Paul Morris, corporate venture capital adviser at the UK Department for International Trade’s Venture Capital Unit, has been elected as president of the Global Government Venturing Leadership Society.
The launch of the society followed lively discussions at an invite-only workshop at the Global Corporate Venturing and Innovation (GCVI) Summit from some 20 government representatives, including Ghana, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Finland, Belgium, Austria, Russia, the Netherlands, US and the UK, states such as California and institutions, including the UN.
The move to form the society follows the first letter of intent between California and the Netherlands signed just ahead of the GCVI Summit workshop to create a platform to support entrepreneurs between both regions – California would have the world’s eighth-largest economy if it was an independent country – with innovation capital funding and support. Other governments expressed interest in following a similar path as described by Jan Dexel (pictured) and Teveia Barnes.
The leadership society will act as a vehicle to connect corporate venturing units to contacts within governments of countries they want to invest in as well as local contact points for nascent corporate venturing networks in a country that are developing.
These government attendees agreed to be or try to find a government representative who could act as a point person for local and international CVCs in their country/region. Other countries are invited to join and on the main GCVI Summit stage, corporate venturers were asked for suggestions of who beyond the government folks present might be interested in joining. The second ask for which CVCs might want to engage with these point people to provide feedback for what might be useful for their local ecosystem.
Next update on actions on May 23 in London at GCV Symposium.
James Mawson, editor-in-chief of Global Corporate Venturing, will act as initial contact person for people interested in joining the society. Contact: jmawson@mawsonia.com for more details.