Venture Forum

Nanotech Venture Forum

Time: 16 May 2006
Place: Wanha Satama, Helsinki, Finland

Nanotechnology has been predicted to create a trillion-dollar market by 2015 according to the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative. Public investment programs globally now exceed US$18 billion and corporate R&D-investments are said to bypass that figure soon. However, venture capital investments to the sector are still low, only $480 m globally during 2005 according to Lux Research.

Research firm Cientifica predicts that during 2006 we will see a slew of attempted IPOs and rich pickings of intellectual property at fire sale prices. Current investors have a second mover advantage in investing in the applications of nanotechnologies in major markets. Deal flow is picking up in both numbers and quality, and investors will realise the greatest returns from nanotech by looking beyond ‘nanotechnology companies‘.

Nanotechnology is said to impact all industries during this century and therefore will provide ample opportunity for VC-investment. Investor who wants to succeed in this challenging space should start learning now!

Leading VCs discuss nanotechnology

Nanotech Venture Forum session starts with a panel session, where leading VCs and area experts discuss nanotechnology impact, winning business models and timeframes.

Panelists:

Robert Jelski, Sector Adviser, Partner, 3i plc, UK
Robert joined 3i in 2000 as a sector adviser and is a Partner in the 3i Venture team. Robert has 20 years experience as Divisional President and General Manager within Danaher and Eurotherm in the UK and France. He started his career in Hewlett-Packard's R&D department designing Telecommunications Test & Measurement products and then went on to become National Semiconductors' Telecommunications Marketing Manager for Europe.
He has extensive knowledge of the electronics/semiconductor sector in Europe and Asia, particularly fabless semiconductor operations, opto electronics, nanotechnology, component test and packaging and capital equipment as well as a good knowledge of the industrial instrumentation markets.

Juha Mikkola, Senior Partner, Eqvitec Partners, Finland
Juha Mikkola is one of the pioneers of the Finnish venture capital community, and one of the founding partners of Eqvitec, a nordic venture capital firm with €450 million under management in five funds. Juha is responsible for Eqvitec’s investment activities in new portfolio companies. He has managed many companies from start up to internationalisation and many of them have been either  successfully sold or are now publicly traded. In addition to his 13 years in venture capital, Juha’s background includes, for example, six years in the United States where he completed his MBA and worked in international sales for a risk management software firm. 

Steven Morrell, Partner, Teknoinvest, USA
Steven Morrell joined Teknoinvest AS in February 2001.  Prior to joining Teknoinvest, he was the Managing Director for 2 years of a Teknoinvest portfolio company, Aquasmart International AS (after a merger now called AKVAsmart ASA).  Mr. Morrell has held numerous positions over the previous fourteen years including Managing Director for Merck & Co., Inc.’s subsidiary in Russia, Central Asia and Caucasia; General Director of Veropharm Co., Ltd (Russia); President of Hafslund Nycomed Pharma AG (Austria) and management consultant in McKinsey & Co., Inc. (Scandinavia).  Mr. Morrell also served in the U.S. Air Force as an officer and an F-15 fighter pilot (Japan). He currently serves as a Member of the Board of AKVAsmart ASA (Norway), Marical, Inc. (USA), Optinel Systems, Inc. (USA), OAO Pharmacy Chain 36.6 Group (Russia), and Isolagen, Inc. (AMEX: ILE), as well as an Observer to the Board of Cidra Corporation (USA). Mr. Morrell is fluent in English, Norwegian and German as well as conversational in Russian, and holds an MBA (with Honors) from IMD, Switzerland and a B.Sc. degree with a major in Mathematics and a minor in Aerospace Studies from Brigham Young University, USA.  He resides in New York.

Nick Hartley, Head of Unit, Strategy and Policy, European Union
Nick Hartley is a materials science graduate of the University of Sussex, UK . After completing post-doctoral work on high dose ion implantation, he joined UKAEA Harwell in the early 1970's. In 1986 he transferred to the European Commission's Research Directorate-General to join a small team building an "industrial research" initiative under the second Framework Programme (1983 - 1987). He now heads a strategic unit within FP 6's Thematic Priority covering the broad areas of nanosciences, materials and production. This unit looks after policy co-ordination, programme evaluation and monitoring, as well as information and communication.

Seven exciting nanotech companies will present

After the panel seven innovative early-stage companies will introduce their business plans providing both interesting case-studies and investment opportunities.

The seven companies represent various stages of the investment cycle and come from the most interesting areas in nanotechnology, ranging from carbon nanotubes solutions for both composites and electronics to instrument
vendors for nanoscale modeling, EDA, nanoimprint lithography and surface chemistry.

Register now

Nanotech Venture Forum has limited seating and access is prioritized to venture capitalists, angel investors, corporate strategic investors, public research funding organizations and CxO’s of nanotechnology start-ups. Reserve your seat now to ensure a place.

Venture Forum registration includes:

9:00 NTNE2006 Keynote Session - top speakers from Nokia, NEC Research and European Commission

12:00 Lunch and Exhibition - meet leading nanotech organizations in Northern Europe

14:00 Nanotech Venture Forum

17:00 Cocktails and Networking

19:00 Helsinki City Reception

Registration fee: EUR 300
Please use the link below for online registration form. Choose option Venture Forum.

Online registration >>


Venture Forum
Webdesign Idea Q