BAIAblog

An Interview with Gaetano Pellicano on Venture-Capital Reform in Italy

On February 19, 2008 I had the pleasure to be invited to speak at the Italian Parliament for an event on Venture Capital reform organized by Gaetano Pellicano, the President of BAIA Italy. Since the inception of BAIA Italy last year, Gaetano has been working on connecting the business communities gathered by BAIA in Italy and California, leveraging his experience to promote the exchange of knowledge, especially in the venture capital area.

Gaetano, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your professional activities?

Since 2001 I have been a political advisor of the U.S. State Department at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. I work with American companies and institutions in Italy and advise the U.S. government with respect to policies in Italy and the EU. I focus also on job creation policies and have taught public administration at the Scuola Superiore della Pubblica Amministrazione. After meeting BAIA founders Matteo Daste and Giorgio Ghersi in San Francisco and seeing what BAIA is doing, I espoused the idea and in 2007 I promoted the launch of a BAIA Rome Chapter, that I am currently presiding.

How relevant of a topic is promoting venture capital investment in Italy today?

Low level of investment by risk capitals hinders the capability of boosting an ecosystem which favors innovation. Either big corporations or the research sector call for a stronger network between different actors, including venture funds, in order to improve their competitiveness, to establish cooperation with international players, and to bring new ideas, products and service to the market.

How did BAIA Italy play a role in organizing the February 19 event?

BAIA had been working in close cooperation with the Partnership for Growth of the U.S. Embassy in Rome that promoted a network between serial entrepreneurs, business angels and venture capitals. We proposed to work with this group of players to strengthen the links with Californian counterparts and to consolidate a package of proposals of improvements of the legal system along with most interested policy makers. Decidere.net and Competere appreciated our initiative and decided to cosponsor it.

What possible benefits could come out of these activities for Italy?

Our aims are to improve the ecosystem, to increase its dynamism and to help Italian innovators willing to establish joint ventures and other forms of cooperation with American colleagues. We will submit the package to the new parliament and the new government by September.

What's the outlook for BAIA Italy?

We are structuring our organization concentrating our energies on few events which might allow us to involve new members. Volunteerism is less common in Italy than in the States, but with a strategic vision we hope to stimulate the participation of a significant group of innovators interested in our unique initiative.

I would like to thank again Gaetano for his contribution. It is hoped that initiatives like the one promoted by BAIA Italy will be a welcome addition to the Italian economic panorama and will not only contribute to promoting knowledge of California models in Italy, but will also give a fresh  perspective on venture capital to leaders and entrepreneurs in Italy.

Matteo Daste

An Interview with Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, Professor and Entrepreneur

Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli teaches at the prestigious University of California in Berkeley and is also a successful entrepreneur having cofounded the two largest EDA companies: Cadence and Synopsis. A proper introduction of Alberto would require long lists of companies, professional accomplishments, and academic positions. I recommend viewing his resume which is available on the Berkeley website. Last week, on October 17, I had the pleasure of participating in a BAIA event featuring a talk by Alberto. Despite living in the Bay Area for more than 7 years, it was the first time I heard a convincing and honest explanation of the Silicon Valley system, or ecosystem, as Alberto likes to call it. Aware of the impossibility of synthesizing an hour and a half into a short interview, I chose to ask Alberto a few questions about some of the most intriguing topics raised during his speech.

Alberto, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your several academic and entrepreneurial activities?

I graduated in 1971 from the Politecnico di Milano in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. I spent 6 months as a researcher in Berkeley in 1975 when Politecnico sent me here to learn how to do good research. Then I became an Assistant Professor at the Department of EECS, UC Berkeley, in 1976. Since then, I have been on the faculty of this Institution. I left Italy at the beginning with very mixed feelings: I was quite happy in Milan. Now I am happy I took that controversial decision. I scaled rapidly the academic ladder and became full Professor (Professore Ordinario) in 1982. I hold an endowed chair, The Edgar L. and Harold H. Buttner Chair of EECS. An endowed chair carries additional funds for doing research and it is a very prestigious position that is given only to few people in academia. I also spent one year at IBM Watson Research Center in New York and one semester as Visiting Professor at MIT. During this 32 year period I was active in setting up companies based on my research work. In particular, I helped founding Cadence and Synopsys which are the two most prominent companies in EDA. I also consulted for many important companies including AT&T, IBM, Intel, Honeywell, Mercedes Benz, BMW, GM, HP, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Kawasaki, Pirelli, and Telecom Italia. I sit on 6 boards of directors of public and private companies.

You fully captured the essence of the Silicon Valley with one word -- ecosystem. Is it possible to foster the development of equivalent ecosystems (e.g., in Italy) or would such a combination of multiple factors only occur naturally?

An ecosystem is very difficult to replicate. It is as if one would  ask what it takes to transplant the Amazons to Europe... I would say it is impossible. An ecosystem is the result of particular local and global evolutions and it may take decades to manifest itself in its full strength. My position is that an ecosystem can be safeguarded and helped to maintain its unique characteristics but it cannot be created from ground zero.

In your recent presentation for the BAIA event in Berkeley, you mention the human network as a key factor of the Silicon Valley. How does the concept of networking in Silicon Valley differ from that of the one in Italy?

