Can Europe create the next Google?

LONDON, ENGLAND — Europe is making major strides to eliminate barriers that have held back the region from developing tech firms that can compete on the scale of global giants Alphabet Inc’s Google, Amazon.com Inc or Tencent Holdings Inc , a report published on Thursday shows.

The region has thriving tech hubs in major cities, with record new funding, experienced entrepreneurs, a growing base of technical talent and an improving regulatory climate, according to a study by European venture firm Atomico.

While even the largest European tech ventures remain a fraction of the size of the biggest U.S. and Asian rivals, global music streaming leader Spotify of Sweden marks the rising ambition of European entrepreneurs. Spotify is gearing up for a stock market flotation next year that could value it at upward of $20 billion.

“The probability that the next industry-defining company could come from Europe – and become one of the world’s most valuable companies – has never been higher,” said Tom Wehmeier, Atomico’s head of research, who authored the report.

Top venture capitalists and entrepreneurs in the region told Reuters they are increasingly confident that the next world-class companies could emerge from Europe in fields including artificial intelligence, video gaming, music and messaging.


“What we still need to develop is entrepreneurs who have the drive to take it all the way – I think we are starting to see that now,” said Bernard Liautaud, managing partner at venture fund Balderton Capital, who sold his software company Business Objects to SAP for $6.8 billion a decade ago.

The Atomico report is being published in conjunction with the annual Nordic technology start-up festival taking place in Helsinki this week and set to draw some 20,000 participants.

Stronger fundamentals

Capital invested in European tech companies is on track to reach a record this year, with $19.1 billion in funding projected through the end of 2017 – up 33 percent over 2016, according to investment tracking firm Dealroom.co.

The median size of European venture funds nearly tripled to around 58 million euros (£51.1 million) in 2017 compared with five years ago, according to Invest Europe’s European Data Cooperative on fundraising investment activity.

Beyond the availability of funding, Europe has a range of technical talent available to work more cheaply than in Silicon Valley, enabling start-ups to get going with far less funding.

With a pool of professional developers now numbering 5.5 million, European tech employment outpaces the comparable 4.4 million employed in the United States, according to data from Stack Overflow, a site popular with programmers.

London remains the top European city in terms of numbers of professional developers, but Germany, as a country, overtook Britain in the past year with 837,398 developers compared with 813,500, the report states, using Stack Overflow statistics.

While median salaries for software engineers are rising in top European cities Berlin, London, Paris and Barcelona, they are one-third to one-half the average cost of salaries in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is more than $129,000, based on Glassdoor recruiting data.

Pushing up against the limits

Big hurdles remain. A survey of 1,000 founders by authors of the report found European entrepreneurs were worried by Brexit, with concerns, especially in Britain, over hiring, investment and heightened uncertainty in the business climate.

Although Europe has deep engineering talent, many big startups focus on business model innovation in areas such as media, retail and gaming rather than on breakthrough technology developments that can usher in new industries, critics say.

Regulatory frameworks in Europe put the brakes on development on promising technologies such as cryptocurrencies, “flying taxis” and gene editing, while autonomous vehicles and drones face fewer obstacles, the report says.

A separate study by Index Ventures, also to be published on Thursday, found that employees at fast-growing tech start-ups in Europe tend to receive only half the stock option stakes that are a primary route to riches for their U.S. rivals. Yet their options are taxed twice as much.

The Index report said employees in successful, later-stage European tech start-ups receive around 10 percent of capital, compared with 20 percent ownership in Silicon Valley firms.

“There is quite a gap today between stock option practices in Europe and those in Silicon Valley,” Index Ventures partner Martin Mignot said in an interview. “There are other issues where Europe is behind, but we think stock options should be at the top of the agenda.”

Another factor holding back Europe is that regional stock markets encourage firms to go public prematurely, Liataud said.

“Europe has markets for average companies. In the U.S., going public is hard. You have to be really, really good. You have to be $100 million, minimum, in revenue,” the French entrepreneur-turned-investor said. “Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange have not lowered their standards.”

source: interaksyon.com

Wearable computers a smart fashion trend

SAN FRANCISCO — The notion of being fashionably smart is getting a makeover as Internet-linked computers get woven into formerly brainless attire such as glasses, bracelets and shoes.

