Gaule: Give a brief description of the purpose of Smart-Camp and when it was formed. Kelly: SmartCamp is about bringing together entrepreneurs, investors and experienced mentors who want to build innovation ecosystems around the world. SmartCamp takes technology that has transformed the internet, providing new insight, analytics and intelligence, and applying it to new areas… Continue reading Gaule’s Question Time: IBM
Category: People
Legend president Liu steps down
Zhu Linan, a member of the company’s executive committee and a former executive vice-president, has replaced Liu as president.
Alcatel-Lucent closes ventures unit
A source inside Alcatel-Lucent said the Ventures unit had been closed earlier this year and Bart Shigemura, vice-president of Alcatel-Lucent Ventures, had left.
WhaleShark appoints Beougher as COO
US-based online coupon and deal marketplace WhaleShark Media promotes Kelli Beougher to the role.
Trice leaves SK Telecom Ventures
Rob Trice (pictured), senior managing director of South Korea-based phone operator SK Telecom’s corporate venturing unit in the US, has left after nearly four years to work at least part time for peer Swisscom. Swisscom Ventures in Silicon Valley, California, had worked in the same building as SK Telecom Ventures (SKTV). Trice, who declined to… Continue reading Trice leaves SK Telecom Ventures
Noesen leaves Flex New Ventures
Katherine Noesen, vice-president of Flex New Ventures, had joined Flextronics in September.
Clarkson breezes into SAP Ventures
Clarkson was previously a director at venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson managing its DFJ Global Network.
Hooper leaves Cisco
Ned Hooper (pictured), head of corporate development and chief strategy officer at computer equipment provider Cisco, is leaving after 14 years to set up an investment fund. Cisco’s corporate development group is responsible for business development activities including acquisitions, $2bn of equity investments and the incubation of technologies for the company’s “build, buy, partner” innovation… Continue reading Hooper leaves Cisco
WPP creates Ventures unit
WPP, the world’s largest advertising and marketing services provider, has created a corporate venturing unit after buying AKQA for $540m. Tom Bedecarré (pictured), founder of AKQA, will run WPP Ventures alongside Mark Read, chief executive of WPP’s Digital division and who has previously handled its minority investments. As president of WPP Ventures and chairman of… Continue reading WPP creates Ventures unit
Takeda shakes up external innovation
Juan Harrison has moved from Takeda Ventures (TVI) to head up New Frontier Science (NFS), while Ilan Zipkin and Gordon Wong join.
J&J sets up four centres
Johnson & Johnson is setting up four innovation centres in California and Boston in the US, in the UK and in Shanghai, China.
Symposium round-up
This article features some of the notable points and soundbites from the 39 keynotes and panel discussions at the Global Corporate Venturing Symposium 2012. For the transcripts and slides (where available) of the presentations, please click on the links.
Gaule’s Question Time: Dominique Mégret, Swisscom
Gaule: Give a brief description of the purpose of your venture, when it was formed and how the process occurs in your organisation. Mégret: Swisscom Ventures was formed in 2006 to strengthen Swisscom’s innovation ecosystem. We already had an outpost in Silicon Valley [California, US] back then, but we felt we needed to develop our… Continue reading Gaule’s Question Time: Dominique Mégret, Swisscom
Profile: Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation
Johnson & Johnson’s unbroken history of taking minority equity stakes in third-party entrepreneurs marks it as one of the oldest and most consistent investors in corporate venturing, writes James Mawson