Human network in silicon valley is an amazing canopy. It grows and spreads like a vine in the Amazons to keep the analogy with the rain forest! It is the vital lymph of the ecosystem. People exchange continuously ideas and information in the most free format one can think of. Causal meetings at restaurants, jogging encounters, soccer games for the kids at school, everything gives a chance to the people active in the ecosystem to chat and brainstorm. The best ideas come out from this random interaction. The network is informal, there is no sense of hierarchy and of elitism. A young graduate student can bump into the founders of Yahoo or Google and exchange a few ideas in the streets of Palo Alto when sipping a coffee. It is really amazing to see this in action. In Italy there are of course important social networks but my view is these networks are stratified and being a member of a network of importance takes time and requires a sort of induction mechanism that stifles this free format that I believe it is vital for innovation at 360 degrees paraphrasing a concept by Pasquale Pistorio.

You are one of the few entrepreneurs who are not afraid to recognize the important role of luck in the creation and destruction of wealth. Why is it important to correctly understand the contribution of good luck to our successes and bad luck to our failures?

Luck has played an important role in all my life. I do not think that all that happened to the successful people in the Silicon Valley is due to superior intelligence and business sense. In fact, it is easy to trace the most successful formations of new companies to casual events. Even Yahoo and Google. For my part, I learned that luck is important by seeing how a positive turn of events, a delay or an acceleration in the market place can make or break a company. It is important to recognize the role of luck in our own lives to make sure that we do not consider ourselves as infallible. It is exactly when we think so that we make the most horrible mistakes that may cost too much to us and to others. By the same token, unsuccess is not necessarily due to us being bad or incompetent persons. Recognizing this gives a new perspective on life where one can build success out of failures. The important lesson to learn is to identify the root causes of our success and failures and make them a pillar of what we do next.

The success of the Open Source movement is changing the nature of the software business. As a Open Source pioneer, what is your opinion on this?

Open source for a University is a must. I believe that part of my success was due to this model. Everything we did at the University was open domain: any company could use our software and algorithms freely. In this way, our ideas spread world-wide very fast and demonstrated that what we did was important. The companies that were formed based on our results never sold the software made at the University, they adapted and changed. They built new tools, they leveraged what was done at the University. The free software distribution pioneered at Berkeley was seen by the community as a good model where many people can contribute and make the final product better and more powerful. The step towards making also operating systems, middleware, tools widely available to the community has been taken. The issue is now how to build solid business models and companies based on this idea.

You are trying to prove that large companies, such as Cadence, can be successful in doing in-house innovation. Can you tell us bit about how you are approaching this problem and the results you are getting?

Innovating in a public company is always a challenge. The pressure on quarter by quarter results is so strong that any investment in new technology that is bound to be negative for years and is going to bear fruits on a potentially long time-span, reflects negatively on the P/L (Profit and Loss) of the company and as a consequence on its stock market valuation. To come out of this quandary, most companies turn to mergers and acquisitions that in general are not reflected in the P/L. However, when trying to build long-lasting value in a company, this is NOT the most appealing strategy, albeit it looks like the best on a short time horizon. We at Cadence tried to build an incubation model that favors the formation of new groups that are innovation driven. They are managed almost as external entities with their own Board of Directors and their own financing model. We had preliminary indications of success in at least two cases. The jury is still out.

You enjoy making jokes about the rivalry between Berkeley and Stanford. Seriously speaking, how is the entrepreneurial attitude of people graduating from those two glorious universities different?

The differences are evident. Berkeley students IN GENERAL are more motivated by technical work and accomplishments. They tend to be more "faithful" to the companies they work with if their environment is conducive to their ideals. Stanford graduates are more inclined to build a new company as the major goal of their career. Economics tends to be more rewarding for them than pure technical work. I said in general since there are examples to the contrary. However, in my career, I have noted this as a major difference among the two groups. It is clear that Berkeley students also founded companies that are successful and lead other companies with great visibility: a case in point is Eric Schmidt, a Berkeley alumnus, who took Google public and who perfected their business model. However, Eric for MANY years had been working in deep  technical issues at SUN where he was Chief Technology Officer.

Several Italian companies are trying to establishing some sort of connection with the Silicon Valley in order to learn from such a successful model and to place their sensors at the core of the software business. Do you have any recommendations for them?

Do not try to copy Silicon Valley, it would be a major mistake. Learn from it and see how to distill the principles so that they could be remapped in Italian environment. Understanding the Silicon Valley implies that one has to be part of the community, not sitting on the sideline. Coming here as a visitor for six months is not a good approach. Come here and work in a company, or a VC firm and live fully the experience.

I would like to thank Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli for taking the time to speak with me today. The Italian community in California must be honored and proud to have Alberto among its members. If you have any questions for Alberto or for BAIA, please leave a comment below and we will be glad to answer.

Franco Folini

An Interview with Francesco Lemmi, Director at innovalight

2007 is the International Heliophysical Year, celebrated at a time when businesses and individuals around the world are compelled to look at solar energy and other renewable energy sources to fuel a cleaner, sustainable future. In an aura of hope and ongoing progress, BAIA is looking at both American and Italian companies, offering the spotlight to innovative businesses and entrepreneurs who are making the promise of renewables become concrete on both sides of the ocean. With this goal in mind, BAIA has just hosted an event on renewable energy “From Galileo to Arnold: Redefining the Center of the Energy Universe” (pictures on Flickr), with six prestigious panelists from Innovalight, PG&E, the San Francisco Department of Environment, Solar Ventures and SRI International.

