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Austin Technology Incubator Graduates Seven Wireless Companies Including Axelo, Famigo, GameSalad, Nitero, RFMicron, Unwired Nation and Wimax.com

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Tonight, at a special graduation and alumni event, the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a not-for-profit part of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin (UT), will graduate 21 companies.  Of those 21, seven companies were part of ATI’s Wireless portfolio, including Axelo, Famigo, GameSalad, Nitero, RFMicron, Unwired Nation and Wimax.com.  These companies have collectively achieved impressive business successes, such as garnering $20 million in funding and collaborating on an international scale.

Over 20+ years, ATI has developed and refined industry specific capabilities, currently organized into Information Technology, Wireless, Clean Energy and Bioscience sectors. In each industry sector, ATI brings its portfolio companies deep domain expertise and market- and technology-specific networks of advisors and investors. Tonight’s graduation event showcases successes in all four sectors, including seven amazing companies in wireless.

ATI, in partnership with UT’s Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) and the City of Austin, launched its Wireless program in 2006, ahead of the smart phone/iPhone/Android explosion. Now, as the world approaches 50 billion connected devices, ATI continues to build on the wireless expertise in Austin with its current companies and these seven successful graduates. ATI-Wireless and WNCG also co-host the Texas Wireless Summit and works with the Central Texas Angel Network to host the Wireless Seed-Stage Forum annually. In addition, ATI-Wireless has a special relationship with the Wi-Fi Alliance, the international wireless standards and certification organization, which moved to Austin in part due to support from ATI and was housed at ATI until it outgrew its facilities in 2010.  ATI-Wireless also works closely with MobileMondayAustin, the second oldest chapter in North America of the global MobileMonday network.  The seven Wireless graduates include:

Axelo is developing breakthrough hardware and firmware solutions for 3D motion-sensing products. Axelo, Inc. patented the first 3D motion-based PC controller, which led to a successful solution for spatial disorientation and motion sickness. Currently, Axelo is embedding its technology into sports headwear to provide a preventable solution for contact sports traumatic brain injuries. ‘Letters of Intent’ have been procured from two leading manufacturers of sports equipment.

Famigo makes mobile technology work for families. Famigo creates a better mobile experience for parents and kids by providing them will the tools to discover, manage and enjoy content & apps on smartphones and tablets. Famigo simplifies app discovery through our reviews and recommendations on Famigo.com and makes Android devices kid-safe with our free app, Famigo Sandbox. Famigo’s proprietary technology captures and crowdsources user behavior to provide the best reviews and recommendations available. Famigo’s products have received praise from outlets like Forbes.com, WSJ Online, Killer Startups, The Next Web, TechCrunch, Vator News, VentureBeat, Austin Chronicle, and Famigo Sandbox was rated CNET’s 2011 Best App of the Year for Parents.

GameSalad is an online community that empowers everyone to express and share their ideas through games. GameSalad provides a platform used by creators to rapidly design, publish and distribute original games that have been played by millions of people worldwide. It is currently the number one platform for iOS development and boasts 300,000 developers. 30,000 games have been built with the GameSalad Creator since its 2007 founding. Now at 60 employees and growing, all this was accomplished with just a little over $7 million funding since inception.

Nitero, a fabless semiconductor company with a design center in Melbourne, Australia and headquarters in Austin, Texas, has developed a standards-based, next-generation 60GHz Wi-Fi solution for smartphone, tablet, Ultrabook™ and gaming platforms, bringing multi-gigabit-per-second video and data transfer with extreme low power and latency. Nitero is a great success story demonstrating the power of collaboration between experienced Austin entrepreneurs and top Australian universities and research institutions, such as the University of Melbourne and National ICT Australia. In 2011, Nitero raised an additional $1.6 million after receiving a $1.4 million grant from Commercialisation Australia.

RFMicron is the first in the wireless tracking industry to offer a complementary hardware and software package, consisting of RFVlink, a web-based software platform and RFMicron’s own passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip, configured with RFMicron’s proprietary Chameleon technology; allowing any reader to read RFMicron tags from 30 feet on any material, and anywhere in the world. RFMicron joined ATI in 2007, and in 2010 garnered $1.5 million in funding and added three directors to its board. RFMicron was named one of the Most Promising IT and Web Companies at the 8th Annual Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship IT and Web Venture Forum in Houston in 2010.

