Capítulo 7: Acciones para mejorar la práctica de valores morales
VI. Conclusiones
The Entrepreneurship In Residence (EIR) is a Pilot Program developed and implemented by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), which is organized with the support of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program in coordination with the UTEN Portugal Program. It started in July 2011 with the goal to educate and prepare a group of Portuguese startups to launch their businesses in the U.S. market.
Over a seven month period, the EIR was broken down into three Phases. Phases I and II prepared the companies to develop pitches to potential investors and customers, provides information on topics such as knowing your market and competition, university relationships, differentiation and segmentation, and partnerships for development and distribution. Phase III consisted of the Portuguese companies traveling to Pittsburgh, PA to participate in a “Business Week” which allow them the opportunity to make their pitch to potential clients, customers and investors. Additionally, the Portuguese businesses paired with specific U.S. companies of interest to discuss potential business options as it related to sales, customers and investment. Five professionals from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) served as mentors for the EIR participants which included: Tara Branstad from Technology Transfer, Babs Carryer, a faculty member from Heinz College, Dave Mawhinney, a faculty member from Tepper School of Business, Raymond Vennare, an entrepreneur and Michael Ransom, a staff member with the Corporate Relations Office.
The initial EIR Program kicked off in Lisbon, Portugal, September 27-28, 2011. Five companies were pre-selected to participate in the training/mentoring program: faces.in, Dognaedis, FeedZai, ObservIT and Treat U. For Phase I, Tara Branstad, Babs Carryer and Dave
Mawhinney were present in Portugal to lead a workshop whose goal was to explain the program, purpose, structure and expectations of EIR Phase I. Participants had the opportunity to make an investor pitch and receive feedback from the EIR Team. ndependent work time was given to the EIR participants for them to make recommended changes on their pitches. During the two days, participants were exposed to training and mentoring on pitching, competition, knowing your market, investment, university relationships, IP rights, differentiation and segmentation, understanding the customer and partnerships for development and distribution.
On November 28- 29, 2011, the second phase of the EIR was conducted by Babs Carryer and Dave Mawhinney, and in February 2012, four Portuguese companies crossed the ocean and embraced the Phase III of the EIR. Four companies were selected:
● FeedZai is a start-up from the Universidade de
Coimbra which aims to enhance the real time processing of information of organizations, large and small. FeedZai Pulse provides a turn-key solution for the customer’s actionable information needs: a “Real-Time Business Appliance” that once connected to data sources immediately starts producing business critical information. http://www.feedZai.com/
● ObservIt is a start-up from the Instituto Superior
Técnico of the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, was established in 2001 with a simple dream: to create a market-leading company in computer vision technology, an emerging area whose potential was immediately evident. http://www. observit.pt/
● Treat U helps improve patient’s health and
reduce health care costs. Treat U has developed a novel and versatile platform for targeted drug delivery (PEGASEMP), allowing an increased concentration of a therapeutic agent to be effective only where it is necessary, hence increasing safety. http://treatu.pt/
● Faces.in, a startup from Instituto Superior
Técnico of the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, is a fast and fun way to discover friends nearby. Launched successfully with Vodafone as Vodafone Radar, Faces.in is positioned globally to allow mobile operators to get into the game of geo-location and social networking as a value- added revenue driver. http://faces.in/
These startups had the opportunity to participate in three days of intensive networking with companies from the Pittsburgh region, banks, attorneys, student and faculty as it relates to establishing a business connection to launch in the U.S. Their time at Carnegie Mellon University consisted of panel discussions with professionals who specialized in topics such as doing business in the U.S. regarding immigration law, intellectual property issues and business development. The Portuguese companies also had the opportunity
to collaborate with university professionals regarding resources that are available through Carnegie Mellon University.
In addition to the panel sessions, the companies participated in the Innovation Happens session which was hosted by AlphaLab on the south side of the city. During the Innovation Happens sessions the companies made sales pitches to potential investors and companies with common interests. Collectively, the Portuguese companies made pitches to approximately 37 companies. The Innovation Happens session is a common practice at CMU through Project Olympus and the goal is to provide networking events, connecting entrepreneurs and large corporations; encourage entrepreneurs to focus more on getting the customer and create a culture of “buying local” in Pittsburgh.
Following the Innovation Happens session, the four companies met individually with potential customers, investors, and clients for 1.5 days. The meetings were tailored specifically to the interest of the Portuguese companies. Collectively, the four companies had 18 individual meetings.
● ObservIT met with the following companies: Property Management DDR, PittPatt/Google, and Property Management Echo Realty.
● Faces.in met with the following companies: Partner, Swallow Point Ventures, Read Write Web, Jibbago, and Flashgroup.
● Treat U met with the following companies: EVP Corporate Operations and Finance, Rgulatory and Quality Solutions LLC, UPMC HealthPlan, Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, and Hillman Cancer Center.
● FeedZai met with the following companies: WESCO, Equitable Gas, Emerson Process Management, Mike Vargo and Global Business Development.
Each meeting was held with high level executives including Presidents, Chief Operations Officer, Senior Vice Presidents, Chief MD, Vice President of Operations, Chief Executive Officers, and Chief Information Officers.
The visit concluded with an International Company Showcase which provided the Portuguese companies with a glimpse of the international entrepreneurship scene. At the showcase, they made presentations regarding their start-up companies and the importance/impact of launching their businesses in the United States. Following the presentation a group of 22 continued the conversation over dinner. The group consisted of business owners, potential clients and investors.