IBM has launched a new initiative designed to help startups bring new ideas to market in today’s less than bullish global economy. The IBM Global Entrepreneur initiative provides start-ups with no-charge access to industry-specific technologies in a cloud computing environment. Under the new program, IBM will provide access to its’ Research community as well as sales, marketing and technical skills.
“It’s obvious in most economies around the world, most entrepreneurs are having a tough time right now,” said Mike Riegel, Vice President, ISV and Developer Relations, IBM Software. At the same time there is a lot of interest related to our Smarter Planet initiative.”
Riegel said that while IBM’s venture capital group has extensive experience in working with startups — over 1500 in the last 10 years — the entrepreneurs wanted a more formal way to engage with IBM.
Riegel said entrepreneurs wanted assistance in three basic areas.
“They wanted to leverage our software and hardware platform to create a differentiated product. They wanted access to our expertise and our people — including product managers to help develop go to market strategies. And they wanted help with promotion and visibility, especially when entering new markets.”
These requests are met in the new initiative, Riegel said.
“The new program is geared around those key needs,” he said. “It provides a formal way for startups to access all those key things.”
There are five core elements in the initiative, Riegel said.
“The first is no-charge access to our software portfolio, through a cloud computing environment.”
“The second is one-on-one access to our IBM Research scientists, especially around Smarter Planet, to develop new technologies.”
The third element is access to dedicated IBM product managers to assist both in product development and in developing go-to-market strategies.
The fourth element is the ability to attend new IBM SmartCamp mentoring and networking workshops with VC firms, government leaders, academics, and industry experts at the global network of 40 IBM Innovation Centers to build business and go-to-market plans. Seven of these workshops have been announced for this year, and the winners of these seven events will go to the final event in Dublin, Ireland.
The final element is the ability to tap a new social networking community on IBM developerWorks which has just gone live, and will enable them to connect with other entrepreneurs and IT professionals
“The idea is to develop the technology, but even more importantly, to develop the business, and turn it into a successful business model,” Riegel said. “We have the VCs and the experts to do this.”
As an example of how he expected the initiative to work, Riegel cited Treemetrics, an Irish-based software company which developed a new way to optimize forestry/lumber recovery.
“Before, timber companies didn’t know what they had until the cut was finished,” Riegel said. “Treemetrics’ software can forecast the quality and the quantity of the timber sale prior to the cut. It lets them plan in advance to recover that forest area, so it allows companies to be more profitable as well as environmentally sound.”
As part of this program, IBM is collaborating with 19 global industry and technology associations to identify and connect local start-ups to the initiative through IBM SmartCamps and forums at IBM Innovation Centers throughout 2010. The associations include:
SD Forum, TiE Silicon Valley, Mass Tech Leadership Council, TiE Austin, and MassInno in the United States.
National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs, Cmypitch.com, and SE Business Innovation & Growth in the United Kingdom as well as Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Software Association in Ireland and SeedCamp.
Israeli Venture Association, SvoiBiz, Office of the Chief Scientist, and StartUpmania, in Israel.
TiE, and Indian Angel Network in India.
Journées de L’entrepreneur and ADEN (Association for Development of Digital Economy) in France. There are three criteria for start-ups to participate in the IBM Global Entrepreneur Initiative. The company must be privately-held It must have been in business less than three years. It must also be actively developing software aligned to IBM’s Smarter Planet focus areas.
Riegel did suggest however, that IBM is not focused on splitting hairs about how some companies might qualify in the case, for instance, of an established VAR engaged in software development which might split off a separate ISV company.
“We know resellers and ISVs have blended,” he said. “We are not as worried about what they call themselves. We want firms that are driving innovation and key solutions within the Smarter Planet initiatives.”
“The focus is around the quality of the innovation,” Riegel added. “We expect to work with hundreds of companies in this space, not thousands. The breakthrough concepts where we can really drive innovation, that’s what we are looking for.
Source:-http://www.echannelline.com/usa/story.cfm?item=25598
