Hatching Tech Companies for a Living

We describe a proven process to foster the creation of technology-based services, products, and companies. We start by explaining how various stakeholders—a university,an innovation and technology transfer institute, and private and public client organizations—acting in concert, create multiple opportunities for the application of technology to real-world problems, and how some of those projects originate spin-offs. We then present a real-life example of one such company that develops software for mobile applications. It spun-off from a project with a big cellular phone service provider in 2001, incubated for three years at the institute, and moved out in 2004. Its revenues continue to grow at a rate of 30% each year. We draw on our experience in assisting the creation of 70 technology-based start-ups to provide practical recommendations and point out key success factors.

Breaking Through Barriers in New Technological Initiatives

This work analyzes different factors in the entrepreneuring process in a company based in business opportunities advantages through the usage of free software in a technological context. Blobject connects opportunities for local development, usage of open source technologies, and new social trends in many consumers; tourists, in this case, as a example of respect for the environment and the desired “freedom and autonomy”. This company offers different products and services using ecologic vehicles (electric energy), ease-to-use, such as GEM Cars -equipped with a touch screen computer- and Tours in Segways. The studied case shows the integration process from different technologies that connect through digital infrastructure. In this way, GEM cars use the GPS technology for location within a digital assistant, multimedia power (touch screen computer and audios and videos) to show the tourist opportunities in an specific place, and the needed adaptation for the language diversity.

Opportunities and Challenges in the Health Care IT Sector

The health care sector represents one of the largest and most rapidly growing IT markets in the world. Health care lends itself readily to IT entrepreneurship in a number of ways, but also poses some unique challenges. Many of these facets are illustrated through the experiences of ShiftMarket, a startup company developing and promoting technology-driven solutions for staffing hard-to-fill hospital shifts. Started without any external funding, ShiftMarket negotiated a strong beginning by pursuing technology transfer in collaboration with a U.S. hospital rather than building from scratch. At the time of this case study, ShiftMarket is facing some unexpected challenges and must re-evaluate its strategy moving forward.

Workcenter SGD

In 1999 Alfonso de Senillosa, Spanish entrepreneur, after finishing his studies in the United States, decided to create Workcenter SGD. The company was born on the basis of following the same idea and services that Kinko’s® created successfully in the United States, with nearly 1,300 retail stores devoted to reprographic services. Nevertheless, in four years the company went far ahead of the original idea, developing new technologies that helped manage the growth, control operations, and reduce costs. By 2005 the company had grown up to 20 stores all over Spain and Senillosa was celebrating his 38th birthday while deciding his next step in the company’s future leveraging on the technology and operations already designed.

BookingFax

In this case we analyze the creation process of a firm from the tourism sector that has exploited a business opportunity opened up by new technologies. BookingFax acts as an intermediary between wholesalers of tourism offers and retailers, travel agencies, and even the final consumers themselves. The main objective of this case is to analyze how information technology in the tourism sector has constituted the basis of an idea to create a firm, and the role the firm plays in the tourism market. In addition, as the case develops it will become clear that information technology provides the competitive basis of BookingFax. The firm has used this key tool to enter the market, be competitive, and become the number-one firm in its sector in Spain.

The Business Expansion Process of Applied Research Center (ARC)

The purpose of this chapter is to describe a real story where key subjects related to a business expansion process of a young IT-based applied research center (ARC) are discussed. More specifically, key theoretical notions will be examined linked to the day-to-day events occurred in ARC. This IT-based organization traced an original expansion trajectory based on the creation of two spin-offs during its infancy period. This chapter highlights general concerns associated with knowledge management and the capacity of innovation which emerged during the business expansion process. For purposes of this study, these concerns can be classified in three main theoretical areas: Entrepreneurship, Interpreneurship and Intrapreneurship.

NTC Co.

This case illustrates in a holistic way the different components that affect the recognition of the technological venture opportunity environment, attributes that characterize technology-based entrepreneurs, type of organization created and of technology for the construction of a venture-and the interactions that occur among those components, and which ultimately result in the market innovation. These factors linked to the successful creation of technology-based ventures justify that cases contributed by emerging firms are more revealing and illustrative than those of already consolidated firms, that is, intrapreneurship. In large corporations, variables such as previously accumulated organizational knowledge and the corporate culture itself may have a negative impact upon their ability to recognize the future value of these ventures. For those reasons, NTC, an emerging business, offers a clear example of how the interaction of the entrepreneur, technology, and the accumulation of experience and knowledge interact to give rise to a technology-based venture.

Remote Internet-Based Supervision Systems, S.L.

The present case study explains the process of creation of Remote Internet-Based Supervision Systems, S.L. (RISS), a spin-off emerging from the University of Figueres, Spain. It describes all phases, from formation to the present day, and the problems and challenges faced by the entrepreneurial team composed of academics and industry professionals. Starting in a lab shared by two computer engineers finishing their PhDs, their friendship later converted into a science-based new venture. After having developed products and survived financial difficulty, the company stood at the threshold of a stage of growth and a decision regarding the commercial strategy had to be taken. But some problems have arisen between the academic entrepreneurs and the industrial partner regarding commercial strategy.

FON

FON is a revolution, or at least is defined as such on its Web page (http://en.fon.com) and the multiple posts that inundate the blogsphere. Its objective is to create a universal and unified Wi-Fi network that allows the members of its community to share not only bandwidth, but also experiences and ideals. FON is a virtual community of Wi-Fi users worldwide making use of spare bandwidth from customers’ broadband connections. This enormous Wi-Fi network, practically free of charge, is the new project of Martin Varsavsky, an entrepreneur who in the past 20 years has created seven innovative businesses, nearly all in the high tech sector. The generalization of broadband connections and the development of Wi-Fi and WiMax wireless technologies will change the competitive landscape of the telecommunications sector, which will lead businesses to retool their business models, both with relation to Internet and mobile telephones. With its visionary nature, FON is trying to position itself in this new context and for this purpose has the financial and strategic support of top companies such as Google, eBay, and Skype.

Telemedicine in Practice

The case of Comitas Comunicaciones is a clear example of corporate entrepreneurship in the telecommunications sector. This firm was founded to offer telecommunications services in general and telecommunications services applied to telemedicine in particular. Comitas exploits business opportunities in the health care sector that no other firm is currently focusing on adequately. As the case develops, the technical and market difficulties that the firm has faced will become apparent. The role of the incubator firm is particularly important in this case, since it has provided Comitas with resources, capabilities, and technological knowledge that are complementary in the firm’s new activity: information and communications technologies services (ICT) to support telemedicine.