The second day of the Global Corporate Venturing Symposium offered several interesting panels to attendees.
The first panel, Dealing with Other Stakeholders (Trade Body, University and Government Panel), was moderated by Claire Lee from Silicon Valley Bank, and included panellists Paul Morris of UK Trade and Investment, Tony Stanco from National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer, Lord Wei of Shoreditch Ventures, and Ken Yasunaga from Innovation Network Corporation of Japan.
They noted how it is sometimes easier to be influential on a higher political level as an outsider than it might be as an internal adviser, and that this presents huge opportunities.
At the same time, there is great opportunity in university spin-outs, with $35bn currently invested in research universities, but a major funding gap between research funding and commercialisation funding.
Meanwhile, another panel, Impact Investing, Corporate Venturing and Corporate Venture Capital, noted that although there is an established ecosystem in California and London, other regions are still lacking.
The panel was moderated by Amanda Feldman, from consultancy Volans, and included Jorn Bang Andersen of Clareo, Maximilian Martin from Impact Economy, and Vinay Nair of Social Investment Business.
The consultants on the panel offered Africa as an example for growth opportunities, a theme that recurred through the afternoon.
Social investing, the audience remarked, should however not be an element that is just added on top of any organisation, but should instead become a core focus and part of company culture – a statement with which the panel agreed.
The panel also noted that social responsibility need not necessarily be financial, and cited an example of staff teaching children to code and taking pride in that practice, as also creating a positive impact on communities.
Elsewhere, the panel on Building a Sustainable Business: Compensation and Talent, was moderated by Dermot Hill from executive recruitment firm Intramezzo, and included Chris Coburn of non-profit hospital operator Partners Healthcare, Raja Doddala from 7-Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of retail chain 7-Eleven, and Jay Onda from Docomo Innovations, a Silicon Valley-based subsidiary of mobile operator NTT Docomo.
The panel stated that corporate venturing is always done to benefit the parent company, not the other way around. However, corporate venturing should include some form of compensation for all participants in a deal, and not merely see the management rewarded. Docomo does this through a carry-on programme, but it could also be implemented through bonuses.
In some cases, this becomes slightly trickier, and Doddala noted that he is in fact the only full-time member of staff at 7-Ventures.
Finally, the Dealmaking Masterclass was moderated by Mark Radcliffe, from law firm DLA Piper, and included Frederic Rombaut, from networking company Cisco, Stefan Gabriel of from 3M New Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of conglomerate 3M, and Markus Thill, from Robert Bosch Venture Capital, industrial manufacturer Robert Bosch’s corporate venture capital unit.
Thill explained during the panel that investment is not always possible even if both partners might want to strike a deal. There are times when another company is direct competition, but sometimes figuring out terms and details between business units is also too much of a nightmare.
While Greg Becker, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, explained in his keynote earlier in the day that software costs have been dropping exponentially, this is not true for hardware, and the panel noted that costs at Bosch have actually been increasing.
The panel also showed frustration with the lack of advancement in data analytics, stating that milestones cannot be treated as a holy grail – they can work, but sometimes do not.
Equally, acquisitions are not always the end goal, or even a good idea, if the two companies drift too far apart and can only function as partners working on collaborative projects.
At noon the main room was transformed into a place of varied discussions through a series of ‘unpanels’ that enabled delegates splitting into groups to cover each stage of corporate venturing.
The unpanels were divided into two major topics, CV101 to CV301, and sustainability. The discussions were overseen by Andrew Gaule from consultancy Corven Networks, and included tables moderated by Neil Foster of law firm Baker Botts, Andrew Kelly from venture investment fund BioPacific Ventures, and Caroline Winckles of financial services firm UBS.