Unwired Nation has evolved ahead of the wireless space since its founding in 2004. Today, Unwired’s platform helps B2B web application companies with unique customer branding requirements transition to native apps across all major mobile platforms. Unwired Nation’s ability to rapidly deploy mobile apps leveraging customer’s existing web applications and customer relationships has attracted companies like VoiceTech and Q2ebanking, leaders in pharmacy and financial services, respectively. It also attracted $6.5 million in funding, which closed at the end of 2011.

WiMax.com provides equipment, resources and tools that enable operators to deploy high-speed 4G wireless broadband networks. The company is technology agnostic and works with most fixed broadband wireless technologies. The company also provides news, analysis, expert opinions and case studies on the industry at www.wimax.com.

“These seven wireless companies continue the incredible legacy of wireless technology innovation in Austin and demonstrate that ATI-Wireless retains a prominent role in the next wave of technologies – whether hardware or software,” said Kyle Cox, Wireless Director.  “ATI-Wireless has a great partnership with UT from its relationship with WNCG to its support of several courses and events for students.  ATI-Wireless has also helped the Austin community to become a prominent source of innovation while the wireless industry has rapidly evolved in the last several years.”

Contact:

Laura Beck for ATI

laurabeckcahoon@gmail.com

512-786-1098

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Unwired Nation Closes 2011 With Huge Momentum: $6.5 Million Funding, Executive Additions, Office and Employee Growth

Sunday, January 8th, 2012

As 2011 winded down, Austin Technology Incubator Alum Unwired Nation, the Mobile-Apps-As-A-Service company, recaped its biggest year yet, with momentum across all business fronts: customers, partners, solutions, leadership, staff and funding. Highlighted by a $6.5 million round of funding, Unwired Nation’s milestones also include a move into new, expanded office space, four key additions to its executive team, and establishing strong relationships with customers in many different industries, standouts being pharmacy industry leaders VoiceTech and VoicePort, and financial services innovator, Q2ebanking.

The $6.5 million funding will enable Unwired Nation to capitalize on – and expand – partnership opportunities with established web software companies. The funding will also help fuel additional growth, with Unwired Nation projecting rapid expansion in in 2012, following a 30% growth in both space and headcount in 2011.

The capital infusion and credibility reinforcement of key investors (many of whom are active in driving the company forward) have helped the company attract four key additions to its executive team:

  •     Unwired Nation COO, Jay Holtz, former VC with Enhanced Capital partners
  •     Unwired Nation Senior Sales Executive, Steve Hencinski, formerly VP Strategic Sales, Cedar Point Communications
  •     Unwired Nation Director of Sales Engineering, Frank Geck, formerly with Nuance (the company behind Apple’s Siri Virtual Assistant technology)
  •     Will Bridges, founder of Clippy and co-owner of Austin-based Lamberts BBQ, joining to assist with business development

“The market has risen to meet Unwired Nation over this past year, and the company has all the right resources in place now to dramatically scale the work they are doing to help companies extend their successful web applications and products to native mobile apps,” said Dale Quisenberry, co-founder of Austin-based Crossroads Systems and lead investor in Unwired Nation’s financing. Prior Angel investments of Quisenberry’s include NovaCentrix.

“2011 was the year of building the core value and business case of our unique approach, and about key customer takedowns in valuable industries like financial software and pharmacy,” said Eric Smith, Unwired Nation CEO and co-founder. “2012 will be another great year for us as we continue to focus on execution. We are supporting every relevant mobile platform in the market, from the iPhone and iOS to Android and Windows Phone and beyond to tablets. We see mobile as the new web and we are here to help our customers take full advantage of the opportunity to generate substantial new mobile revenue from their existing business, quickly, easily, affordably. Our platform allows our customers to remain focused on their existing web business, not on mobile development, integration or distribution – that’s our job!”

