Last year, our company had a defining conference, our third annnual symposium in London, and the conference’s main promotional video here, conveys beautifully the energy of the week. This brilliant quote from that year’s top speaker Al Gore kicks it off, summing up the issues we are all dealing with: “There has never been a period in which so many profound, revolutionary changes have been occurring simultaneously. “ We are republishing these videos less than a month away from our fourth annual Symposium on May 20 and 21 in London.
Sir Martin Sorrell followed up his brilliant key note, with a five minute chat to video, outlining the thinking behind the group’s corporate venturing strategy which has secured big exits from portfolio companies Buddy Media and Omniture. It is worth watching the third minute, where he laments the Buddy Media sale being too early for WPP to extract the full strategic value the company would have provided to allow WPP to fully understand Facebook.
Citi Ventures’ chief executive Deborah Hopkins summed up how the conference had helped her deal with the “tsunami of change”, which as in the Gore quote above, is shaking up all industries at present. “Change” presumably has to be the word of the conference?
Marcos Battisti, head of Western Europe and Israel for Intel Capital, the world’s largest corporate venturing unit, laid out his top tips to emulate that unit’s success.
Claudia Fan Munce, managing director of the IBM Venture Capital Group, reflected on the importance of the global nature of the conference allowing people in the nascent industry to interact with each other.
Dominic Emery, of BP Ventures, explained why the corporate venturing unit’s strategy is moving towards investing in its core oil and gas business instead of its historical broader focus.
Gregor Zund, director of research and education at University Hospital Zurich, talked about how the institution was looking into ways to effectively commercialise its research.
Julie Meyer, chief executive of venture firm Ariadne Capital, explained why she felt the rise of corporate venturing was important.
Andrew Gaule, of Corven Networks, flagged up the importance of the symposium allowing global executives to exchange ideas.
Jim Mawson, Global Corporate Venturing’s editor in chief, spoke to the camera ahead of the conference, at a half way point, and also summed up the conference.