WEF Top 10 Emerging Technologies The World Economic Forum (WEF) released its list of the Top Ten Emerging Technologies for 2016 today. One of the criteria was the likelihood that 2016 represents a tipping point in the deployment of each technology. So the list includes some technologies that have been known for a number of years, but are only now …
Funding for High Growth Yorkshire Nanotech SME’s
As any SME knows, funding is a key bottleneck. VC’s and angels may want huge wads of equity to cover the risk of an early stage technology business while banks simply aren’t interested until you can demonstrate some sales (despite what they may tell you). One route I’ve used effectively in the past is grant funding, and I’ve worked with the European …
What Happens If Your Commercial Partner Fails to Commercialise Your Technology?
Here’s a question that worries every technology transfer department and any innovative company that partners with a large multinational company – what if they mess it up or even try to kill it? The Wall Street Journal reports on a High Court action tomorrow where Ploughshare Innovations, who licence the intellectual property for the Ministry of Defence’s Porton Down Laboratory, and …
Nanotech Investing: You Can Lead A Horse to Water, But You Can’t Make It Drink
The “Ten Years of Nanotechnologies” report with the best the worst and the funniest bits of the last decade is progressing, throwing up a number of gems as we trawl the archives. Here’s what we said in January 2001: We’re going to make just one prediction, which is that the use of the word nanotechnology will see explosive growth in …
Beware The Counterfeit Investors
After a few years of being on the ‘funder’ side of the desk, I’ve vaulted across to start a new technology venture, and to begin the least pleasant part of entrepreneurship – fund raising! (Feel free to contact me once you have read what follows). There are plenty of people out there who will tell you how to make the …
RIP Charlie Harris – One Of The Good Guys of Nanotech
The world of nanotechnology is a little poorer today with the passing of Charlie Harris, founder and chairman of the publicly traded VC fund, Harris & Harris. Out of all the people buzzing around in the early days of nanotech, Charlie was one of the few people who got it, who understood that technology takes time to mature and that …
Nailing The Innovation Myths
Good to see a new report from the Judge Business School in Cambridge highlighting some of the myths about how high tech firms are created. Much of Europe tends to focus on large multi partner research schemes such as Framework 7 whereas much of business wold prefer something like the SBIR and DARPA contracts common in the US. The report …
UK Government Announces £1Billion Innovation Fund (for the fourth time)
The UK Government’s £1Bn Innovation Fund was announced for the fourth time this week (although I’m still waiting for the promised explanation from Lord Drayson). I wasn’t too impressed last time it was announced, or this time, and Mark Littlewood at Business Leaders Network is also sceptical It may well be that the money will be raised and will be …
Toto, This isn’t 1997 any more!
The Wall Street Journal points to further evidence of the collapse of Venture Capital. Typical of the doom laden quotes is this: “Dallas is an entrepreneurial city, but it won’t be driven by venture capital going forward,” said Daniel T. Owen, a venture capitalist at the 16th-floor firm H02 Partners, which plans to wind down its venture business over the next few …
More Nano or Beyond Nano
I spent a chunk of last week on one of my committee chairing jobs wrestling with both sides of a rather tricky issue. On the first day I was chairing a committee attempting to make sense of the recommendations of independent experts on what projects should be funded and in what priority. In six years and €70 million I don’t …