About Unwired Nation:
Based in Austin, TX and founded in 2006, Unwired Nation enables you to create, deliver and manage a limitless number of individually branded native mobile application instances as a super affordable, simple service. The company provides an integrated cross-platform competitive advantage: secure, direct-to-device application deployment on multiple mobile platforms. Unlike traditional outsourced app development, which utilizes costly “start from scratch practices,” Unwired Nation leverages existing application design for timely, cost efficient mobile management. Unwired Nation is a graduate of the Austin Technology Incubator. For more information: http://www.unwirednation.com

View the full press release at:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/1/prweb9070991.htm

For more information contact:

Laura Beck
Unwired Nation
(512) 786-1098
Email

See the full list of Unwired Nation news hits at:

http://ati.utexas.edu/about/news/articles

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Famigo Launches Free Android App, Creating a Safe Sandbox for Access to Child-Friendly Mobile Content

Sunday, November 6th, 2011

Austin Technology Incubator member company, Famigo, the only company focused on making mobile technology work for families, launches its newest product today: Famigo Sandbox, free for Android platforms.  Famigo Sandbox resolves concerns parents might have about passing their mobile device to their children.

The abundance of smart phones and tablets has ushered in a phenomenon known as the “pass back.” Whether in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, on a plane, or in line at the DMV, parents pass their smartphones to children to entertain, educate and keep kids engaged during down time.  This common occurrence is not without risk as smartphones now function as “Command Central” for busy parents.   Simply by hitting the wrong button, a child can accidentally call a contact, send a text or email to the boss, or access content via the web or app store.  

With Famigo Sandbox, mobile devices are suddenly family-friendly.  Simply download and install Famigo Sandbox and with the press of a button the phone is partitioned, creating a “sandbox” that automatically separates meaningful and relevant children’s content from the rest of the smartphone’s capabilities, leaving the child free to select from their favorite content and activities.

“Let’s face it:  Kids love mobile media.  That’s not a bad thing; mobile devices empower parents to facilitate anywhere, anytime learning. With Famigo Sandbox, parents can unlock the benefits of mobile media without risk,” said Q Beck of Famigo.  “Famigo Sandbox is a free application that goes beyond providing parental controls.  It solves the common issue of app discovery:  How do I find the best content for my children, to ensure that they are getting the most out of their mobile experience?” 

How does Famigo Sandbox work?

Famigo Sandbox is integrated with Famigo’s family-focused navigation and discovery tool, Famigo Family App Review, which sorts, categorizes and reviews family-friendly Android apps, updating content daily and providing a mobile content discovery tool for parents.  When Famigo Sandbox is first loaded, it automatically searches the phone and compares loaded apps against a database of more than 30,000 kid-friendly apps, identifying relevant children’s content for inclusion.  Parents have the option to further tailor that list, designating which apps their children can access, and effectively limiting their children’s exposure to those pre-selected apps.  Parents can track their children’s use through weekly reports that detail how much time kids logged and which apps were used.  A lockdown feature ensures that the phone is secure:  Once Famigo Sandbox is opened, children can’t make calls, access the Internet, navigate app stores, click on ads, make purchases or send texts and emails.  And, children are unable to exit Famigo Sandbox without the assistance of a parent.  

Twitter: @ Famigo

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3 Day Startup Starts Up Again…

Monday, October 17th, 2011

On October 21st, 40 student entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds will participate in the fifth iteration of 3 Day Start Up, a highly energetic, often sleepless, weekend where big ideas are turned into viable companies over the course of three days. 3 Day Start Up liberates students from the classroom, and creates an environment where budding entrepreneurs can learn by doing. Over the course of a weekend, students pitch their business ideas, vote on the projects they find the most compelling, and ultimately self organize into project teams to create a prototype, perform market research, and formulate a business strategy. Participating students hail from myriad backgrounds including computer science, engineering, business, law and design, to create the skill set necessary to jumpstart a company. The weekend event is hosted by Austin Technology Incubator.

