More than 70 professionals from private and public organizations, academia and capital markets will gather today in Boston for a first-ever forum focused on the state of corporate venturing — an investment area emerging as a key component of innovation.
The conference, “The Role of Corporate Venture Capital,” includes leaders from Fortune 200 companies such as IBM, Boeing, Siemens, Applied Materials, Eastman Chemical Company, Microsoft, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Guidant. Event organizers include the MIT Industrial Liaison Program, Product Genesis and the National Venture Capital Association.
Topics for the two-day forum at the Boston Marriott Copley Place will include opportunities for corporate venture capital, the shift away from corporate R&D groups, and the rationale for private and corporate venture capital partnerships.
“The motivation for a corporate venture capitalist is very different from a private venture capitalist,” explained Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association. “These corporate investors are not focused solely on return, but rather on ways to make their businesses more efficient.”
According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics, National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree Survey, corporate venture capitalists invested $1.2 billion in 424 U.S. companies in 2003 representing approximately 6% of all dollars and 18% of all companies that received venture financing that year. The percentage has fallen in recent years from its high of 16% and 30% respectively in 2000, but still remains at a healthy level.
“The last 15 or so years have witnessed a dramatic repositioning of corporate R&D activities. A majority of large organizations have decentralized the corporate labs and have focused their attention on short- and medium-term efforts,” said Dr. Val Livada, vice president at Product Genesis and conference chairman. “This, combined with aggressive growth strategies, have increased the need for identifying and accessing emerging technologies being developed outside of the corporate walls. Armed with a better understanding of how to succeed, corporate venture capitalists are well positioned to deliver great value to their companies.”
Mark Klopp who is a managing director of Eastman Ventures, Eastman Chemical Company and chairman of the NVCA Corporate Venture Group Advisory Board recognized the value of bringing this group of investors together.
“This week we are meeting to learn from each other and to work toward the Corporate Venture Group mission which is to improve the performance and sustainability of corporate venturing while enhancing collaboration with the venture community,” said Klopp. “At Eastman Chemical Company, we are continuing to use venture capital and other tools to access external innovation and to find new growth options for our company.”
The keynote speakers will be Ed Roberts, MIT professor of management of technology, and Ken Morse, managing director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center and co-founder of the MIT Corporate Venturing Consortium. Both gentlemen will speak on Thursday.
The organizing sponsors for the event are Product Genesis, MIT Industrial Liaison Program and the National Venture Capital Association. Corporate sponsors are CPP Advisors, Boston Millennia Partners, Fletcher Spaght Ventures, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, and Zero Stage Capital.
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