According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), multinationals have been the key driver of Central European business innovation in recent years. While this innovation has brought benefits, it has not helped local companies, nor has it prepared the region for the challenges ahead.
In fact, a dependence on multinational innovation has left Central Europe’s economies vulnerable, according the EIU report entitled ‘A Time For New Ideas: Innovation in Central Europe‘, sponsored by Oracle Corporation. While a handful of local SMEs have managed to innovate, the region faces a shortage of talent and a lack of support for innovation among local governments.
Continue reading ‘EIU: Multinational innovation in CEE is not enough’
Most people think a blog is about printed words. And it is. However, what you might not know is that the lifeblood of a blog is human relationships. There is more going on behind your computer screen than meets the eye.
This dynamic might be obvious to those of you who spend most of your days online (like me). Others might appreciate a few insights into how this works - and how you can take part.
Continue reading ‘nowEurope is a web of relationships’
I recently had a drink with two Hungarian entrepreneurs who are working on an interesting mashup. They’ve created a front end for Google that closely resembles the functionality of Startlap.hu (for my Hungarian-impaired readers, this translates as “start page”.)
Their creation, Godzi.hu (no idea what that means) is now in public beta. The functionality is, indeed, impressive. But how do the founders take this great idea and make it into a business?
Let’s start by talking about what Godzi does.
Continue reading ‘Godzi is a refreshing idea but will people use it?’
I was in Prague earlier this month conducting a partner search for a social networking company. While I cannot comment on the specifics of that business, I can pass on a few observations about the Central European Internet market.
The online populations of Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia and Austria are relatively small. They are linguistically and culturally isolated. Even the Austrians, who share a common language with Germany and part of Switzerland, prefer to use Austrian websites. This limits the scale of any online business that addresses a single Central European market.
However, it would be a mistake to conclude that there aren’t any decent opportunities in these markets.
Continue reading ‘Online opportunities in Central Europe’
Yesterday, I was a speaker at the Digital Cities conference hosted by the city government of Schwechat, a town located just outside of Vienna next to the airport. The topic was “Is the digital city prepared for the impact of new technologies?” (That was my rough translation from the German.) I was asked to give a talk entitled Social networks: how social is a blog?
On the train back from Vienna I got to thinking about conferences. I’ve attended many. Over the years I’ve developed a good strategy for getting the most out of any conference. I follow three rules …
Continue reading ‘Three rules for getting the most out of any conference’
This week I will be away for business in Prague, representing a social networking company preparing to launch a social networking site in the Czech Republic. I would be pleased to meet with any nowEurope readers while in Prague. (Write me at: steve [at] noweurope [dot] com)
While Budapest and Prague might seem like neighbors on the map, I will travel all night by train to get there. However, one difference on this trip is that I will be able to sleep. From January 1, Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia are part of the Schengen system. That means no more midnight knocks to check my passport.
I will share my observations about the Czech online market upon my return to Budapest later this week.
I’d like to about hear your experiences with technology transfer. I’m addressing this request to the nowEurope contributors circle, many of whom I have only recently met. My experience has mainly been with small, entrepreneurial startups in Internet media.
However, I do recall that some fifteen years ago when I used a text interface to navigate the Internet through the Siemens Data-P network I discovered a Hungarian professor who had a working copy of Mosiac, the first primitive web browser. His student later told me the professor had refused to post a copy of Mosiac on the open university for others to use.
Continue reading ‘Confessions of a tech transfer newbie’
I’m pleased to announce that we’re now preparing to introduce a new round of contributors to nowEurope, the members of the CITT consortium. CITT is an EU project co-funded under the 7th Framework. I’ll let our CITT project leader, Zuzana Lettner, tell you more about CITT. My purpose with this post is to tell you a little about where we’ve been and where we’re going.
I’ve always been fascinated with how new technologies get turned into businesses. When I started nowEurope, back in 1995, I was interested in meeting people in Europe who wanted to start businesses on the Internet. We talked about business models, investments and exciting new startups. Several of my readers went on to meet each other, face to face, and a few of them even launched businesses together. This current iteration of nowEurope isn’t so different. However, the circumstances have changed.
Continue reading ‘Welcome CITT!’
The New York Times reports that the European Union court is launching a new investigation against Microsoft, following two complaints that it continues to use product bundling to exclude competitors. One complaint was lodged by the Norwegian browser company, Opera, and the second by the European Committee for Interoperable Systems.
Continue reading ‘Microsoft faces new EU anti-trust probe’
EurActive reports that the think tank ‘Lisbon Council for Economic Competitiveness and Social Renewal’ has released a study warning that continued growth in the new EU states of Central Europe should not be taken for granted.
“While central and eastern European countries have been “the engine of dynamism, mobility and flexibility” that was lacking the EU-15, the human capital issue in these new member states could have a negative effect on the EU economy as a whole if nothing is done to bridge the gap, warns the authors.”
Continue reading ‘Think tank: don’t take CEE growth for granted’
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