 The culmination of the event is 7:00pm on Sunday October 23rd, when students pitch their start-ups to a wide array of Austin entrepreneurs including:

  • Bob Metcalfe, Professor of Innovation, Murchison Fellow of Free Enterprise at the University of Texas at Austin;
  • Gary Forni, Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN);
  • Josh Baer, Capital Factory & OtherInbox;
  • Zaz Floreani, Austin Ventures

When asked about the influence of 3 Day Start up on their academic and professional careers, previous participants have said the following:

“3DS takes all kinds of people from their respective little boxes and encourages them to bring their talents together to make something great.” – Jeff Zhao, BBA Finance, 3DS Spring ’11

“3DS has been by far the best experience I’ve had thus far as a graduate student. The weekend is intense and sometimes grueling but it’s also just a lot of fun. “- Rene Pinnell, MS Design, 3DS Fall ’09

“At 3 Day Startup, we learned by doing. Instead of sitting in an auditorium, I worked with forty like-minded people to go through the process of launching something great. The next time I go to a seminar on entrepreneurship, I’m going to sit in the middle of the front row, watch the PowerPoint presentation, and think to myself, ‘I’ve done that.’” – Rishi Shah, Plan II Honors, 3DS Fall ’10

3 Day Start Up began with a simple idea: start a technology company over the course of three days. Over the last three years it has evolved into a popular event campus-wide with a highly competitive selection process.  Companies that have emerged from previous 3 Day Start Up events include: Famigo (www.famigogames.com/), Hurricane Party (www.hurricaneparty.com), and HootMe (hoot.me).  3 Day Start Up was started by students and is run by students. For more information on 3 Day Start up, please visit our online media guide at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5rzbSUfJv8 or go to http://3daystartup.com/.

For information about the event happening at Austin Technology Incubator, October 21-23, please go to: http://austin.3daystartup.org/

Contact: Suzanne Burley                                                       

Phone: 201-759-1115

Email: sburley@ati.utexas.edu

 

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The 9th Annual Texas Wireless Summit Provides an Interactive Forum on Wireless Innovation

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

The 9th annual Texas Wireless Summit (TWS), co-hosted by The University of Texas at Austin’s Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) and Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), continues its tradition again this year as an interactive event for leaders in the wireless industry to discuss emerging technologies and new business models, changing the industry over the next few years.

Register to attend the event on Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center at The University of Texas at Austin at www.twsummit.com. The early bird special ends October 7, 2011. TWS 2011 is also still in need of sponsors. Review our sponsor program on our site and then contact ATI-Wireless and ATI-U Director Kyle Cox at kcox@ati.utexas.edu to start process.

Leading business and wireless technology execs, research academics, venture capitalists, corporate investors and high-potential startups will inform and engage attendees on disruptive innovations and trends in the wireless industry. TWS 2011 will also include the MobileMonday Austin showcase, an interactive showcase of innovative mobile applications. Additionally, WNCG will host two break-out poster sessions to show their latest research in wireless innovation and answer audience questions.

“Austin is at the nexus of wireless: research and commerce, and so we are excited to once again co-host the 9th annual Texas Wireless Summit, bringing together the latest from industry and academia to explore and discuss trends affecting the industry,” said Kyle Cox, Director of ATI’s Wireless and University incubators.

The TWS 2011 keynote speaker is Roberto Padovani, Executive Vice President, Qualcomm, Inc. Others speakers include Dr. Jim Truchard, Co-Founder & CEO, National Instruments, Jerry Pi, Director, Samsung Telecommunications, Brian Modoff, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Tom Crowe, CEO, Virginia Diodes, Ted Rappaport, WNCG, Founding Director, NSF WICAT Center at UT Austin, Dr. Mike Knox, NYU Polytechnic, and Dr. Fa Foster Dai, Professor, IEEE Fellow, Assoc. Dir. of AMSTC, Auburn University. Topics to be discussed include, “Terahertz Wireless Devices”, “The Data Explosion Continues” and much more.

Dr. Bob Metcalfe, Professor of Innovation at UT Austin, will moderate the Venture Capital Panel. Panelists include Eric Zimits, Granite Ventures, Ned Hill, DFJ Mercury, Al Schuele, Sevin Rosen, and KP Wilska, BRV Ventures. Jeff Andrews, Director of WNCG, NSF WICAT Center at UT Austin, will moderate “The Rapid Evolution of Cellular Networks: Femto, Pico and all that” panel discussion. Panelists include David R. Wolter, AT&T, Amitava Ghosh, Nokia Siemens Network, Tingfang Ji, Qualcomm, and Phil Kelley, Crown Castle.

