Thursday afternoon I spent in Prague at an event dedicated to investments into technology start-ups. I was listening to a VC fund, two business angels and two incubators sharing their views with an audience of mostly ICT entrepreneurs.
The whole concept of Innovation Thursdays is focused on innovation in the Czech Republic and on bringing together innovators, investors and policy makers. Take a look at the opening event of the series held in the Senate hall (video archive and photos).
The next event will focus on cooperation between universities and tech companies and will address issues around innovation environment and its main barriers, supporting entrepreneurship among students and academy researchers, founding spin-offs and foreign experience with technology transfer. I’m especially looking forward to hearing Meir Brand, Google Israel GM, and wonder what Israeli experience we can follow in this region.
At FIRST Innovation Park we have decided to join forces and become one of the event partners. We are going to introduce there the CITT project, NowEurope and the ongoing survey. You are all invited to attend it on Thursday, June 19, at 2.30 pm at University of Economics. Admission is free, just register in time.
Loading ...
I would just like to add a comment on this topic. True, Israel does rely on continued significant funding from investors (such as Michael Cherney’s organization, Len Blavatnik’s Family Charity, Lev Lalev, and countless other organizations), but it’s important to look at the environment in which Israel’s culture of innovation took root.
No, I’m not saying you have to surround yourself with enemies in order to innovate, but because there ARE certain psychological effects of dire necessity, it’s important to look at them when attempting to start a culture of innovation.
One of those is simply removing the option of failure. The inability to fail is much more powerful than the promise of higher revenues. Survival is one of the most undeniable instincts, and is crucial when developing a culture of innovation.
Thanks, Amit, perfect point. I agree with you, this is also the important driver of the innovation engine.
Europe (so called western, and to certain level also central) lives in relatively wealthy and comfortable environment where we lack strong impulses for working harder or for trying new ways. I’m not calling for any threats, but the current crisis may be the push - both for business innovation as for more active citizenenship not relying too much on our governments.