As a follow up to the insights we have learned from our panelists, we are continuing our process of discovery and promotion of these clean energy champions and I have interviewed Dr. Francesco Lemmi of Innovalight, one of the Red Herring top 100 innovators of 2007.

Francesco, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your company?
I came to Silicon Valley from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, to work on amorphous silicon devices and physics at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) after my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. Most of the research activity was focused on the development of high-resolution X-ray medical imaging. After two years in Rome working as an Assistant Professor (“Ricercatore Universitario”) in Electrical Engineering, I returned to Silicon Valley. I have, then since held engineering and management positions at FlexICs, Inc. and Nanosys, Inc., working on ultra-low temperature polysilicon thin-film transistors and on Silicon nanowires, both in the area of device and process development. During this last year I have been heading the solar cell device development at Innovalight, using a proprietary “Silicon Ink” technology. In my career I have been author of 9 US patents and several more pending patent applications, as well as more than 40 publications on international scientific journals.

How would you explain to non-experts, the way Innovalight’s technology differs from the current, most common photovoltaic technology used in today’s commercial solar cells?
In a nutshell, Innovalight uses nanotechnology as a vehicle to cut the costs by a factor of 10 when compared to today’s conventional solar technology. Our product, while still in development, will look not much different to today’s solar cells. We have employed nanotechnology as a vehicle to create the product from scratch. This approach cuts out all of the very expensive processes used to manufacture solar cells today. We have chosen to develop our technology platform based on Silicon, which we believe to be the safest, most abundant and reliable material for photovoltaic applications.

What will be the benefits, in terms of cost and/or efficiency, of applying this technology to the mass production of solar cells and possibly other light-powered devices?
The key metric inhibiting the global adoption of solar cell technology is the cost to produce a watt of electricity. Solar cells today are still too expensive and cannot compete with conventional fossil fuel electricity generation. Today, solar modules cost about $5.00 per watt. For solar energy to takeoff worldwide, it must get to below $1.00 per watt. We believe we can reduce that to well below $1.00 per watt with our technology.

There seem to exist different generations of solar cells;  which generation does Innovalight belong to, or are you creating a whole new breed of nanocrystal solar cells?
Generation I is the “classical” Silicon wafer based solar cell. I guess we belong to Generation II of solar cell technologies, sometimes characterized as thin-films. In the end, customers who buy solar cells will not care what technology is used or if it contains nano-crystalline technology. Decisions will be made on how much it will cost. We are focused on that and making solar energy affordable. Generation III is about future multi-junction solar cells, and holds the promise of delivering extremely high conversion efficiencies. While we believe that our Silicon Ink technology could be used in such applications, we acknowledge that the time-to-market for Gen III devices is very likely to be well above a decade. Hence, we focus on Gen II type of devices for our first product, while maintaining a possible long-term R&D interest in Gen III.

Innovalight appears to be currently focused on grid-connected solutions;  is it possible that once your technology goes to market, there will be room to adapt it to autonomous energy systems, cost-effectively?
We are focused exclusively on grid-connected applications because that is where the multi billion dollar market is currently. Other markets will continue to emerge, such as portable power, but these are still very small markets with very different requirements. We see ourselves staying focused on grid applications (rooftop) for the foreseeable future.

Some of your competitors have been also performing research in nanotechnology, some on silicon thin-film solar cells, and some of them have an established network of integrators as well as the marketing and financial muscle to quickly bring their solutions to market.  Do you see Innovalight compete head-to-head with them, or do you believe your technology is unique or it applies to a specific niche?
We will be competing of course. At least for the next couple of years there will be plenty of opportunities for existing and new-entrants in the market, irrespective of the technologies employed. With solar energy only representing 0.01 percent of the electrical energy market today, there will be plenty of growth opportunity for many companies. If the cost per Watt of solar energy is brought well below one dollar, the market becomes virtually endless.

Your extensive research background is partly from Italy;  do you believe it is possible to adopt Innovalight’s technology now in the Italian market, and if so, do you see Innovalight establishing a presence overseas, or rather license its technology to Italian companies and/or work through local partners?
Italy, and the whole of the European continent are very important markets – in fact being the largest market today, they will factor importantly into our plans. It is not inconceivable that we will have our own operations in Europe, perhaps including Italy, in the future. As for licensing, that is something we will look at long-term. In the near to mid-term instead, as we grow, we plan on retaining a tight grip on our technology.

Do you see a fairly rapid trend developing, in the adoption of advanced solar solutions in Italy, or a more conservative approach, possibly diluted over time until proven solutions come to market?
At the present stage, and for all markets including Italy, the adoption of solar power is bound to governmental incentives, due to the still-too-high cost. A good example of how a country can expand vigorously its solar power component is given by Germany. In Germany, the extremely advantageous governmental incentives have boosted the solar energy sector to the first place worldwide. Germany has very aggressive plans to convert a sizeable portion of its total energy needs to solar in one and a half decades. Such governmental incentives have also prompted the growth of a very strong solar industry constellation of companies, including supporting businesses such as solar cell production tool makers, etc. This is ultimately the reason why Germany is going to be able to keep on their plans, over the years. Italy does have governmental incentives in place as well for solar energy, but the extent they can go to and the ease of obtaining them could be perhaps improved to boost the sector more efficiently. Over time, the cost of solar modules will be reduced and countries which have now a leading edge will still be in the best conditions to maintain it and push it further.

