The FINANCIAL — Now in its eighth year, Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford is one of Europe's leading entrepreneurship events. At this year’s forum, which takes place from 23-24 November 1008, entrepreneurs and innovators will provide a “360° View of the Valley”.
According to Oxford Saïd Business School, the event will comprise a vibrant and fast paced mix of masterclasses, tutorials, panel debates and networking events, as well as a formal debate at the Oxford Union, Oxford University’s world-famous debating chamber.
At the Oxford Union debate on Sunday 23 November, high profile speakers will argue for and against the motion: “This house believes that the problems of tomorrow are bigger than the entrepreneurs of today.” The team opposing the motion will include:
Julie Meyer of Ariadne Capital
Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn
Jerry Sanders of San Francisco Science
Biz Stone of Twitter.
Masterclasses will provide a 360 degree perspective on the various technologies, ventures, sectors and trends which characterize Silicon Valley today. The traditional foundations of Silicon Valley: systems, software and the Internet – in the form of smart search engines, intelligent databases, open source software, social networking and e-commerce – will be contrasted with newly emerging industries and challenges.
A keynote panel entitled "The Universe, the Brain and Second Life" will juxtapose current trends with the longer term and visionary elements of technology. Philip Rosedale, Founder and Chairman of Linden Lab, and Baroness Susan Greenfield, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford will discuss "The brain: neuroscience of the computer"; while Elon Musk, serial entrepreneur, investor, co-founder of PayPal, chairman of Tesla Motors and CEO founder of Space X will talk about newly emerging industries in Silicon Valley as reflected by his accomplishments as a cleantech investor and space pioneer.
For the first time the forum will feature leading European entrerpreneurs and investors in an exchange of ideas, know-how and capital with their Silicon Valley counterparts. In recognition of the international reach of today's innovative ventures, there will be a panel discussion on “Innovation beyond Silicon Valley”. The panel will include Reshma Sohoni, CEO of the European seed capital collective, Seedcamp, alongside entrepreneurs Torsten Reil and Giles Andrews, both Oxford University graduates and founders of UK-based hi-tech companies. Julie Meyer, CEO and co-founder of First Tuesday, founded in London during the first 1990s dot com boom, will also appear on the panel.
Oxfordshire's business networks represent one of the most advanced innovation support systems in Europe and academic entrepreneurship dates back to the 1950s establishment of Oxford Instruments plc. Oxford University's Said Business School is building on this tradition through the Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Other Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford speakers will include:
Pete Flint, CEO and founder of Trulia
Pat House, co-founder of Siebel
Andrew Keen, Author of “Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing our Culture”
Saul Klein, Adviser to Skype and Index Ventures Partner
Mike Malone, author, journalist and columnist for ABCNews.com's “Silicon Insider”
Kim Polese, CEO of SpikeSource
Chris Sacca, investor and former Head of Special Initiatives at Google
Maria Sendra, Partner at Baker Mckenzie, San Diego.
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