scored a low 3.7 for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) filings. In contrast Switzerland, Finland, Sweden and Japan scored 100.
Poland Patent Filings
About International Patents
WIPO-administered Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications are assigned to a particular country of origin according to the country of residence of the first-named applicant. The PCT system simplifies the process of multiple national patent filings by reducing the requirement to file a separate application in each jurisdiction. Definition of patent under 5.2.5.
Source: World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO Statistics Database, World Bank and OECD GDP estimates, World Bank World Development Indicators database
INSEAD Global Innovation Index website
Biotechnology is heating up in Central Europe...!
by George Slawek, Exec. Director, Eurocal Group, LLC on 06/10/11
Guest post by Kate Gunning, Principal, BioVisability
There are some interesting developments in the life sciences sector in Central Europe and particularly in Poland, and from my recent experiences, it looks like we'll see more actvity in the near future on this side of the Atlantic!
I was recently invited to participate in the 10th Annual Bioforum in Lodz, Poland, May 11-12th (http://www.bioforum.pl/2011/) and met with many exciting companies and organizations focused on biotechnology innovation. This conference has grown significantly from its earlier days, with now over 2000 participants convening in Poland for a 2 day event. What I loved about the forum was the cross section of attendees, from students, academics, start-ups, and emerging companies, to representatives of larger players such as Genentech, Merck etc. The forum offered a good mix of exhibitors, one-to-one business partnering meetings, and panel sessions on commercialization, technology transfer, licensing and innovation.
Poland has always had a stellar reputation in basic science, particularly in chemistry, engineering, technology, pharmacology and analytical sciences. Now we're seeing a larger number of R&D companies and early stage biotechs bringing some of this science to commercialization - and hoping to fill the pipeline needs of the larger pharma giants!
So what's next and how can Poland leverage the great science that's going on improving economic development through smart innovation commercialization? That was one of the key questions posed over the course of the 2 day conference - and it's not one that can be answered too quickly. However, now is the time, I believe, to start a new strategic national Polish initiative and get Poland on the map as a serious player in technology development, particularly in the Life Sciences. There are so many lessons that can be learned from looking at how Ireland, Scotland, Germany and the UK have successfully implemented policies for both inward investment and growing their indigenous sectors. Poland has the benefit of studying their best practices, and ensuring not to make some of the same mistakes from their experience. This is a wonderful time to also leverage the Polish diaspora in the US - taking a leaf from the Israeli and Irish book, (as an example) creating and expanding the global network will surely be a big benefit to the emerging sector.
There are so many opportunities to exploit the great science in Poland, and create value that will ultimately benefit the economy, but this needs to be done in a focused and more strategic way, with funding and support from central government. Let's hope that by Bioforum 2012, in Brno, we'll be learning more about Poland's investment in their smart economy and see some of the successes that brings!
You Can't Buy Entrepreneurship
by George Slawek, Exec. Director, Eurocal Group, LLC on 06/08/11
Guest post by IdaRose Sylvester, Principal, Silicon Valley Link
My visit to Poland marked the first return, after a century, of our family after we left the country, in fight from oppression and in search of economic reward. It was a very emotional touchdown in Warsaw, the moment the airplane wheels hit the tarmac, I felt the sense of reconnection to home and to culture overwhelm, along my sense of duty to give back to my people.
My grandfather, when he arrived in the US, opened up his own business, because it offered him a chance to see return for his hard work, unlike the ship yards of Gdansk. Several of his children, my mother most strongly, followed in his footsteps. My mother, well before it was favorable to do so, ran several businesses, on her own, including "category making" banking services that didn't exist until she started them. And, much like DNA, the entrepreneurial spirit passed on to me. I run my own business, and because of my heritage, it is my mission to help others, many others, to fearlessly and wisely follow their entrepreneurial paths.
Imagine my joy of returning to my roots, bringing back the sense of entrepreneurship originally born there, to take the refining a century of American living and a couple of decades in the entrepreneurial hotbed of Silicon Valley, to a transformational economy. I dislike the term "developing" economy, as it implies growing from zero. I don't care for the term "emerging," as it implies tender. The Polish economy, the 6th largest in Europe with 2% year over year GDP growth, is certainly neither developing nor emerging, although those terms are used for it all the time, especially by officials and outsiders.
The Polish economy is transformational. It is a democracy and a growing free market, with vestiges, both economic and cultural, of the bureaucratic, insider privilege driven system that came before. In fact, every entrepreneur we met, all the government officials, educators, policy makers, economic authorities, NGO officials and others, who have say or at least influence in crafting the Polish economic future, were born after, often well after, the rise of the free market, which only started in June 1989, and evolves even now.
This transformational time is a time of great opportunity, a time to instill and inspire entrepreneurial spirit. But I was surprised by some of what I saw, in attitudes and practices that impact entrepreneurship.
First, Poland is a large country, nearly 40M people. I first thought of this a purely positive fact: a large, highly trained workforce which is large enough to create startup ecosystems. In reality, it creates ambivalence about global expansion for most companies, even startups. Quick, name 3 globally recognizable Polish companies. There's the gotcha. Even high flying startups feel the local economy is big enough, and don't care to go globally, or not quickly. But this is a big problem for Poland, which wants to attract more respect and money into the country. If companies don't expand abroad and bring money home from foreign markets, expansion is not possible.
Second, Poland is cursed with a double edged sword, that of EU structural funds. While a fantastic opportunity for new economies such as Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and others who struggle, Poland needs these funds but is already seeing the downside. There is nothing less capitalistic than filling out grant forms and creating projects that are for the government benefit. While we met many highly entrepreneurial companies who benefit from these grants, it was clear that this was a resource consuming process, and sadly, also made some companies just a little too satisfied with things at home to consider even aggressive local expansion.
Third, in part due to the proceeding factors, and largely due to a lack of entrepreneurial successes, many technology companies are happy making me-too products, copying the hottest US companies in a local version. For example, several Polish "Groupons" formed after Groupon became successful. We found many companies wished to follow a me-too model, as the local market supported it, structural funds can pay for it, and more ambitiously, some thought those they imitate may also buy them for their local customers some day. While me-too products are an anathema to us in Silicon Valley, and would destroy our innovation culture, in Poland, there is some justification. But technologists MUST start innovating unique products and services to excel on the world stage.
Lastly, while everyone wants to "help" entrepreneurs, nobody really has a clue how to do so. We met with very intelligent and very passionate government and World Bank officials, all which have funds and mandate to "do something." They asked for my opinion on the matter. In fact, I am regularly asked by legislative bodies, including European Parliament members, how to mandate, legislate or force innovation, or even better, how DO you legislate these things in Silicon Valley? While my reaction to this question takes several hundred more words to answer, the shortest answer is: get out of the way. A slightly longer answer is spend money on sending people to Silicon Valley and make them participate in entrepreneurial bootcamps, not visiting companies, but working with startups, pitching to VCs, meeting customers and getting educated by those in the trenches.
Many factors are going to have to evolve in Poland for entrepreneurial ecosystems to evolve and create the wealth everyone wants, and our work there, just one tiny impetus, is a start we hope in creating that.
My grandfather would be very proud.
