Needs of Global Start-up companies (Deliverable 2) GlobalStart wp1 Studies Deliverable 2 Needs of Global Start-up Companies Table of contents p
(c) The internationalisation process
Download 1.73 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Wireless Communication
- Business Concept
|
1 (c) The internationalisation process Know-how / technology They recognised the international potential from the beginning but it wasn’t feasible to exploit international activities from the beginning. It was always the idea to develop the idea in the Netherlands through the subsidy projects, while the real commercial upswing would be in international markets. Resources They have had contacts with the Time Domain, manufacturers of the chipsets in the United States. These discussions are ongoing and there are many possibilities as to how they could distribute their product. However, Utellus are looking for someone with international experience to take on this role. Network Other than the contacts with the manufacturers, which were initiated via e-mail and telephone of the chipsets, which were initiated via e-mail and telephone, they have not developed their international network to any great extent. One of these manufacturers has a distributor in Munich and Utellus are in close communication with them and have been to visit them a couple of times. This company while technologically advanced does not have the best marketing so Utellus are still looking at other manufacturers. In any case it is Utellus’ goal to have a number of manufacturers of chipsets on which their product can run, the idea being to develop on different platforms. 2. The regional infrastructure – support for Globalstart companies In both Twente and Delft they are situated in the BTC, so to develop their international strategy they have spoken to companies and persons with international experience to gather information and best practices, learning from the experiences of others. They have had no contact with specific support agencies. Waleli
1 (a) Profile and background Waleli are involved in wireless communication. They aim to develop wireless communications to solve simple needs, both between people (mobile applications) and between machines and apparatuses (machine-to-machine communication). Siete Hamminga founded Waleli in 2002, having graduated with a master’s degree in Technical Business Administration from the University of Twente. During his time a student he ran a one man business, Well-Suited, selling suits to students, he did an internship with Unilever in Switzerland and while enjoying the work, this experience reinforced his desire to start his own business. He completed his master’s thesis in Silicon Valley studying the business models of Internet Service Providers (ISPs). His study period coincided with the collapse of the internet bubble and his thesis was accordingly entitled “Back to Basics”. Following the completion of his education, Roel Pieper, who was one of his master’s committee, asked him to co-author a book he was writing with Vincent Kouwenhoven. This book entitled ‘Beyond the Hype’ looked at how top management of Dutch firms viewed e-commerce now that the hype was over. His experience researching for this book further convinced him that becoming an entrepreneur was the right route for him. Armed with the knowledge he obtained in Silicon Valley, he recognised that current mobile technology ideas were far ahead of consumer needs. The practical idea for the business came from his brother who posed the question ‘why can’t a mobile phone be used to answer the doorbell?’ To answer this he conducted some formal research, borrowed some money, built the prototype and launched the ‘GSM-doorbell’. While developing this product he continued to come up with ideas to bring practical solutions to simple needs using wireless communication, which is the mission of his company. 1 (b) Major milestones
1 (c) The internationalisation process Business ConceptThe solutions developed by Utellus have potential global applications. Technology /product/ marketAlready they have had contacts with people in Austria, Spain, and the United Kingdom for resale of their products. With respect to the GSM-doorbell, a promotional video has been made for use by foreign partners. Production of the SMS-plug is undertaken in China. Finance They have no formal international funding, although some of their investors have a strong international presence, e.g. Shell People Has local agents representing him in several countries but these are not directly employed by Waleli. At this moment he does not have any foreign staff, although he does think that this would add an interesting dynamic to the business. Networking His international networking activities have largely been formed from his previous experiences; the contact with JohnsonDiversy was formed while he doing his internship with Unilever. His is hoping to develop more contacts through JohnsonDiversy, to be introduced to some of their other international activities. Through his business dealing with Siemens in the Netherlands he is now in discussions with Siemens Germany, which is their world headquarters. The contact with the Chinese company producing the SMS Switch came about though several contacts within his network, firstly another starting entrepreneur mentioned that they