I would like to thank Francesco Lemmi for taking the time to speak with me today. If you have any questions for Francesco or for BAIA, please leave a comment below and we will be glad to answer.

Lucia Panini

Of Roaring Hearts and Technology

As BAIA gears up to deliver a “can’t miss” event in the auto world, I feel compelled to report on the flattering comments of Rick Wagoner, head of GM, toward the rebirth of Italian FIAT, as highlighted at the Genève auto show.

Quoting Wagoner “Italy must be proud of the rebirth of FIAT”. In fact, much of the most exciting new models on stage in Genève are “Made in Torino”. Among them: the FIAT “Bravo”, debuting in these days in Europe, the “GranTurismo” Maserati, (Modena brand of Lingotto), the return of the Abarth icon, and of course scintillating Ferrari showing off not just roaring “cavallini” but also record results.

For more on Genève’s auto show check this link, and for a snapshot on that unique blend of art, emotion and technology which characterizes the Italian auto tradition, here’s a sneak peak on Bertone’s “Barchetta” concept car.

See you at BAIA’s event on March 29th. Warm up your engines and get ready to be amazed!

Lucia Panini

Habemus Videos "Blogs and Marketing"

Paraphrasing a recent Mauro Lupi blog post (Habemus iPod) and the traditional announcement of the Catholic Church after each pope election (Habemus Papam), finally we can say: "Habemus Videos!".

About one month after the successuful BAIA event "Blogs and Marketing", thanks to Michele Ursino, now we can finally offer the video recording of the February 8 event. The two videos have been uploaded on Google Video and should accessible from any Internet connection.

Part 1: Mauro Lupi Introduction (Total length 26:43)

Part 2: Panel Discussion (Total length 34:13)

Enjoy!

Franco Folini

Blogs Versus Wikis: a Matter of Balance (Part III)

At BAIA’s event on Blogs & Marketing Six Apart presented the case study of another fascinating application of blogs: one from Boeing’s Flight Test Journal. What an enticing, far-reaching perspective! A gift to many who may never be able to afford such a journey and a generous way of sharing observations and data.

So, if blogs can also make up a common knowledge base, how do they differ from Wikis, object of BAIA’s previous event? Peter Thoeny’s input, corroborated by the other presenters on “Blogs & Marketing”, was once again sharply insightful: Wikis are editable, constantly changing (“morphing”), dynamic through time, often summarize a compendium of entries from multiple contributors and follow an encyclopedia-style format, much like the popular Wikipedia. Whereas blogs bear a set time stamp, (so do Wikis, but behind the scenes), are static, individually-generated, sequential, written as diary notes.

The distinction between blogs and Wikis is important but it carries no bias for either tool, as each is suited to perform best in the proper setting.

This session on Blogs & Marketing was extremely rich in content, powered by speakers who are both experts in, and passionate about, their field and fueled by the participation of attendees eager to learn more about how to implement, improve and advance the use of blogs for their organizations. All for a topic which is not short of coverage, considering there were concomitant events on the same subject, on that very evening.

Need a proof of my words? See the flattering endorsement from Novell’s Bruce Lowry in his Novell’s PR blog.

At the end of the Q&A when attendees were prompted for “one last question” hands across the room shot to the ceiling, clearly betraying an overflow of thoughts and opportunity for further discussion. The swift upper-body movements were followed by an accomplice chorus of laughs and the obvious understanding that the story will continue. “Alla prossima puntata” as we say in Italian, or “’til the next episode”.

Don’t miss next BAIA event, it promises to be simply… electrifying!

Lucia Panini

The Case for Business Blogs: Beyond the Buzz and in the Beef (Part II)

The convincing arguments brought forward by the panelists at BAIA’s event on Blogs & Marketing, proved the case for the use of blogs in business because blogs – if properly groomed – impact directly the bottom line, by increasing revenues and lowering costs. How? By intelligently piecing together the tesserae of the marketing mosaic.

Blogs affect sales directly: they can produce revenue via ads, they help drive higher traffic to a web site, (translating into stronger eCommerce sales, heightened interest for products and services, more click troughs to distributors’ sites, cross selling and upselling opportunities); they enhance dramatically the positioning with a search engine, adding momentum to a well-conceived SEO strategy.

Indirectly, blogs help better understand the customer base; by “listening” to blogs, a company can quickly find out what users like or dislike, even how they “call” a product. Mauro Lupi of Ad Maiora hinted to this point, mentioning the lingo used by cell phone users to refer to their devices in Italy, varies (cellulare, telefonino, etc).

To match the nomenclature used in marketing literature with the terms which resonate with the target user base, yields an immediate competitive advantage. To speak the same language of existing and prospective customers allows crafting an advertising message which will instantly establish a direct association with a product or service.

