Stanford University

U.S.-Japan VC Cooperation and the "Fly Over Phenomenon"

-

Organized by the Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (STAJE) at SPRIE, Stanford Graduate School of Business, this panel discussion will talk about the Japanese government, METI's and U.S. Embassy's efforts to promote cross border investments between U.S. and Japan.

A particular interest in the discussion will be the "fly over phenomenon", which is the tendency of U.S. based venture capital firms to fly from Silicon Valley, over Japan, and land into China.

The panel will consist an elite group of experts, Michael Alfant, CEO of Fusion Systems, Martin Kenney, Professor at UC Davis, Allen Miner, CEO of SunBridge Corporation, and a venture capitalist to be named.

 

About the speakers

Mr. Robert Eberhart is a researcher at Stanford’s Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship where he leads the Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship.  His research focuses on comparative corporate governance of growth companies with special emphasis on Japan and the role of Japanese institutions in fostering entrepreneurship. Mr. Eberhart received a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Michigan after undergraduate studies in Finance at Michigan State University.  He is a doctoral candidate in Stanford’s department of Management Science and Engineering.  

Michael Alfant is the Group President and CEO of Fusions Systems Co., Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore. Fusion Systems is one of Asia's fastest growing leaders in Business Technology and Systems Consulting.  Michael started an IT solutions company named Fusion Systems Japan in 1992. Mr. Alfant is the President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, a frequent speaker at US and Japanese Universities, and a member of the Board of Directors of listed firms in both America and Japan. Michael Alfant graduated from the City University of NY with a BS in Computer Science.

Martin Kenney is a Professor in the Department of Human and Community Development at University of California, Davis and Senior Project Director of Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE) at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author and/or editor of five books and 120 articles examining venture capital, high technology and regional development, and university-industry relations. He is an editor at Research Policy and for a Stanford University Press book series on innovation in the global economy. Martin has also been a visiting researcher at the Copenhagen Business School, and Cambridge Hitotsubashi, Kobe, Stanford, and Tokyo Universities.

Allen Miner is a founder/General Partner of SunBridge Partners and the founder/CEO of SunBridge Corporation. Allen has significant experience in Internet, enterprise and open-source software, entrepreneurship, and international technology transfer.  Allen has been actively involved in each of the firm’s investments resulting in numerous successful IPOs, including Salesforce.com, MacroMill, ITMedia and G-Mode, among others. Allen is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Salesforce Japan.

Scott Ellman is CEO and Co-Founder of USAsia Venture Partners. He has over twenty years of experience in strategic alliances, marketing, and business development. Scott has held senior positions at high technology pioneers Silicon Graphics (SGI) and VMware where, among other things, he managed some of the companies' most important alliances such as those with Hitachi, Toshiba, Oracle, NEC, Dell, IBM, and HP. Scott is a strategic advisor to several technology companies as well as the Keizai Society and a member of the Japan-US Innovation in Business and Technology Advisory Council. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Applied Mathematics and Economics from Brown University.

Quaeed "Q" Motiwala joined JAIC US in 2008 and brings 14 years of product and business development experience, working extensively across US, Japan, South Korea and India.  At DFJ JAIC, he specializes in Mobile, B2B Software and Cleantech sectors in the US. Prior to JAIC, Q spent 11 years at Qualcomm in various ASIC product development and business leadership roles that included deploying 3G EV-DO in Korea, Japan and U.S, leading the initiative to embed wireless in notebooks and automobiles and leading business efforts at the Indian wireless carriers.  He was also part of two mobile software startups - SKY MobileMedia and Azteq Mobile. Q holds 5 patents in wireless telecom, has an MBA from Anderson School of Management, UCLA, an M.S.E.E from Virginia Tech and a B.E. (Electronics) from University of Bombay. Q serves as a Board of Director at Tradescape, Innopath Software, and Vitriflex.  

William F. Miller is Herbert Hoover Professor of Public and Private Management Emeritus; Professor of Computer Science Emeritus; President Emeritus, SRI International; Chairman Emeritus, Borland Software Corporation; and Chairman/Founder of Nanostellar, Inc. Professor Miller has carried out research on atomic and nuclear physics, computer graphic systems and languages, computer systems architecture, and the computer industry. His current research interests are on industrial development with special interest in local and regional industrial development, the evolution of regions of innovation and entrepreneurship, the “habitat” for entrepreneurship, and the globalization of R&D. His international industrial development studies have focused on Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

 

Directions

Map of Knight Management Center:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/packages/PDF/GSB-kmc-campus-map-Final.pdf

Directions to Stanford Graduate School of Business:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/about/directions.html

Presented by the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship-Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (SPRIE-STAJE) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Parking on the Stanford University campus can be challenging, so please consider arriving early. Parking is free after 4PM. Parking spaces may be available at the new Knight Management Center, Stanford Graduate School of Business:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/about/gsbvisitors.html

