• Should cleantech companies focus on providing long term, carbon saving fixes or should they focus on short-term money making technology to secure a financial base for future R&D?
• How active are large corporates being on developing sustainable business and environmentally responsible products and services?
• Are we entering an era of cleantech 2.0? Are some still struggling to catch up with 1.0?
• Where are the most appealing opportunities - upstream/ generation/ infrastructure/ consumption? What are the most promising technologies – solar/ wind/hydro/ fuel cells/ consumer products?

Moderator: Stuart McKnight, Managing Director, Ascendant

Panel:

• Mark Shorrock CEO, Low Carbon Accelerator
• Kevin Arthur , CEO, Quantasol
• Justin Adams, Director Technical Strategy, Venturing and Innovation, BP

Growing IP out from our Universities - How to harness academic excellence into commercial enterprise

• The Funding: VCs focused on IP spin outs e.g. IP Group and Imperial Innovations vs In house venture raisers e.g. Warwick Ventures and Cambridge Enterprise.
• Are those who should be involved in the management of the company at each stage of a spin-out’s life different from a normal startup: Startup, Funded Venture, Exit?
• What type of IP/technology spins out well? Should some IP simply be licensed straight to an established company?
• What initiatives will encourage the development and successful commercialisation of intellectual property from our universities?

Moderator: Zickie Lim, Associate, Mills & Reeve

Panel:

• Simon Kerry, CEO, Karus Therapeutics
• Sandy McKinnon, Partner and Consultant, Pentech Ventures
• Malcolm Skingle, Director Academic Liaison, GSK
• Marie Hayet, Corporate Research External Research Co-ordinator, Unilever
• Teri Willey, CEO, Cambridge Enterprise

• Are UK services and retail companies becoming less “risk averse” and willing to incorporate novel technologies into their growth strategies?
• Grow and innovate or innovate and grow – does one come first or do they come hand in hand?
• Is standardisation, consolidation and streamlining really an innovative initiative?
• The CIO – A dying breed – outsourcing vs in house technology infrastructure management.

Moderator: Daniel Doll-Steinberg, CEO, Tribeka

Panel:

• Martin Kelly, Partner, EMEA IBM Ventures
• Chris Potts, Director, Dominic Barrow
• David Dobson, Microsoft
• Andy Jones, Director & GM, Business Process Services, Xerox Global Services

Keynote Speaker: George Yip, Dean of the Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University

• What lessons do UK entrepreneurs still have to learn about doing business?
• Born an entrepreneur or made one – are the qualities of a successful business innovator inherent or can they be instilled?
• How do you spot a successful entrepreneurial business and what is the best way to ensure its success?
• Active vs backseat investor – the time for action and the time for money?

Moderator: Tim Minshall, Lecturer in Technology Management University of Cambridge

Panel:

• Malcolm Stewart, Managing Director, Liverpool Ventures
• Robert Desborough, Investment Director, London Seed Capital
• Nigel Reynolds, Partner, PWC
• Eric Van der Kleij, Senior Dealmaker, UK Trade & Investment

• What features of the UK make it an attractive place to make an investment?
• The UK has plenty of deals on offer – do we have enough experienced VCs to take advantage of them?
• How do you cater for new early stage investments when you begin to grow up with ones from previous cycles – e.g. special seed funds and how can the well coordinated networks at later stages of investment be replicated at the seed and early stage?
• Sectors of excitement and the fruits they hold: Mediatech; Cleantech; Web 2.0; Silicon software

Moderator: Amanda Palmer, Editor, EVCJ

Panel:

• Mike Wright, Professor of Financial Studies, Director of Centre for Management Buy-out Research, Nottingham
• Laurence John, CEO, Amadeus Mobile Seed Fund
• Simon Murdoch, CEO, Friendsabroad.com
• Robert Sheffrin, North West Business Angels
• Neil Foster, Corporate Partner, Field Fisher Waterhouse

Chairman: Doug Richard, Library House

Keynote Speaker: Ian Pearson MP, Minister of State (Science and Innovation)

Interviewer: Simon Walker, CEO, British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association

Interviewees:

• Ian Pearson MP, Minister of State (Science and Innovation)
• Tony Kypreos, Former Group EVP, Business Development & Innovation, T-Mobile
• Colin Tenwick, CEO, Stepstone
   

Don’t be afraid of the Big Bad Wolf - An examination of the emergence of sophisticated corporate partnering, investment and acquisition strategies - Should entrepreneurs be wary or welcoming?

