Conferences

“Corporations and the Financing of Innovation: The Corporate Venturing Experience”
Given the success of the U.S. venture capital industry, major corporations have sought ways to duplicate the experience by internal venturing, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and outright purchase. What is there about the venture capital model that seems to be so difficult for large firms to duplicate internally? Is it the invention or innovation process? Has the process of financial innovation changed the way that information flows within a company so that different models now better enable managers to monitor projects and control agency problems? Is it related to issues of corporate governance, mentoring, and control? What models of internal venturing have survived the test of time and been successful? What impact has the economic slowdown had on corporate venturing? How does one duplicate that experience across a wide variety of economic activities outside of the technology sphere? What are the conflicts facing participants in external venturing activities? What are the costs, benefits, and risks to both parties in corporate venturing? Are there antitrust issues and concerns?

“Venture Capital and the Internet Bubble: Facts, Fundamentals, and Food for Thought”
During the 1990s, venture capital played a major role in the technology boom as unprecedented amounts of capital flowed into new ventures, especially computers and related technologies. It is now clear with hindsight that a speculative bubble developed in that sector. Valuations by the initial providers of financing to new ventures and subsequently by the market seemed decoupled from fundamentals when new firms, many of which had never earned positive profits, went public and saw their initial public offering valuations double and triple in value within a very short time. What happened to traditional risk assessment, valuation techniques, and performance measurement of investments during this bubble? What are institutional investors doing with their venture funding activities now that the area has slowed? What role do the various players—the venture capitalists, investment banks, and venture capital funds—now play in the process? What have we learned? Could it happen again and is it likely? If so, where? Biotech? Energy generation? Or some currently lesser-known technology?

“Boom and Bust in the Venture Capital Industry and the Impact on Innovation”
Most of the job creation and new innovations in the United States tend to come from smaller companies. What role have venture capital activities played in fostering economic growth and stimulating innovation? What role can they play? What has been the record of sources and deployment of new innovations? Have venture capital activities stimulated local and regional growth? What is the necessary infrastructure to make this venturing process workable? It’s clear from the experiences in Silicon Valley and in the Route 128 Boston area that both a critical mass of investors and new ventures are necessary for a vibrant community of new ventures to succeed. What are the key components of this infrastructure? And what can be done, as a matter of public policy, to perhaps promote and encourage the growth of new ventures and their associated funding sources?

“Engineering a Venture Capital Market: Strategies for Replicating the U.S. Template”
Many aspects of the U.S. venture capital industry are unique when compared with the rest of the world. What is it that explains these differences and the success in generating new innovations and growth opportunities? Are the answers in aspects of financial or corporate structure, in labor mobility, in finance vehicles available? Is it a matter of government regulation and support or lack thereof? Are there other countries with comparable models and if so, what explains their success as compared with the United States? Do these comparisons suggest any policy implications?