C102, MBA Class of 1968 Building
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Knight Management Center
655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94305-7298

Robert Eberhart Researcher Moderator SPRIE, Stanford University
Michael Alfant CEO Panelist Fusion Systems

Martin Kenney

Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 724-6404 (650) 723-6530
0
Visiting Scholar, 2008-09
Martin Kenney Professor Panelist UC Davis
Allen Miner CEO Panelist SunBridge Corp.
Scott Ellman CEO Panelist USAsia Venture Partners
Quaeed ‘Q’ Motiwala Managing Director Panelist DFJ JAIC
William F. Miller Faculty and Co-director Panelist SPRIE, Stanford University
Panel Discussions
Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (STAJE)

Axel Englund

Encina Hall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305

0
Anna Lindh Fellow, The Europe Center
Englund_headshot.jpg PhD
Axel Englund is a scholar of Literature and Musicology. He completed his doctorate at Stockholm University, Sweden (April 2011), where he has also taught modernist exile literature and metrics. His dissertation, a book version of which is being published by Ashgate in 2012, focuses on the poetry of the German-speaking Holocaust survivor Paul Celan, and its interplay with music. In 2009, he was a visiting scholar at the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Columbia University. His research interests include the poetry and music of the 20th century, intermedial relations, critical musicology, hermeneutics and aesthetics. His current research addresses the poetic output of W.G. Sebald.

Adama Gaye

CDDRL
Encina Hall
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

0
Visiting Scholar 2011-12
Adama2.jpg

Adama Gaye, author, political commentator, and scholar, from Senegal, has joined Stanford University this Academic year as a Visiting Scholar both at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) and at the African Studies Center...He is working on the increasing economic and political relations between China and Africa. China has recently become Africa's number one economic partner ahead of the traditional Western nations States of Europe and the United States of America.

Gaye, the first author to have published a book, in 2006, on this newly growing China-Africa connections under the title: Chine-Afrique -Le dragon et l'autruche (Ed. L'Harmattan, Paris), has been monitoring this relationship since then, notably as a Visiting Fellow at Johns Hopkins University (Washington Dc) and at China's premier University, Peiking University.

A well-known African journalist, Gaye has been a regular commentator on African Affairs for Cnn, AlJazeera, France 24, Radio France Internationale, NPR, The Bbc, CCTV. He has written extensively on African Affairs for Newsweek, Jeune Afrique, Beijing Review; he is a former Editor of the London-based newsweekly, West Africa Magazine, Africa's oldest magazine.

Adama Gaye holds various university degrees, including post-graduate degrees from University Paris 2 and The Pantheon-Sorbonne. He obtained the coveted Oxford Diplomatic Studies Certificate and holds the China Senior Executive Management Certificate jointly delivered by Tsinghua University, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and Harvard Business School.

Gaye studied journalism at the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar (Bachelor), in Senegal.

He intends to publish a new book on China-Africa while pursuing his other research interests during his tenure at Stanford. In addition to Africa's international relations, mainly with China, these include the unsteady democratic evolution of Africa and the renewed interests generated by Oil and Gas resources in the continent.

Examining the violence in Mexico

News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs

More than 40,000 people have died in drug-related homicides in Mexico since 2006, and recent figures indicate that the pace and severity of drug-related violence is increasing. Organized crime is widespread and appears deeply embedded throughout much of the country. Citizens feel an increasingly pervasive sense of insecurity, and the situation is causing growing concern throughout the hemisphere. 

In an attempt to understand and develop potential solutions to these problems, a group of political scientists, economists, lawyers, policy-makers, and military experts from around the world will visit Stanford this October for a private, two-day conference that will explore problems of violence, organized crime, and governance in Mexico, as well as other countries that have experience tackling similar issues. 

“The increasing violence in Mexico is a major problem for Mexicans and the entire region,” says Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, incoming co-director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, one of the lead sponsors of the event. “The situation underscores the urgency of problems involving crime, security, and governance not only in our hemisphere but throughout the world. Investigating these problems from a comparative perspective will bring us closer to solutions that can improve security and accountability.” 

In a series of discussions, panelists from the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Germany will examine the effect Mexico's violence has had on civil society, the role of U.S. policies in affecting organized crime and violence, and what lessons may have been learned about combating violence in other contexts, such as the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, police and security reform in Brazil, and the sharp decline in drug-related violence in Colombia. Participants will also look at the potential mechanisms for developing institutional capacity and the rule of law in some of the world’s most fragile democracies. 