Revenues of course also originate from the roll out of new products and blogs are a clever method of discovering what costumers may be seeking but is not yet available, or not with the desired package, flavor, or features. Mauro Lupi offered the case study of Mulino Bianco, (Barilla brand), whose team created a new product based on the input collected from its blog.

On the other side of the profit equation, blogs represent an immense source of market research data at a fraction of the cost of traditional market research instruments (such as focus groups and custom surveys).

Blogs can also prevent significant dilution of resources. Business misshapes happen to the best companies, and can be dangerously costly if not corrected proactively. It may take infinite efforts and time to dissolve the damaging effects of a harmful PR spill. Rather than learning from distant sources that customers are unhappy with a product, it is far more helpful to know from a business’ own blog, and within a limited time lapse, what caused a problem, so that immediate measures can be enacted to bring it under control.

Blogs however imply that time be devoted to them and that businesses care about what is posted, not to mention devising action plans in accordance with the feedback received (hence the need for grooming).

So the question arises: “How can a business with limited resources capitalize on the wealth of information that pours in from a blog and put it to use before it becomes obsolete? Is it possible to mine/text-mine the entirety of entries for a given time period, to capture the most salient keywords and messages?”

Lucia Panini

Blogs Beyond Business: Life-critical Applications (Part I)

BAIA is continuing to deliver a vibrant series of business events, where eloquent speakers and stimulating attendees gather enthusiastically, providing a fertile ground for ongoing discussions, partnerships and in-depth development of the featured topics.

The panel, at “Blogs & Marketing” was composed of four experts: Mauro Lupi, of Ad Maiora, Marissa Levinson of Six Apart (also sponsor), Mary Trigiani of Spada, Inc, and Peter Thoeny, of StructuredWikis. Each of them engaged the audience from different angles, offering a synergic, harmonious all-around presentation.

In a nutshell, blogs (Web logs), are on-line journals. They can be used whenever individuals wish to contribute their thoughts to a forum about a matter relevant to their community.
I see blogs as a natural evolution of Internet communication, and an even deeper “democratization” of the Internet, already a platform which – despite the yet unfilled gaps of the digital divide and occasional political censorships – has opened the reign of knowledge and access to information to masses of people around the planet.

In the business world, blogs demystify the top-down, formal approach from corporate to consumer; as Mary Trigiani of Spada emphasized, the target is perceived no longer as a passive “audience” but rather as active “stakeholders”.

As Six Apart pointed out, blogs also ensure inclusiveness, overcoming glitches such as accidentally dropping an e-mail address from a large distribution list.
Blogs leverage on current technology, (visit Six Apart website for a comprehensive suite of tools), to satisfy the ancestral human need to voice one’s opinions, bringing along the corollary right to freedom of expression. We once drew signs on the walls of a cave, now we post via a mouse click; the urge to communicate hasn’t changed. Blogs enable members of a society to discuss, interactively, topics of interest, whether from a personal or business standpoint.

But beyond the confines of a balance sheet, there are compelling reasons to embrace blogs and to understand their scope. Often in Silicon Valley we have a thirst for innovation which resembles pure play! However, many innovations are born of, or will serve, the broader, higher, longer-range goal of improving human life and of providing solutions to impending needs.

This was the poignant case in the immediate aftermath of hurricane Katrina, when – as Six Apart highlighted – blogging was often the only way for reporters to post information on the status of areas hit by the catastrophe, and to relay vital updates to dispersed families, friends and rescuers.
A critical need for first responders after major disasters strike is to maintain real-time communication across rescue teams and with the “outside” world, so that relief efforts can be optimized to save as many lives as possible.

So blogs can play a vital role, just like wireless mesh networks and other tools that prevent or mitigate isolation of the afflicted population. There exist not-just-mundane reasons to welcome the explosive growth of blogs (doubling each month every six months as quoted by Mauro Lupi), also because of how they can serve our communities.

Lucia Panini

Blogs, Marketing, and Risotto

Thursday was the big day. After a long preparation everything was ready for the new BAIA event: Blogs and Marketing. I was a bit worried that something could go wrong at the last minute, despite all our efforts.
Organizing an event it's like making a risotto: first, you need the best ingredients. For risotto the list is well known: Italian Arborio (pronounced ar-boh-ree-oh) rice, chicken stock, onions, Parmesan cheese, butter and obviously zafferano (saffron). As in every recipe, using best ingredients do not guarantee a good result. You need also time, skill, and passion, and mostly important, some magic.
We planned last Thursday event to be as good as an authentic risotto alla milanese. We had the privilege of having the best ingredients: four great panelists (each one with thier unique flavor), a cool topic and a perfect venue. Everybody involved invested their time, their skills, and joined in with sincere passion.
Thursday night, we witnessed something similar to what transforms good ingredients into a delicious, creamy, and tasty risotto. Our 4 great panelists, who barely knew each other before, were sitting in front of 30 people, talking about blogs and marketing when, like in a pot of risotto, the magic happened: almost everybody in the audience got involved in a dialog with the panel.
It really was a great, informative, and inspiring event. Indeed, as for risotto, the result was richer and tastier than the single ingredients.
If you are familiar with Italian culture you know that for an Italian comparing something or somebody to a risotto is the highest form of appreciation.

