What happens when senior executives of large French companies participate in a RealChange Expedition with young Web entrepreneurs and share the same learning focus on the best of innovation, social media and green business in Northern California? They discover that innovation in Silicon Valley is very much a function of bringing to business the same [...]
Monday 20 February 2012«Innovation, Learning Expeditions, Sustainability»
Video: Changing the World is the Secret Ingredient of Innovation in Silicon Valley
by Christian Forthomme
202012Feb
Video: The best of Green Building Innovation in Northern California
In «Green Building, Innovation, Learning Expeditions, Sustainability» by Christian Forthomme
Our friends of Gesec an organization gathering the most dynamic green building entrepreneurs in France just sent us a powerful video of their RealChange Expedition in the Bay Area. Click on the following link to experience a part of their discovery: RealChange Green Building Expedition Video http://vimeo.com/36482009 A colorful visual report about the best green building [...]
282012Jan
1% Can Create Big Change
In «Innovation, Leadership, Social Responsibility» by Alana Herro
Though 1% seems small, Salesforce.com finds donating 1% of its time, 1% of its product, and 1% of its equity to nonprofit organizations has a big impact. Goodwill Industries is a beneficiary of this model, saying, “Salesforce CRM has helped us more successfully manage our material and financial donations programs.” http://www.salesforce.com/showcase/stories/goodwill.jsp
282012Jan
Maps Predict Evolution of Emerging Technologies
In «Innovation, Silicon Valley» by Alana Herro
Quid is using natural language processing and semantic clustering to map the paths of emerging technology sectors. Founder Sean Gourley discovered precise mathematical models underlie many human interactions, from insurgencies in Iraq to startups in an established market. Clients like Microsoft are using Quid’s technology to inform their business decisions. http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/28/quid-maps-technology-future/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Venturebeat+%28VentureBeat%29
192011Oct
Hotel Chains Take Green In Their Own Hands
In «Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley, Sustainability» by Yves Bergquist
US hotel chains have come together discreetly since 2010 to set up a system, called the “Carbon Measurement Working Group” to set carbon footprint standards and report on each hotel’s score by 2012. Impressive. http://www.greenlodgingnews.com/what-you-need-know-about-carbon-measurement-working
192011Oct
Twitter Under the Microscope
In «Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley, Social Networks» by Yves Bergquist
“Business Insider” just published an in-depth look at Twitter’s business model, which is interesting since we are at Digital Hollywood all week and heard a lot of doubts about Facebook as a vehicle for marketing, and high hopes for Twitter. http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-business-and-opportunity-2011-10
102011Oct
Sustainability-Flavored Social Gaming is Exploding
In «Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley, Sustainability» by Yves Bergquist
It makes perfect sense: highly engaged social gamers have become a high-value target for social games and brands, with more and more success. The smartest marketing firms are paying very close attention. http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/09/marketing-games-connecting-consumers/ http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/08/how-social-gaming-can-advance-sustainability/ http://www.marketwatch.com/story/social-gaming-startup-guerillapps-launches-first-green-theme-upcycling-game-on-facebook-2011-09-06
072011Oct
San Francisco is Greenest
In «Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley, Sustainability» by Yves Bergquist
We are the last ones surprised, but The Economist Intelligence Unit has rated our good ol San Francisco “greenest city in the US”. The video below explains why. http://www.genconnect.com/lifestyle/melanie-nutter-how-san-francisco-became-the-greenest-city-video/
062011Oct
Steve Jobs: Best Reactions and Commentaries
In «Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley» by Yves Bergquist
Steve Jobs’ passing filled us up with a strange sadness, he wasn’t just a CEO, he led the way in how we approach technology on a spiritual plane. Steve Jobs’ main contribution is to have seen technology through the eyes of a child, He understood what nobody else in the tech industry understood (certainly not [...]
262011Sep
How to Build a Great Organization
In «Innovation, Leadership, Learning Expeditions, Silicon Valley» by Yves Bergquist
We arre once again in San Francisco with a fantastic group from France looking at innovative and charismatic organizations. Right now at PG&E to learn about their innovative HR practices. We are also reading this HBR piece very carefully (and you should too): http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2011/09/the-twelve-attributes-of-a-tru.html?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-weekly_hotlist-_-hotlist092611&referral=00202&utm_source=newsletter_weekly_hotlist&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hotlist092611
192011Sep
Lessons of Solyndra for Greentech
In «Greentech, Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley» by Yves Bergquist
Clearly there is a lot of soul-searching in Silicon Valley’s cleantech community after the Solyndra debacle, and the greentech skeptics are louder than ever. Clearly they have a point: China is emerging to be a rough competitor, but does it mean the US has lost already? Of course not. http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2011/08/31/what-solyndras-bankruptcy-means-for-silicon-valley-solar-startups/
192011Sep
Peter Thiel Does Not Like Greentech
In «Greentech, Innovation, Silicon Valley» by Yves Bergquist
Thiel started PayPal, and was the first investor in Facebook, so when he speaks, everybody listens. He also lost a lot of his investors’ money in his Clarium Capital hedge fund on bad bets on the economy in 2009 and 2010. He took the stage last week during TechCrunch Disrupt to denounce greentech investments, which [...]
