Political economist Phillip Lipscy spoke recently with Estrategia, a leading Chilean finance and business publication, about the politics of the financial crisis in the Euro Area, as well as what kind of implications it might have for the U.S. and Chinese economies. (Spanish-language interview)

On August 2, 2011, the Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (STAJE) and the U.S.-Asia Technology Management Center hosted a group of young Japanese entrepreneurs and students at the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering. The group visited Stanford University as part of SunBridge Partner's Jannovation (Japan-Innovation) Week. Jannovation Week is an annual five-day program for Japanese entrepreneurs and students to visit Silicon Valley and experience start-up culture, including interacting with leading start-ups in the San Francisco Bay Area, meeting with venture capital firms, visiting incubators, and learning from educators.

While at Stanford, the Jannovation program participants had the opportunity to hear presentations given by Dr. Richard Dasher, director of the U.S.-Asia Technology Management Center, and Tomi Brooks, staff member with STAJE. Dr. Dasher spoke about the significance of Silicon Valley's start-up culture. He highlighted the differences between Japan and Silicon Valley, the various ways entrepreneurs could obtain venture capital funding, and changes in the typical ownerships of a company through various stages in the company's existence. Brooks shared his experiences in helping launch mobile start-ups in both Japan and the United States, and addressed the difficulty of retaining employees in a start-up environment and the importance of social networking. He also provided marketing suggestions specific to Japanese companies launching in the U.S. market.

Several of the Jannovation Week entrepreneurs gave presentations about their start-ups to panel members who, in addition to Dr. Dasher and Brooks, included Quaeed Motiwala, managing director of DFJ JAIC, and Dr. Sridhar Jagannathan, vice president of technology strategy and partnerships of Intuit. Panel members listened to each presentation, questioned the entrepreneurs about their business models, and provided feedback about their ideas for launching in the U.S. market. The session concluded with advice from Dr. Jagannathan on how to construct a “pitch” for a U.S. market.

The Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship hosted an international forum at Stanford University on Innovation Beyond Boundaries: Partnerships for Advancing Smart, Green Living from June 29 to 30. The forum gathered leading thinkers and practitioners to advance understanding and practice on the important topic of public-private partnerships for innovation. Dr. Kristina Johnson, former Under Secretary of Energy, and Dr. Curtis Carlson, President and CEO of SRI International provided the opening and closing keynotes respectively.

Around the world, innovation at the intersection of information technologies and clean energy is a major activity. The challenges for smart, green living require innovation across organizations, industries, disciplines, and countries. Some of the most important efforts are not those of government or industry alone but from public-private partnerships. These kinds of partnerships were actively discussed at the forum. Throughout the two-day event, experts from academia, government, and industry addressed lessons from the United States, Asia, and Europe.

Key questions probed by the speakers and the participants included roles of public-private partnerships and other forms of collaboration playing to advance innovations in smart, green industries, such as in the built environment and intelligent transportation; innovations in processes, models, and platforms that are leading the way; the results from living labs, leading cities, and other outstanding examples of public-private partnerships around the world; and the implications for business strategies and the impact of government policies to nurture advancement in these partnerships.

This forum was an invitation-only exchange in which approximately 70 participants shared experiences about multi-company collaborations, public-private partnerships, non-profit partnerships, and government-funded consortia.

PESD's Richard Morse gave a talk titled "Remaining Uncertainties in the California’s Cap and Trade Program” during the summit's "California’s Carbon Policy – Implementing a California-Specific or California and Regional Cap-and-Trade" session.

The Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Precourt Energy Efficiency Center hosted the 2011 Silicon Valley Energy Summit held on Friday, June 24, 2011 at Stanford University.