Top Innovation Speakers at VUZF University, 22 November 2013
The 7th Innovation Research Group meeting of VUZF University held on November 22, 2013 welcomed three distinguished speakers, who confronted an audience of company managers (SAP Lab, Treasure Ltd., etc.), head of the technology transfer office network and team, senior officials at private commercial banks, professors and researchers from VUZF University, as well as PhD candidates and students. Prof. Evgeni Evgeniev welcomed the audience, shared ideas about the impact of business and academic collaboration in the area of innovation and presented the keynote speakers. Mr. Francis Skrobiszewski spoke about “Fundamentals in Venture Capital and Building Innovation Ecosystem”, providing his over 15 years of experience in Enterprise Fund management in Poland and Hungary. Today, Mr. Skrobiszewski is Operations Advisor to the Serbian Innovation Fund supporting high-tech start-ups, and has been an advisor to the World Bank on various innovation initiatives. Mr. Skrobiszewski is also a Director of US-Polish Trade Council in Silicon Valley, facilitating linkages between Polish and US high-tech businesses. Then, Mr. Itzhak Goldberg intervened with a presentation on “Commercialization in Germany and Bulgaria”. He has worked as Innovation Specialist at the World Bank between 1990 and 2009 and published a lot in the area of innovation and technology absorption. He is currently a non-resident Distinguished Fellow of Fraunhofer MOEZ, Leipzig and also a Fellow at the Center for Social and Economic Research in Warsaw, as well as serves as consultant for the World Bank. Finally, Mr. Ravi Gupta shared his ideas about the role of innovation and technology. He works as Innovation Specialist at the World Bank and is an Advisor to governments, NGOs and private sector on topics related to technology-based economic development, intellectual property, and private equity/venture capital. He offers a combination of research rigor of an economist/policy professional, and the outlook of a practitioner. The two-hour meeting at VUZF University witnessed also a lively discussion, moderated by Prof. Evgeni Evgeniev, where the audience provoked many times the speakers with comments and questions. VUZF University proved again a leadership role, bringing top scholars and practitioners to debate hot topics in the area of innovation.
Please, find below presentations of the keynote speakers.
Mr. Francis Skrobiszewski
Mr. Itzhak Goldberg
Mr. Ravi Gupta
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