The focus of the event was on corporate blogs or, as Mauro Lupi suggested, business blogs. For a successful business blog, the panel recommends:

1. Blogging with passion for the subject
2. Talking to people, not to consumers
3. Being credible
4. Writing often
5. Linking, linking, linking

Please take a look at the pictures on BAIA pages on Flickr, and check out the brief report by Bruce Lowry on Novell Open PR blog. My personal, and BAIA team gratitude goes to our four panelists: Mauro Lupi (Ad Maiora), Mrissa Levinson (Six Apart), Mary Trigiani (Spada, Inc.), and Peter Thoeny (StructuredWikis, LLC).

Franco Folini

Reminder: Blogs and Marketing Event

I would like to remind everybody of the next interesting BAIA event: Blogs and Marketing. The event will take place here in San Francisco Thursday February 8, 6:00 pm, at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP on 101 California Street, 5th Floor.

The event sponsors are Cooley Godward Kronish, and Six Apart, the most popular blog platform. As described in a previous post on this blog and on a more recent post on Novedge blog, the event panel will feature four very interesting experts (alphabetical order):

Marissa Levinson, Six Apart (blog)

Marissa is the Director of Business Development & Sales at Six Apart. She works with Six Apart’s enterprise and business clients, coordinating partnership agreements and sales strategy. Prior to Six Apart, she worked for Bloomberg, L.P.

Mauro Lupi, Ad Maiora (blog)

One of the most influential Italian bloggers, Internet marketing and SEO expert. Mauro is the president of Ad Maiora, an international company.

Peter Thoeny, StructuredWikis, LLC (blog)

Wiki guru, and blogger. Peter is the founder and major author of tWiki, a open-source wiki for the corporate world. He is also one of the founder of StructuredWikis, LLC. Peter is now working on a new book, "Wiki for Dummies".

Mary Trigiani, Spada Inc. (blog)

Mary is a marketing expert, a writer, and a blogger. She works with senior executives to articulate their business strategies and speak and write about them in their own voices.

Program
The event will start at 6:00 pm. We will have about 30 minutes for registration, then Mauro Lupi will open the discussion with a 15 minutes presentation. Following Mauro presentation the panelist and all people attending the event will be involved in a discussion and exchange of experiences about blogs and marketing. At 7:30 pm we will close the discussion to leave some space for networking and to give everybody an opportunity to speak directly with our panelists and guests.

If you are in San Francisco or in the Bay Area, please join us! For registration please visit the BAIA registration page: the registration is $20 for guests and only $5 for BAIA members, just one more good reason to consider to become a BAIA member.

Franco Folini

From Wiki to Blog in 2 weeks with BAIA

After weeks of preparation, finally everything converged on Tuesday night, at DLA Piper in Palo Alto. It was the first BAIA (Business Association Italy America) event of 2007. Peter Thoeny, our guest, talked about Wiki Collaboration and Wiki Applications for Business (see Peter blog post on the event). Peter created a dialogue between him and the public, making the talk a truly interactive experience. He also skillfully mixed technical information with business perspective on the topic (the slides of the presentation are available here).

About 40 people attended the event. I received very positive feedback from everybody I spoke with. The event location was great also. Palo Alto is a convenient location for this type of event: it's within one hour drive of Silicon Valley and San Francisco. The conference room was kindly provided by Tom French, partner at DLA Piper, and it was perfect. People attending the event were able to access a wireless Internet connection and sip Italian coffee from the event sponsor, Caffe' del Doge. (My personal recommendation is to stop at Caffe' del Doge coffee shop at 419 University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto and ask for the "marocchino," a delicious mix of chocolate and coffee.)

In the next few days we will officially announce the next event to be be held in downtown San Francisco. The topic is very exciting: "Blogs and Marketing". We will host an incredible panel of experts:

• Mauro Lupi (Ad Maiora, blog) a popular Italian blogger and an Internet marketing expert
• Peter Thoeny (StructuredWikis, blog) a wiki guru and blogger
• Mary Trigiani (Spada Inc., blog) a marketing expert and blogger
• Marissa Levinson (Six Apart, blog) Director of Business Development and Sales at Six Apart, and blogger

If you are a blogger or you are interested in how to create a corporate blog and to promote your company and products with a blog, you can't miss this event. Come back for the latest news and check our main website for the official announcement and registration link.

Franco Folini

"Wikis and Business" with Peter Thoeny

BAIA is proud to announce a new event for January 23 with Peter Thoeny.

According to Wikipedia, the concept of wiki was invented in 1994 by Ward Cunningham. After running silently on early adopters' computers for several years, wikis are now entering the business world. Thanks to the popular Wikipedia, most of us already are aware of wikis. While Wikipedia is an exceptional source of information, it's just one application of the wiki concept. Editing a Wikipedia's page is the simplest way to experience the incredible power of this idea. It was after my first editing on Wikipedia, that I realized the power of the wiki and started to think what this technology could do in a business environment.

Several new software companies are exploring the power of wikis with plenty of new great ideas. Those companies are becoming visible to the media (e.g., New York Times) and attracting investors. Here are some of the recent news from the wiki world:

• JotSpot has been recently acquired by Google
• CentralDesktop is working with SalesForce.com
• WetPaint just raised a second round of financing (9.5M)
• Wikia offers free Wiki hosting

I believe that simplicity is what makes wiki such a powerful concept. We are not talking about technologies with huge costs of acquisition and deployment. Wiki is a simple yet powerful idea, based on inexpensive or free software.