• How can small venture backed companies capitalise on the advantages of partnering with large corporations, without sacrificing too much of their business model?  Should they partner with the Wolf in the first place?
• What does corporate venture investment mean for the company receiving it?  Is it a detached venture investment or an active corporate business strategy in play?
• Can Google and Microsoft sustain their acquisitive activities?  Do some private companies gear up especially for these activities or are they simply a result of collectively appealing technology development?
• How much room is their in the UK market for corporate venturing?

Moderator: Rudy Burger, Managing Partner, Woodside Capital Partners

Panel:

• Anil Hansjee, Director M&A, EMEA, Google
• Bindi Karia, VC/Emerging Business Lead, Microsoft
• Will Franks, CTO, Ubiquisys
• John O'Donohue, Managing Director, Motorola Ventures
• Neil Foster, Corporate Partner, Field Fisher Waterhouse

Crossing the Atlantic Chasm - Success strategies for entering the US market The US is a large and diverse market that offers big rewards to the well-prepared company.  Many early stage companies want access to US markets, yet are unfamiliar with the dynamics of the marketplace.  Frequently they establish operations in the US without proper research or strategic planning, only to abandon their effort and investment less than a year later.

• Do you need to move your HQ and IP to the US?
• How and why to raise VC money in the US?
• Coming to the US - the most common causes of failure and how to avoid them
• Success stories - what can we learn from them?

Moderator: Ed Lambert, Senior Vice President, Bridge Bank

Panel:

• Rudy Burger, Managing Partner, Woodside Capital Partners
• Gene Barton, Principal, Fish & Richardson
• Steve Lewis, CEO, Teneros

• What factors swing the decision to take investment on AIM over VC funding?
• What is the difference between a company ready for AIM flotation as its first source of funding and a company looking for VC funding at the seed stage? Is there a difference?
• AIM to exit investors or AIM to raise money?
• Are there other reasons to float on AIM – protect intellectual property; avoid acquisition; maintain the controlling interest of your enterprise; any legal, administrative or practical benefits?

Moderator: David Snell, Partner, PWC

Panel:

• Ernie Richardson, CEO & Managing Partner, MTI
• Mark Russon, Manager, Company Services, AIM/LSE
• Steve Howell, CEO, Freshwater UK
• John Kearon, CEO, BrainJuicer

Networking Lunch

Keynote speaker: Chris Stone, CEO, Northgate Information Solutions

• Why are traditional media companies having problems adapting to the changes in the way media is consumed – digitally?
• How well can you manage the change?
• What is the appropriate role for a media company and what does it mean for a company to radicalise – replicate or acquire?
• The future – regular broadcasting/viral videos/on-demand?

Moderator: Azeem Azhar, Head of Innovation, Reuters

Panel:

• Claude London, Director, Digital Media division, BBC Worldwide
• Gerd Leonhard, Author and Digital Music & Media Expert
• Ziv Navoth, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Bebo
• Saul Klein, Partner, Index Ventures

The dominant story for manufacturing in developed economies is that its time has passed. However, there are a number of emerging manufacturing industries which have significant potential for growth and value creation if they early stage investments can be found for the initial wave of companies. One such industry is regenerative medicine, which has a number of companies on the cusp of growth and initial products starting to show promise. However, securing venture funding in this space has been particularly difficult. This panel will provide an overview of the industry and its potential, as well as discussing the reasons why venture capital may be under investing.

• How do you support new industries/technology companies and how do you grow them?
• What is the growth potential of new manufacturing companies - do considerations of production improve your investment decisions?
• Regulation - how will this affect the future of this sector?
• What are the implications of the burden of proof for regenerative medicine?

Moderator:

Panel:

• Finbarr Livesey, Director, Centre for Economics and Policy, IfM, University of Cambridge
• David Williams, Director of the Research School of Health & Life Sciences, Loughborough University
• Paul Kemp, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Intercytex
• Troels Jordansen, Director, Azellon
• Gareth Roberts, CEO, NovaThera Ltd
• Andrew Lynn, CEO, Orthomimetics