“Conflict and insecurity pose the greatest challenge to the development of effective institutions of governance and rule of law in Mexico,” says Beatriz Magaloni, a political scientist and the director of the Program on Poverty and Governance at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development and Rule of Law. “But surprisingly little is known about the dynamics of violence. Greater understanding could help policy makers craft and pursue effective strategies for tackling the issues in a comprehensive way.” 

The event, scheduled for October 3 and 4, will conclude with a public address by Karl Eikenberry, the former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. He is currently in residence at Stanford as the 2011-2012 Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. 

Other sponsors of the conference include the Center for Latin American Studies and the Stanford Law School.

 

Hero Image
Woman peacecaravan 2011 logo
All News button
1

"The Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi" and post-film discussion

-

"The Fixer:The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi" is a feature-length documentary that follows the relationship between an Afghan interpreter and his client, American journalist Christian Parenti. This intimate portrait of two colleagues shifts dramatically when Ajmal is kidnapped along with an Italian reporter. The situation goes from bad to worse as foreign powers pressure for fast results, the Afghan government bungles its response and the specter of Taliban power looms in the background. What follows is the tragic story of one man forgotten in the crossfire: a brutal allegory of the proud land and perilous misadventure that is Afghanistan.

Following the screening, Ian Olds (the film's Director) will be in conversation with Robert Crews (History, Stanford).

This event is sponsored by the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (CREEES). It is free and open to the public. 

The Fixer / View the trailer

 

 

For additional information on the series, please visit the Stanford Ethics and War series website.

Cubberley Auditorium

Ian Olds Director, "The Fixer" Speaker
Robert Crews Professor of history Speaker Stanford
Seminars
Stanford Ethics & War Series

The Defense of Inhumanity: Air Control and the British Idea of Arabia

-

Priya Satia's research interests span modern British cultural and political history, colonialism and imperialism, the experience and practice of war, technology and culture, human rights and humanitarianism, the state and institutions of government, arms trade, political economy of empire, and environmental history.

Satia was raised in Los Gatos, California and educated at Stanford, the London School of Economics, and the University of California, Berkeley where she earned her Ph.D. in 2004.  She is currently Assistant Professor of History at Stanford where she teaches courses on modern Britain and the British Empire.

Satia's latest book Spies in Arabia: The Great War and the Cultural Foundations of Britain's Covert Empire in the Middle East has been the recipient of several book prizes including the 2009 AHA-Pacific Coast Branch Book Award, the AHA Herbert Baxter Adams Book Prize in 2009, and the 2010 Pacific Coast Conference of British Studies Book Prize.

Her work can also be found in academic journals such as the American Historical Reviewand Past and Present. Her article, “The Defense of Inhumanity: Air Control in Iraq and the British Idea of Arabia” won the Article Prize of the Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies for 2005-2006 and the 2007 Walter D. Love Prize of the North American Conference on British Studies. 

Satia is currently researching the manufacture, trade, and use of small arms in the British empire for her book project, "Guns: The True History of the British Empire."

 

More information TBA. 

For additional information on the series, please visit the Stanford Ethics and War series website.


Annenberg Auditorium, Stanford

Priya Satia assistant professor of history Speaker Stanford
Seminars
Stanford Ethics & War Series

"Copenhagen": Performance of Michael Frayn's 1998 play

Performance of Michael Frayn's 1998 play. Scott Sagan will introduce the Saturday, December 3 performance.

Open to the public, requires a ticket purchase at:http://www.stanford.edu/dept/drama/1112_events/copenhagen.html. 

  • Winner of three 2000 Tony Awards, including Best Play
  • Winner of the Drama Desk Award for Best New Play
  • Winner of the New York Drama Critics' Circle for Best Play

Presented by McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society as part of the Ethics & War Events Series, in collaboration with Stanford Summer Theater and Stanford Drama. Directed by Stanford Summer Theater Artistic Director and Stanford Professor of Drama and Classics, Rush Rehm. Starring Bay Area professionals Julian Lopez-Morillas, Peter Ruocco, and Courtney Walsh. 

In 1941, German physicist Werner Heisenberg visited his Danish counterpart Niels Bohr in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen, where they discussed the development of nuclear weapons. What really happened in their encounter? Given the unreliability of memory, the indeterminacy of personal motives, and the uncertainty at the core of things, how can we ever know? Frayn’s Copenhagen asks impossible questions, and – with the nuclear threat still over us – demands that we find the answers.

This production is made possible in part by the Stanford Institute for Creativity in the Arts (SiCa) and the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).

  • "The most invigorating and ingenious play of ideas in many a year. An electrifying work of art." -The New York Times
  • "Superb. Dynamic." -The New Yorker
  • "Gripping. A brilliant play." -London Guardian
  • "The word 'tremendous' is often used but seldom deserved. In this case it is. Copenhagen is an intellectual and theatrical tour de force." -London Times

For additional information on the series, please visit the Stanford Ethics and War series website.