Wikies are gradually having an impact on more and more companies. Companies like eBay, Amazon and Microsoft are using wikis on their public web sites, many others on their intranets.

To better understand this trend, I asked  Peter Thoeny, a wki guru, to introduce the concept of wiki to all of us from the business perspective. Peter is one of the pioneers who explored the introduction and integration of wikies in the corporate world. Now he is involved in two wiki companies: tWiki (founder) and StructuredWikis (co-founder).

BAIA invites you (January 23 6:00pm - DLA Piper, Palo Alto, CA) for Peter's talk on wikis. You will learn how your business can benefit from those new technologies. You can register on our website, here.

Franco Folini

Upcoming Events

After the frenetic activity of the last few days, we will slow down a bit for a couple of weeks. We were able to attract several people and to deliver very high quality events with top notch speakers in prestigious locations. BAIA is establishing itself as the reference point for the Italian and non-Italian business community and for everybody interested in exploring business opportunities with and from Italy including all businesses related to the Italian traditions and culture.
For all our members and friends attending those events, it has been an incredible occasion to meet other business people and to expand everybody's network. I’ve seen members and guests having a discussion about VC while tasting Valpolicella wine, or explaining the strategy behind a new startup and sipping delicious Italian coffee, or exchanging business cards with the speakers and enjoying Italian beer.

If you didn’t have a chance to join us for the last events, we are not going to let you down: we will have two more in the next few days. For the upcoming events BAIA will be involved as co-organizer or sponsor.

• The first event is tonight November 4th at the Marin Center Exhibit Hall in San Rafael for one night with the Italian Film Festival organized by Lido Catarutti. Today program features “Ma quando arrivano le ragazze?” directed by Pupi Avati.
• The next and very different event is the 7th annual conference organized by NOVA, the Italian MBA Association, in collaboration with URANIA, the Italian Association for Life Science. The conference will be November 11 & 12 at the Stanford Graduate School of Business under the title “Roads to Innovation: International Perspectives on the Generation of Ideas, Technologies, and new Businesses”.

One small request: if you have any feedback regarding the past activities or any suggestion for the future you can contact one of the BAIA board members or simply post a comment here, on this blog.

Franco Folini

Arturo Artom: Fiat Lux

“Venture Capitalist” must sound like a bad word in Italy. This is the first impression when you attend a speech by Arturo Artom, an Italian entrepreneur (Muvis intelligent lighting system and Netsystem) and novice venture capitalist (Artom Innovazione Italia).
According to Arturo the type of risk investment that made Silicon Valley rich and successful is almost non-existent in Italy. He claims to be one of the few Italians determined to change the current situation and wants to proof that the “Bel Paese” can provide great business and financial opportunities to all investors willing to take risks.
Arturo talks about his experience with a lot of color and passion, with a style that remind me more of Marco Polo than of a cold professional investor.

For half an hour the entire Skilling Auditorium in Stanford was following Arturo Artom in the exploration of an unknown region: the Italian venture capital territory. Arturo was leading us across this uncharted land pointing to a few visible reference landmarks: the rounded hills of the Italian Style, the vast sea of Italian talents, the river of Innovation, and the dark forest of the Italian bureaucracy.
According to Arturo, to successfully travel across this land we need to recognize this is a different place from the fully explored Californian equivalent territory: different but not less promising. Where the ancient maps used by traditional Italian investors say “hic sunt leones” (here are lions), Arturo found ideas, talents and business opportunities. As Marco Polo, Arturo charted this new land, managing not only to survive the lions but to come back with gold and honors.
How many investors, Italian and not-Italians, will get rid of those obsolete maps and will follow Arturo steps?

Franco Folini

Weekend events…

This is going to be a very busy weekend for BAIA and all our friends. BAIA is offering a wide offer for all sorts of interests.

Saturday
After the great Italian Food event hosted yesterday by the Italian Cultural Center, tomorrow night BAIA will be in San Rafael for the 5th night of the Italian Film Festival. Tomorrow program features the movie 13 at a Table (13 a tavola) directed by Enrico Oldoini. We are very grateful to Lido Cantarutti, the producer of the festival for this great opportunity to become even more visible to the Italian community in Marin County.

Sunday
If are excited about Italian food and wine as I am, Sunday afternoon BAIA is offering a great opportunity to explore the smell, the taste, and the pleasure of Italian wines. This is a FREE event. It's called Italian Wine Tasting Extravaganza, and it will be hosted between 2:00pm and 5:00pm at the Ristorante C’era una Volta, in Alameda (1332 Park Street at Redwood Square, Alameda, CA 94501). The event will be sponsored by WineBow, Vino Veritas and Italian Harvest.

Monday
If you manage to survive the Sunday afternoon vine tasting and you are able to reach your home safely, you can start getting ready for the next BAIA event: we already mentioned in this blog the Monday evening event with Arturo Artom at Stanford (Stanford Center for Professional Development 496 Lomita Mall - Skilling Auditorium, Stanford, CA 94305). The topic will be: A talk on venture capital in Italy. I’m sure you don’t want to miss it!