122011Sep
Google is energy-hungry … but ambitious in renewables
In «Greentech, Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley» by Yves Bergquist
Google just released the figures of its energy consumption, and they are staggering: 260 million watts (or roughly the equivalent of 200,000 US homes). But the company also has very smart people, so in the same step it announced (and that’s true) that their commitment to renewable energy was even greater: they aim to create [...]
092011Sep
Kiva: Intercontinental Ballistic Finance
In «Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley, Sustainability» by Yves Bergquist
For those of you that do not really know Kiva, or can’t really measure its impact, this video will enlighten on this NGO which we LOVE with all our heart. http://vimeo.com/28413747
072011Sep
Don Norman Does Not Like Google
In «Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley» by Yves Bergquist
Designer demi-God Don Norman spoke about Google at a conference in the UK … and it made big waves. http://gigaom.com/2011/09/05/don-norman-google-doesnt-get-people-it-sells-them/
In case you missed it, Tech Crunch’s Michael Arrington published a very high-profile and very discussed piece on taxes a few days ago, everyone’s buzzing about it. http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/15/screw-the-rich-heres-how/
Incubator Fever is still very high in Silicon Valley, as indicated by today’s super-hot demo Day at super-angel Dave McClure’s 500 Startups in Mountain View. And judging by the impressive roster of candidates, it’s not about to end … . http://venturebeat.com/2011/08/16/500-startups-demo-day-2/
152011Aug
Nissan Rolls out a Sustainability Game
In «Greentech, Innovation, Leadership» by Yves Bergquist
Eat your green cred out, GM, because Nissan is rolling out initiative after initiative to contribute to a sustainable world. The latest is an online game targeted at teens and tweens … and surprise, it’s actually a lot of fun to play. http://goo.gl/OmXwS
152011Aug
Facebook’s Social Design Strategy
In «Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley, Social Networks» by Yves Bergquist
Eric Fisher is Facebook’s “Social Design Strategist”, which immediately gives him the status of social networking demiGod. He also has a blog, where we found the gem below. It’s a tad old (May 2011) but so, so interesting. http://fishofthebay.com/posts/social-design-strategy
great post by Harvard’s Rosabeth Kanter, who we love. Really. http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/02/facebook-buys-digital-bookmaking-service-push-pop-press/
032011Aug
Facebook is Buying Push Pop Press
In «Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley» by Yves Bergquist
… which we covered here. We’re not sure why, though. http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/02/facebook-buys-digital-bookmaking-service-push-pop-press/
It’s been a while since we have heard from Bloom Energy, the red-hot renewable energy startup which “Bloom Box” is currently installed at Google, HP and many other Silicon Valley companies. It looks like Bloom is now going after the data center market, which is considerable. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/02/idUS33816826820110802
… traffic down. Why? Mashable investigates below. http://mashable.com/2011/07/27/google-plus-traffic-falls/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Mashable+(Mashable)
If you don’t know Ron Conway you should, because he is the most influential person in Silicon Valley today. He can make you, or break you, not unlike Michael Ovitz in Hollywood in the 80s. Nice portrait below. http://www.geekwire.com/2011/super-angel-ron-conway
302011Jul
How ZimRide … started in Zimbabwe
In «Innovation, Leadership, Silicon Valley, Sustainability» by Yves Bergquist
That’s right. Read this. It’s awesome. http://www.techzim.co.zw/2011/07/zimride-the-silicon-valley-start-up-inspired-by-zimbabwe/
Google just announced it is shutting down “Google Labs”, this internal platform which served to exchange ideas and demo projects built during some employees’ “20% time” dedicated to projects that were not part of their job description. Google claims that this is not the prelude to terminating what has been one of the most innovative [...]
We all saw, read and heard Apple’s amazing quarterly results today. The blog post below goes further and analyzes the company’s revenue by products. http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-apple-revenue-by-product-2011-7?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=SAI%20Chart%20Of%20The%20Day&utm_campaign=SAI_COTD_071911
Interesting blog post letting Silicon Valley know it has another two years to enjoy the bubble. http://blog.thomvest.com/youhavetwoyears/
Yes, I am as tired as you are about “entrepreneurship tips”, but this is different. You know why? Nobody, no entrepreneur on the planet is like Nova Spivack (disclosure: a close personal friend). Nova is not only a world-renowned artificial intelligence engineer and expert, with a track record to match it, he is also an [...]