Pigott Theater, Stanford

Seminars
Stanford Ethics & War Series

Landry Signé

Not in Residence

0
Visiting Scholar 2013; Postdoctoral Scholar 2011-2013
Landry Signé PhD

Professor Landry Signé is a distinguished fellow at Stanford University’s Center for African Studies, founding chairman of the award-winning Global Network for Africa’s Prosperity, special adviser to world leaders on international and African affairs, full professor and senior adviser on international affairs to the chancellor and provost at UAA, and partner and chief strategist at a small African-focused emerging markets strategic management, investment, and government affairs firm. He has been recognized as a World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader, Andrew Carnegie fellow as one of the “most creative thinkers,” Woodrow Wilson Public Policy fellow, JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons in the World, Private Investors for Africa Fellow, and Tutu Fellow who “drives the transformation of Africa,” among others. Previously, Landry was founding president of a business strategy and development firm based in Montreal and a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford. He has also served on the board of organizations such as AMPION Catalyst for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Africa, Citizens Governance Initiative, and the United Nations Association of Canada–Montreal, and was appointed by a United Nations Under-Secretary-General to serve on the Global Network on Digital Technologies for Sustainable Urbanization. He is the author of numerous key academic and policy publications on African and global affairs, with a special interest in the political economy of growth, development and governance; the politics of economic reform, foreign aid, and regional integration; entrepreneurship, non-market and business strategies in emerging and frontier countries; institutional change, political regimes, and post-conflict reconstruction; state capacity and policy implementation. Professor Signé received the fastest tenure and promotion to the highest rank of full professor of political science in the history of United States universities, for a scholar who started at an entry-level position in the discipline. He is a highly sought-after keynote speaker and presenter at conferences worldwide, engaging a broad variety of business, policy, academic, and civil society audiences. He has won more than 60 prestigious awards and distinctions from four continents and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Harvard International Review. Professor Signé was educated in Cameroon (with honors and distinction), in France (valedictorian and salutatorian), earned his PhD in Political Science from the University of Montreal (Award of Excellence and Award for the Best International PhD Dissertation), and completed his Postdoctoral Studies at Stanford University (Banting fellowship for best and brightest researchers). He has also completed executive leadership programs at the University of Oxford Said School of Business (Tutu fellowship) and Harvard Kennedy School (World Economic Forum fellowship).

Mexico conference to draw international experts

Authors
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs
On October 3 and 4, the Program on Poverty and Governance at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law will co-sponsor a conference examining the issues of violence, drugs, and governance in Mexico from a comparative perspective.

More than 40,000 people have died in drug-related homicides in Mexico since 2006, and recent figures indicate that the pace and severity of drug-related violence is increasing. Organized crime is widespread and appears deeply embedded throughout much of the country. Citizens feel an increasingly pervasive sense of insecurity, and the situation is causing growing concern throughout the hemisphere. 

In an attempt to understand and develop potential solutions to these problems, a group of political scientists, economists, lawyers, policy-makers, and military experts from around the world will visit Stanford this October for a private, two-day conference that will explore problems of violence, organized crime, and governance in Mexico, as well as other countries that have experience tackling similar issues. 

“The increasing violence in Mexico is a major problem for Mexicans and the entire region,” says Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, the incoming co-director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, one of the lead sponsors of the event. “The situation underscores the urgency of problems involving crime, security, and governance not only in our hemisphere but throughout the world. Investigating these problems from a comparative perspective will bring us closer to solutions that can improve security and accountability.” 

In a series of discussions, panelists from the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Germany will examine the effect Mexico's violence has had on civil society, the role of U.S. policies in affecting organized crime and violence, and what lessons may have been learned about combating violence in other contexts, such as the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, police and security reform in Brazil, and the sharp decline in drug-related violence in Colombia. Participants will also look at the potential mechanisms for developing institutional capacity and the rule of law in some of the world’s most fragile democracies. 

“Conflict and insecurity pose the greatest challenge to the development of effective institutions of governance and rule of law in Mexico,” says Beatriz Magaloni, a political scientist and the director of the Program on Poverty and Governance at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development and Rule of Law, a co-sponsor for the conference. “But surprisingly little is known about the dynamics of violence. Greater understanding could help policy makers craft and pursue effective strategies for tackling the issues in a comprehensive way.” 

The event, scheduled for October 3 and 4, will include a public address by Karl Eikenberry, the former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. He is currently in residence at Stanford as the 2011-2012 Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. 

Other sponsors of the conference include the Center for Latin American Studies and the Stanford Law School. 

Hero Image
Logo
A woman cries during the arrival of a peace caravan in Mexico. August 6, 2011. | Reuters
All News button
1
Subscribe to Europe