Franco Folini

Report from the food event at the IIC

A quick report from yesterday night BAIA event at the Italian Cultural Center in San Francisco. For some reason, as a technical person I was a little bit downplaying this event, for no specific reason, just because it was about food and drinks. As soon as the panel started, I changed my mind. The quality of the speakers was so high and their personal stories were so interesting that I quickly got fully involved and totally excited.

Debbie Slutsky, a food and wine expert, was the event moderator. She did a great job in introducing the panelists and in setting the tone of the discussion. From Debbie I learn that a panel about food, and especially Italian food, has to run at a lower pace than a technical panel. When is about food, the word “slow”, as in "slow food" is a very good word.

Joyce Goldstein, a national icon of good food and Italian cuisine, told us about her “love” relationship with food and obviously with Italian food. She invited everybody to cook at least a couple of days a week in order to rediscover the pleasure of cooking, eating well and spending time together at the table.

Craig Stoll, the owner and chef of Delfina Restaurant in Mission, San Francisco, shared with us how he ended up opening a restaurant, and how his restaurant is more the expression of a dream than the implementation of a business plan. When you are a chef, sincerity matter.

Andy Griffin, a tall man with a strong voice, amused everybody with a short story of his life as a farmer. He owns the Mariquita Farms and is working every day to promote healthy food and healthy approach to life. Andy is a great speaker; he makes you feel like you are listening to a close friend.

Mike Denny, a brilliant entrepreneur, made us aware of the importance of efficient and effective service to connect restaurants and local producers of food and drinks. Thanks to Mike work, more and more restaurants have access to hi quality ingredients from small local produces all over the world. Mike company is American Wine Distributors, Inc.

I don’t want to forget to mention that at the event we had some great food and beer, provided by our sponsors and by some of the panelists. A special mention goes to the fantastic “salame”!

I would like to ear your opinion about this event. Feel free to post a comment on this blog!

Franco Folini

Wiki event in Fremont

Yesterday I attended a technical event in Fremont organized by SIG web. The event was about wiki, the technology that is behind the popular wikipedia and that is becoming an important collaboration tool for the small to large companies. The invitation came from Peter Thoeny, the founder of Twiki.org, co-founder of StructuredWikis LLC, and also the moderator of the event. I met Peter on August 2006 at an event at Swissnex co-sponsored by BAIA.
Peter is one of the few people that can talk about a topic apparently trivial as the wiki without being trivial. Having Peter as moderator was great, but we miss the opportunity to have him sharing his opinions and vision about the wiki technology. The event combined an impressive group of wiki experts, including Ben Elowitz (Wetpaint), Jon Silvers (Atlassian Software Systems), Jonas M Luster (SocialText) and Scott Johnston (JotSpot). Almost hidden among the public was Jeremiah Owyang blogging the event live.

I’m considering organizing a similar event with BAIA sometime in the next months. Do you think wiki as topic is too vertical to attract non-technical people or the concept of wiki is becoming mainstream and more people would like to know more about it?

Franco Folini

New BAIA Event: Can business opportunities and cultural traditions coexist harmoniously?

If you like Italian food and wine you can't miss tomorrow BAIA and IIC event on Italian gastronomic traditions! Join our panel of local food and wine experts, including Joyce Goldstein (Italian food expert and cookbook author), Craig Stoll (chef owner of Delfina Restaurant and Pizzeria Delfina), Andy Griffin (owner of Mariquita Farms), Mike Denny (President of Drinks USA), and Debbie Slutsky (food and wine industry expert) to comment on the rediscovery of culinary traditions and the appreciation for select ingredients and high quality beverages as a way of life, as in the very Italian tradition.

REGISTRATION:$5 for BAIA and IIC, $20 general public
WHEN: October 26, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Italian Cultural Institute, 425 Washington Street Suite 200, San Francisco, CA 94111

Note: Registration for this event includes a FREE ADMISSION to the next BAIA event: Wine tasting extravaganza at Ristorante C'Era Una Volta (1332 Park Street at Redwood Square in Alameda) on Sunday October 29, 2006 from 2 to 5 p.m.

Franco Folini

New BAIA event: A talk on venture capital in Italy

We are pleased to announce that, in collaboration with Stanford University and with the U.S. Embassy in Rome and the Partnership for Growth Initiative, we will host a presentation by Arturo Artom on venture capital opportunities in Italy in the area of embedded technology and design.
In this talk by one of the most respected venture capitalists in Italy, Mr Arturo Artom outlines the current situation for venture capital in Italy, and openly discusses the challenges and opportunities facing Italian businesses. The challenges are many: a low-growth economy, jobs disappearing overseas, and family-run small business dominating the market. To counter these trends, Italian companies must turn to Italys core strengths in design, manufacturing and technology innovation to create and sustain the next wave of high growth business in Italy. Mr. Artom will discuss his own experience as CEO of two firms, Netsystem, a satellite broadband provider, and more recently, Muvis, a high-tech remote lighting solution, to demonstrate how companies can innovate applying old ideas to new products.

REGISTRATION: Online
WHEN: October 30, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Stanford Center for Professional Development
496 Lomita Mall - Skilling Auditorium, Stanford, CA 94305

Franco Folini