Y Combinator Telefónica - Press Office - Press room home - Telefónica launches Amérigo, a €300m network of venture capital funds - This public-private network will function as an international network of capital for those investors and industrial partners that want to participate in the acceleration and financing of high potential technology companies. - The objective of this initiative is to lay the foundations to create a global network of innovation that drives businesses and new digital services around the world, particularly in areas such as Latin America that are not currently a focus for venture capital. - The programme starts with committed capital of approximately €300 million that will allow managing business projects with an aggregated estimated value of €1 billion. In particular, Telefónica commits to investing €68m over the next five years Madrid, September 4, 2012.- Telefónica has launched an international network of technology venture capital funds , Amérigo, in order to detect and finance new businesses that are innovating in the digital space. Telefónica and open innovation
Area31 – IE Business School´s new startup incubator! | Entrepreneurship Weblog On July 13th we annouced that IE Business School´s Centre for International Entrepreneurship would be opening a new innovation and entrepreneurship centre where we will house our Venture Lab startup teams, run the Venture Network, invite mentors and investors in residence, and more. The basement of Maria de Molina 31 will be the home and heart of our entrepreneurial activities and an important addition to Madrid´s startup ecosystem. We asked you the community to help us name this new hub of startup activity and you have done a great job! I am delighted to announce that the new innovation and entrepreneurship centre of IE Business School will be called - Area31 Area31 was a clear and unrivalled winner and grasped the majority of the 418 votes received! Many thanks for helping us to come up with a really cool name now it is our job to create and share the vision that this name will represent! Look forward to welcoming you all to Area31 in September. Have a great summer & happy entrepreneuring.
Seedcamp Telstra launches apps unit, but faces challenges in Asia Summary Telstra has announced that it will launch the Global Applications and Platforms (GAP) unit in February 2013. The unit will develop enterprise app solutions for the Australian market, with a view to exporting them to Asia. There is nothing revolutionary or particularly innovative about Telstra’s announcement, with several other Asian and European telcos already having launched similar software units. GAP is an apps play aimed at enterprises While GAP is essentially an apps-centric business unit, Telstra does not plan to develop the apps internally. GAP has a two-pronged strategy. We agree that the consumer market should not be a priority for GAP as it would struggle to make a return on in its investments given the strong competition from OTT players. Selling in Asia will be difficult Telstra is one of a number of operators – including Telefonica, Orange, Telenor, SingTel, AT&T, and Verizon – that have launched digital app/content units. Author nicole.mccormick@ovum.com Disclaimer
Guiripreneur - Madrid Entrepreneurs (Madrid) - Meetup Telstra enters app market with new Global Applications and Platforms business as NBN rollout continues Telstra has announced that it is increasing its focus on software and applications, away from being a mobile and internet carrier, with the launch of a new Global Applications and Platforms business. The news comes as Telstra moves away from its traditional role as a legacy POTS service provider as the NBN rollout continues. It also continues a move, begun under former chief executive Sol Trujillo, of repositioning the telco giant as a media communications company. The new division will be headed up by Telstra’s former group managing director of strategic marketing, Kate McKenzie, and will operate as a new start-up. “Our industry is changing rapidly. “With successful over-the-top players growing exponentially, we need to continue to find ways to take challenger positions in this space. McKenzie says the new business, including its apps and platforms, will be developed over the next three years. “It will include a mix of existing and new employees and I expect it to grow over time.
Telstra sets sights on apps In an effort to combat stagnant mobile revenues. Australia's largest telecommunications company, Telstra, is building a new global applications and platforms business. The company announced today that the new division will be part of the Innovation, Products, and Marketing unit headed up by Group Managing Director Kate McKenzie. Telstra has said that the company will operate as a start-up within Telstra from February and will be led by Charlotte Yarkoni as its executive director from March. Yarkoni is a veteran of the IT industry, and is currently the senior vice president for cloud services with VMWare. She has also held executive roles with EMC and AT&T. McKenzie said that it was vital the new business be agile to cope with rapid changes to the industry. "Telstra is moving from providing mobile and internet services to encompassing applications and integrated services. "The new business will operate as a startup company drawing on the considerable assets of the broader organisation.
Systemic Innovation La Fundación Corresponsables lanza los V Premios Corresponsables en España y Latinoamérica consolidando en esta edición el marcado carácter internacional que adquirieron en la pasada, para así conseguir una aún mayor difusión y repercusión, lo que interesará a vuestras organizaciones, tanto si están ya presentes en varios países como si lo piensan estar en el futuro. Startups in Germany: Which VCs/angel investors in Germany run a business incubator or a business accelerator
500 Startups Demo Day round 1: Disrupting babies, Brazil, and billing The 15 startups to present in the first round of 500 Startups Demo Day are taking on a wide range of industries and markets. The founders hail from America, Europe, India, and Latin America, and they are developing innovative ideas about e-commerce, marketing, payments and more. Check the companies out below. CompStak says it creates transparency in commercial real estate by crowdsourcing information that is often hard to find, difficult to compile, or not unavailable. Waygo powers an instant visual translation for smart phones. Chewse is a B2B marketplace for organizations spending thousands of dollars on corporate catering. GazeMetrix helps brands know when their pictures appear in social media. BabyList is a baby registry that helps new parents find, share, and buy the things they need for their babies. Founder Harald Trautsch built everbill to provide an easy way to issue invoices and estimates. Instamojo makes “selling online as easy as sharing.”
Innovation While something novel is often described as an innovation, in economics, management science, and other fields of practice and analysis it is generally considered a process that brings together various novel ideas in a way that they have an impact on society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of a better and, as a result, novel idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself. Innovation differs from improvement in that innovation refers to the notion of doing something different rather than doing the same thing better. Inter-disciplinary views[edit] Business and economics[edit] In business and economics, innovation is the catalyst to growth. One prime example is the explosive boom of Silicon Valley startups out of the Stanford Industrial Park. Organizations[edit] Still other innovative strategies include hospitals digitizing medical information in electronic medical records. Sources of innovation[edit]