A wearable computing trend is at the heart of the “quantified self” movement in which people track anything from how many calories they burn to how well they sleep or their moods at any given moment.

“We are heading for the wearable computing era,” Gartner analyst Van Baker told AFP. “People are going to be walking around with personal area networks on their bodies and have multiple devices that talk to each other and the Web.”

Understandably, the trend has found traction in fitness with devices such as the Jawbone UP, Nike’s FuelBand, and Fitbit keeping tabs on whether people are leading active, healthy lifestyles.

The devices use sensors to detect micro movements and then feed information to smartphones or tablets, where applications tap into processing power to analyze data and provide feedback to users.

San Francisco-based Jawbone jumped into wearable computing years ago, building electronic brains into stylish wireless earpieces and speakers for smartphones.

Jawbone recently added muscle to its lineup of fitness lifestyle devices with a deal to buy BodyMedia.

BodyMedia makes armbands used to track caloric burn of fat-shedding competitors on US reality television show “The Biggest Loser.”

“There’s an enormous appetite for personal data and self-discovery among consumers that will only continue to grow,” said Jawbone chief executive and founder Hosain Rahman.

A Forrester Research survey conducted early this year found that six percent of US adults wore a gadget to track performance in a sport, while five percent used a gadget like UP or Fitbit to track daily activity or how well they sleep.

Worldwide shipments of wearable computing devices could climb as high as 30 million units this year, according to Forrester.

Interest goes beyond fitness to desire for things like a gadget that recommends films based on wearers’ moods and one that replaces keys when it comes to unlocking cars or homes, the survey indicated.

“It is just amazing,” said engineering professor Asim Smailagic, director of a wearable computer lab at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. “We will see an exciting future ahead.”

Smailagic began working on wearable computing at the university about 25 years ago, with projects including head worn displays that serve up technical information when needed during aircraft maintenance.

– ‘Wearable computing has to be unobtrusive’ –

Sophisticated and inexpensive sensors for tracking movement, sound, GPS locations and more combined with “killer apps” in powerful smartphones have set the stage for wearable computing to be commonplace, according to the professor.

“Contextually aware computers will be hot topics for at least the next decade,” Smailagic said. “They can help you when you need help, even to look smarter.

“Everybody likes to have the kind of help contextual computing can provide.”

Contextual computing goes beyond recognizing where someone is to factoring in other information such as whether it’s lunchtime or if someone has shown a preference for a nearby restaurant.

“When you combine wearable computing with sensors and machine learning algorithms then you get context, the computer knows your state and is able to help out clearly in the situation,” Smailagic said.

He is confident Google Glass will be a hit despite privacy worries expressed about the yet-to-be-released Internet-linked eyewear with camera capabilities.

Google Glass connects to the Internet using Wi-Fi hot spots or, more typically, by being wirelessly tethered to mobile phones. Pictures or video are shared through the Google Plus social network.

“Wearable computing has to be unobtrusive, fit as a natural extension of your body, and not get in the way,” Smailagic said. “Google Glass is on the right path to solve these problems.”

The invention has been a hit with American tennis player Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who has been testing the special glasses as a training aid at this year’s Wimbledon.

Apple chief Tim Cook last month said he sees promise in computers shrunk down and worn like watches.

He predicted there will be “tons of companies playing” in the wearable computing sector but sidestepped a question as to whether Apple would be among them with the creation of a rumored “iWatch” device to be worn on the wrist.

“The wrist is interesting,” Cook did allow.

Pebble smart watches created by a startup that raised more than $10 million in funding at crowd-source investment website Kickstarter recently began shipping to buyers.

The wearable computing craze has already spread to dogs, with startup Whistle introducing a pendant that tracks canines.

Whistle devices attached to dog collars or harnesses use movement-sensing accelerometers to track activity and even how well a pet is sleeping, then relay the information wirelessly to smartphones or wi-fi hotspots.

An online database built in collaboration with researchers and veterinary groups allows individual dog activity patterns to be scrutinized for hints that something may be amiss.

“Traditional technology companies will have to start paying attention to how sensors are enabling us to live,” said Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis for consumer technology at NPD.

“Consumers are ultimately going to become more aware of their data in the digital ether,” he said. “I suspect wearables are going to disrupt the way tech firms are doing business now.”

source: interaksyon.com