Jeff Andrews, WNCG Director said, “We are happy to continue to co-host the Texas Wireless Summit. The quality of the TWS 2011speakers, WNCG academic poster sessions, and the panel discussions forecasting the upcoming trends in the wireless industry and the challenges of today and tomorrow will make this year our strongest event yet.”

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Famigo Enables Parents to Discover the Best Family Friendly Apps for Apple and Android

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

 

Famigo Offers Trusted Resource Reviews, Rates and Curates the Best Kid Friendly Mobile Content 

ATI member company, Famigo, the family mobile media company committed to making mobile manageable for families, today launched Famigo.com.

For many families, finding the best kid-friendly content among the million plus apps in the market can be daunting. Famigo.com surfaces the best apps for Apple or Android across a variety of family-focused categories and allows to parents to use filters and power searches to zero in on appropriate content, while weeding out apps that may be inappropriate.

“Whether you are looking to entertain or to educate your kids, there’s a lot of great mobile content available for families.  The problem is finding it,” explained Famigo Co-founder and CEO Q Beck. “Existing marketplaces are very general and the number of apps can be overwhelming. We created Famigo.com as a trusted one-stop resource where parents can find the latest—and the greatest—child-friendly apps quickly and easily.”

Famigo Family App Review, an interactive guide for families to discover and select favorite games and e-books from 300,000+ and growing Android apps launched in July 2011.

Read the full release here.

Read the articles by TechCrunch, VentureBeat and AustinStartup featuring Famigo.

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Austin Technology Incubator Names Robert Reeves Director of IT Portfolio

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

The Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), a part of the IC2 Institute of The University of Texas at Austin is pleased to announce the addition of Robert Reeves to head up its IT and Wireless Portfolio as Director.  Reeves joins ATI after being part of the incubator as a portfolio company, working with ATI to take Phurnace, the company he co-founded with Daniel Nelson, from inception to acquisition by BMC, in less than five years.

Reeves will primarily focus on bringing his real world entrepreneurial expertise to ATI member companies in the IT space, as well as supporting ATI wireless companies.  He, along with the full ATI team, focuses on aiding in market validation, product development, talent acquisition and fundraising efforts.  Reeves joins a strong ATI team that has 22 years of proven experience working with over 200 start-up companies, helping them raise over $750 million in capital.  Over just the past three years, 50 ATI member companies have received over $75 million in funding, and ATI alumni companies have had over $300 million in positive exists through acquisitions by large technology players such as IBM and BMC, which acquired Reeves’ company Phurnace.

Reeves, along with co-founder Daniel Nelson, brought their start-up, based on a unique Java development tool, to ATI after winning UT-Austin’s business plan competition.  Along with ATI, they grew and developed the company, solidifying the solutions, securing growth capital and bringing in experienced industry talent to help manage the business.  Phurnace was sold to BMC Software in 2009 for an 8x return to investors.  Phurnace Deliver, invented by Reeves, is an active product of BMC, providing middleware infrastructure management to companies such as Aetna, Bank of America and Wal-Mart.  

“My ATI experience was fantastic, and such a great success story all around of how the process should work, and what the results can be,” said Robert Reeves, Director, IT and Wireless Portfolio at the Austin Technology Incubator.  “The support that surrounds you and the energy in the halls is just infectious and I’m thrilled to be going back to ATI, to help pass on all I learned and experienced to other technology companies.” Beyond being an ATI portfolio company with Phurnace, Reeves was also an intern at ATI way back in the early 1990’s, so his ATI roots run deep.

The ATI IT Portfolio supports companies in as broad of categories as silicon metrology, chip architecture, server architecture, chip design and build tools, enterprise software, robot control systems, social network platforms, “enterprise 2.0” tools, gaming environment platforms, and “big data”/semantic web tools and platforms. There is also significant collaborative work with the Clean Energy and Bioscience portfolios.  Reeves will also provide support to ATI’s Wireless Portfolio, in concert with another new ATI addition, Kyle Cox, who leads ATI’s on campus activities, such as 3 Day Startup and the ATI-SEAL program (Student Entrepreneur Acceleration & Launch).  Reeves and Cox jointly replaced Bart Bohn, who formerly led these areas, and recently departed ATI to be COO of another ATI portfolio company, Ravel, which is focused on Big Data.