would be interesting to him, further he met the daughter of the owner at a social evening. This production company has seven factories and employs over 5,000 people and Siete Hamminga recognises that this connection is a valuable asset to his company. It is his intention to create an international portfolio of network contacts prior to the international roll out; already he has initiated this by contacting potential agents in foreign countries. Problems associated with Internationalising The main problems encountered by Waleli were the organisational and legislative issues that emerge when dealing with established large structured organisations. For example, in his dealings with JohnsonDiversy there was a lot of paperwork involved, which is time consuming and furthermore neither Siete nor his contact person in JohnsonDiversy fully understood the agreement as developed by JohnsonDiversy. To overcome this Siete relied mostly on common sense and a ‘belief in the honesty of the world.’ Although he did receive some advice from friends of his in the legal profession, which was to always make your intentions known. So, for his part he entered clearly on the contract with regard to the content, he stated what his intentions were, what he felt was expected from his and the work he intended to carry out. With respect to his dealings with Siemens he remarked that there was some delay with getting put into Siemens computer system which result in a delay on payments. 2. The university – support for Globalstart companies He received support from the University of Twente through the TOP programme. The most important aspect of which he felt was the financial side, although he did have special mention to the TOP board, made up of experienced businessmen, which offers advice and network contacts. He was also very pleased (and lucky) with his coach, who had previously worked for Ericsson, was mobile orientated, affectionate about the business, so automatically they clicked. 3. The regional infrastructure – support for Globalstart companies From the regional infrastructure Waleli have had some support from Syntens, the Chamber of Commerce and informal business networks. He found the Chamber of Commerce support good; they run some very affordable orientation courses, such as hiring personnel, etc. They also supplied Waleli with a grant for the international roll out, paying for 50% of all the expenses for translations for brochures, etc. Siete Hamminga rates the support of the Chamber of Commerce as good (4) but limited, “but that limited role they do well.” The support received from Syntens received a mixed response. They assigned Waleli a coach, who admitted to Siete that he was out of his league. From that perspective he was not very impressed with the people working for Syntens, they had no high flyers. But for a new starting business, especially one lacking in vision and strategy, he could see that it could be useful. The networking aspect of Syntens support was much appreciated by Siete Hamminga, he found the social events very beneficial as by talking to a lot of different entrepreneurs you can share experiences and learn from one another. These social business networks were also a positive influence from a socialistic view point, starting your own business can be lonely, sitting in your own office, you have no clients and no one knows you, and these networks allowed the possibility of human interaction with like minded people. Sarissa Biomedical Ltd
1 (a) Profile and background The company was founded in November 2002 by two of its current directors, Professor Nicholas Dale (Ted Pridgeon Professor of Neuroscience at The University of Warwick) and Enrique Llaudet Carles, with the assistance of Warwick Ventures, the technology transfer company established by the University. The company specialises in the development and production of novel biosensors for the detection and measurement of purines during in vitro and in vivo studies for research and clinical diagnostic applications. This technology is underpinned by a developing IP Portfolio, where the Company is the Sole Licensee of the University: there are currently two key patents. Professor Dale enjoys an international reputation as a research neuroscientist, specialising in the purines and is head of a young and dynamic international research team, as well as being Technical Director of Sarissa. Dr Brian Stammers joined the Board mid-2004, as Chief Executive, with responsibility for finalising funding, developing and managing the business. He has over 20 years senior management experience within the international clinical diagnostics industry. Sarissa and its innovative technology development programme benefit from early-stage funding provided by The Wellcome Trust (£250K), together with two VCT’s, Midven (£125K) and West Midlands Enterprise (£125K). Essentially, the Wellcome funding is focused on R&D, whilst the VCT’s support the commercialisation programme. 1 (b) Major milestones
Help during development and beyond The main factors helping the company were:
Sarissa Biomedical Ltd is hoping to move to the University of Warwick’s Science Park by the end of 2005. This move will be important as the location is in close proximity to the laboratories on the main University campus used by Sarissa. Internalisation Sarissa Biomedical Ltd has encountered no problems. The Future The basic testing technique has been designed, first and foremost, to meet a wide range of research applications. However, the Sarissa Microsensor, with some justification, be seen as an enabling technology to open up some much larger global marketing opportunities. As research continues apace to demonstrate clearer links between specific biomarkers and medical conditions, a similar, but scaled-up Sarrisa Macrosensor could certainly be used by clinicians in the diagnosis of an illness, subject to obtaining the necessary approval. It is the company’s view that it will be possible, in the near future, for new, low-cost, disposable blood testing kits to be used in hospitals or health centres on an experimental basis for testing for markers for a range of different illnesses. This would lead, in the medium term, to full regulatory approval of these sensors as diagnostic devices. The same basic technology could also have important applications at the point of care as well. Individual patients already routinely test for the well-known biomarker, cholesterol, so members of the public might be able to use test kits to monitor themselves at home. DigePrint
1 (a) Profile and background DigePrint Limited was established April 2001 to design and manufacture a new type of digital print processor for the retail and photofinishing markets. DigePrint, a joint venture between the University of Warwick and Integrated Global Images, arose from initial research undertaken during a 1-year DTI SMART funded project into the development of a novel digital exposure technology. This gave rise to the patented LumaJet technology, which is similar to an ink-jet printer but "sprays" light onto standard sliver-halide photographic paper to produce very high quality images. Photographic paper is a factor of 10 x cheaper than competing technologies, is permanent and is recognised as the "gold standard" for digital prints. Following a one year ‘proof of concept’ project at the University, a unique exposure system was developed and patented. DigePrint addresses the needs of a $35bn global photo-processing market, serviced by over 300,000 minilabs, photo retailers and professional labs world-wide. With the burgeoning growth in digital cameras (>25%p/a), including camera-enabled mobile phones and personal organiser, and with film declining at over 20% p/a, photo processors will have to invest over the next 2-5 years to provide new digital printing services in order to compete in this new market. All indications are that consumers and professionals alike are demanding the ease and flexibility of digital photography but with the proven quality, permanence and price of silver halide prints as they move from film to film-less photography. Currently systems to address this need cost over £70,000, as they process both film and digital images, and are uneconomic for more than the top 10% of service providers. 1 (b) Major milestones
DigePrint are currently in discussions with an American company in this sector, in order to expand in this region. Streamline Computing Limited
1 (a) Profile and background Streamline Computing was founded in 2000 on the initiative of Dr Michael Rudgyard, a lecturer in the School of Computing Sciences at the University of Warwick. His expertise was in high-performance computing, and in particular the use of supercomputers for scientific tasks such as data visualisation. In his previous work at Oxford and in France, he had developed programming systems that allowed more effective creation for parallel computing. As part of his responsibilities at the University, Dr Rudgyard was investigating the purchase of a cluster supercomputer. The latest type of supercomputer uses large numbers (100 to 10,000) of rack-mounted personal computers, linked with a high-speed (2 Gbyte) network. Computing tasks are split into hundreds of sub-tasks, which are processed in parallel, each by a separate processor, and the results of these sub-processes are then brought together. This methodology is especially suitable for tasks such as computation fluid dynamics, graphics processing, weather forecasting, oil reservoir simulation, crash simulation and protein folding computations. Dr Rudyard was not happy with the companies that he met as part of this investigation. He believed that they were considerably over-pricing their hardware and/or were technically not competent. This was largely because it was such a new area of computing, and expertise was in short supply. He approached Warwick Ventures in September 2000 with the simple proposition that “he could do better). 1 (b) Major milestones
Directory: pub pub -> Project Scoring Template Pre-Construction Phase New Core/Branch Campus Projects pub -> Acm word Template for sig site pub -> The german unification, 1815-1870 pub -> Baltic Olympiads in Informatics: Challenges for Training Together pub -> Preparation of Papers for ieee transactions on medical imaging pub -> Forthcoming meetings and conferences pub -> Asilomar Conference on Circuits, Systems & Computers, Pacific Grove, ca, November 1978, pp. 55 58 pub -> Forthcoming meetings and conferences pub -> Harmonised compatibility and sharing conditions for video pmse in the 7 9 ghz frequency band, taking into account radar use Download 1.73 Mb. Share with your friends:
|