“I’m so thrilled to have Robert back at ATI, now on the “other side,” in a leadership role for our IT companies,” said Isaac Barchas, ATI Director.  “As we dive into our third decade, things are extremely bright at ATI.  We are growing our areas of focus and the value we provide, to levels that require expansion of our team and the addition of talent like Robert and Kyle Cox.  And we are watching our former colleagues move on to wonderful opportunities ATI helped foster, such as Bart’s role at the fast growing Ravel.”

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3 Day Startup Call for Applicants

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

Can you start a tech company over the course of three days? 
 
Absolutely. The idea of 3 Day Startup is simple: rent work space for a weekend, invite 40 entrepreneurs with a wide range of backgrounds, cater food, drinks, snacks, coffee, pick the best idea for a software startup during the Friday brainstorming session, and release a minimal prototype by Sunday night. The goal is to build enough momentum and a network of motivated people to sustain the company beyond the weekend. 
 
3 Day Startup (“3DS”) is currently accepting applications for its Fall event, October 21-23. 
 
We’re looking for a good spread of skills and talents. Here are the roles we strive to cover: 
 
* Software Engineer 
* Business (Finance, Marketing, Biz Dev) 
* Graphic Design (Web, Print) 
* Legal 
* Advertising, PR 
* Raw Passion 
 
What’s in it for you? An intense weekend and equal equity in the new company. If you have an idea for a tech startup, and you’ve been delaying to actually act on it for whatever reasons (“no time”, “no motivation”, “no co-founders”), this event could be the perfect vessel to have a team other people help your idea come to life. 
 
There will be sponsors, mentors, press coverage, and of course, the invited participants don’t pay for anything. 
 
If you’re interested, apply at http://austin.3daystartup.org/apply/.

Check out our website at http://austin.3daystartup.org or our Facebook Page.

Questions? Email austin@3daystartup.org.

 

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Austin Technology Council Hosts Top Talent Roadshow in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, Over 30 Austin CEOs Representing Live on September 13 and 14

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Austin Technology Council, along with Austin’s technology leaders, made a commitment at a May 2011 CEO summit, to take the best of our city live to the San Francisco and Silicon Valley areas to recruit top technology talent. Today, the Austin Technology Council proudly announces two Top Talent events in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, the evenings of September 13 and 14. Over 30 Austin area technology CEOs will represent their companies live, talk with candidates, and ideally fill some of the many technology jobs currently open.

Event details and registration links for candidate attendees:
·Tuesday, September 13, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m., The Mighty, San Francisco: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1908395061

·Wednesday, September 14, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m., Plug & Play, Sunnyvale: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2025094111

Texas overall, and Austin specifically, are among few geographies currently adding jobs, and Austin’s technology industry particularly has many job opportunities for programmers, developers, coders and engineers. The Austin technology community continues to thrive with new startups and fast growing mid-stage companies. The city attracts entrepreneurs and business leaders who want to start and grow their businesses in Austin. But there are not enough technical resources to build out the solutions these companies envision and commercialize products.

Austin currently has several dozen technology companies hiring 40 or more new programmers each. Of over 30 CEOs representing their companies at the Top Talent Roadshow, current job openings include roles like: Data Engineer, Front End Software Engineer, Information Architect, UX Designer.

At present, companies confirmed for the events include: Affinegy, Bancvue, Bazaarvoice, CacheIQ, Catapult, Calxeda, Collider Media, Creditcards.com, Gazzang, Gowalla, Homeaway, Ihiji, Less Networks, Mutual Mobile, Phunware, Ravel, SailPoint, Spredfast, Vast and Whaleshark.

Note: Affinegy, Calxeda and Spredfast are ATI alumni companies and Ravel and ihiji are current ATI member companies. The presence of these companies at the conference is one of many examples of ATI companies creating demand for jobs in Austin. “The conference complements other great work that the local startup community is doing, such as Startup Austin Live, the increased visibility of Austin tech via SXSWi, and the renewed focus on commercialization and entrepreneurship support at UT Austin,” said ATI Director Isaac Barchas, who is on the board and executive committee of Austin Technology Council.

“In Austin, we’ve fallen into a trap of fighting over existing talent, especially in engineering, programming and software development roles,” said Rod Favaron, serial Austin entrepreneur, and presently CEO of Spredfast, a white-hot social CRM company. This leadership role follows Favaron taking his previous company, Lombardi, through successful acquisition by IBM. “We will not realize Austin’s fullest technology innovation potential until we infuse new talent into this city,” added Favaron.  

“The zero-sum-game hurts the overall tech community. So we’ve decided to come together to seek out new additions to Austin to help us all grow. Fortunately, it doesn’t require a lot of convincing. But we do think it requires the technology leaders of Austin representing the city, its value, and our businesses directly to draw in the next generation.”

Austin Technology Council welcomes press to attend either or both events, and is happy to speak further or set up conversations with participating Austin CEOs, before or during the events. Advance registration is required for attendees who are encouraged to sign up at the Eventbrite links above.  For Twitter engagement before and during, please use #ATXgrow.

About the Austin Technology Council:

With more than 5,000 members and friends, serving more than 850 C-level executive members, and supporting 200-plus member companies, the Austin Technology Council (ATC) has been focused on the growth and success of the Austin tech community since 1994.  Members reap the benefits of premier professional development, insight and feedback from peers, the best in industry data to help grow businesses, and opportunities to give back to the Austin community through charitable initiatives.  Current ATC board members are leaders at companies or organizations like Austin Technology Incubator, CacheIQ, Gazzang, IBM, PeopleAdmin, Samsung, Silicon Labs, Spinal Restoration, Tokyo Electron America and Vinson & Elkins.  More on ATC can be found at: www.austintechnologycouncil.org or @ATCouncil on Twitter.

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2011 FALL SPEAKER SERIES EVENT

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Are you interested in technology commercialization and entrepreneurship?  On behalf of the University of Texas, Cockrell School of Engineering, and the Chair of Free Enterprise, we would like to invite you to attend weekly technology entrepreneurship seminar series.

This is a graduate level seminar hosted in conjunction with the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC), and the Idea to Product® Program (I2P®).  It is open to the community and the public and will be held on Fridays from 3 – 4 pm in the Engineering Teaching Center, ETC 2.136. ETC is located at 204 E. Dean Keeton St. Networking Office Hours with Austin Technology Incubator will follow the seminars.

The seminar series will cover topics essential to technology commercialization and entrepreneurship, and feature outstanding UT Faculty and professionals that have commercialized their technologies.  A schedule of the seminar is below and a poster of the first seminar is attached to this email.

The first seminar is on August 26th, 3PM in ETC 2.136: Professor Metcalfe: Disruptive Innovation – How Ethernet Started 3Com to Change the World. Dr. Metcalfe invented Ethernet in 1973 at Xerox Parc and founded 3Com in 1979 in Silicon Valley. 3Com became part of HP in 2010 and this year a billion Ethernet faucets where added to the Internet’s plumbing, if you count WiFi, which Bob does.

 

Technology Commercialization Seminar & Office Hours, Fall 2011, Fridays 3-5pm, ETC 2.136

  
Date Topic Speaker:

26-Aug

How Ethernet Started 3Com to Change the World

Dr. Bob Metcalfe

2-Sep

 Computer Science Commercialization

Dr. Emmett Witchell

9-Sep

The accidental entrepreneur

Dr. Cindy WalkerPeach

16-Sep

 UT Office of Technology Commercialization

Richard Miller, M.D.

23-Sep

Commercializing Low-Cost Nanopatterning Technology

Dr. SV Sreenivasan

30-Sep

 DermDx Inc.: Development of a noninvasive skin cancer diagnostic device

Dr. James Tunnell

7-Oct

 No seminar scheduled  

14-Oct

 Commericalization experience and funding sources – SBIR/STTR

Dr. Sriram Vishwanath

21-Oct

Business Plans for Technology Commercialization

Dr. Gary Cadenhead

27-Oct (Thursday) 1-5pm

Venture Expo – Showcase of Texas Venture Labs Companies

AT&T Center

If you have any questions, please contact Jakub Felkl, Idea to Product Program® Coordinator, at jfelkl@mail.utexas.edu or 512.232.4102.  

 

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