The Barcelona-base researcher group, around Günter Geiger, Martin Kaltenbrunner, Marcos Alonso and Sergi Jordà has made a lot of noise with their latest invention, the reacTable.

We interviewed Segi Jordà for Barcelona Want(ed) in Dic. 2006 and he explained us this

Moltes Felicitats! Herzlichen Glückwunsch!!!

Los que nos miran desde fuera se preguntan: ¿Es Barceloan un parque temático turístico y una ciudad innovadora y creativa?

Las 2 cosas no pueden ser? Pues parece que no. El siempre briliante Juan Freire reflexiona.

Problem no. 2: Barcelona cannot compete with Zürich or any other city by putting beach&life style as decision criteria where to go.

Problem no. 3: The blog-initiative is good as a basic reflection. So where do you go from there?

But what could Barcelona really offer? It attract’s talent? Well, yes. But other cities also do: London, Talin, Geneva, you name it… So, I think as long as you can’t show something more tangible, the human eco-system (= the potential to hire top people located in and around Barcelona), Google won’t care.

Read here what Ludo has to say.

As she told me, the first event will take place during this year’s iFest (formerly Renacer by infonomia), July 10-12, 2008 in at the Edifici Fòrum. The night of July 11th is the most likely date of Barcelona’s first Pecha Kucha. More info and registration here.

So the venture capitalists are converging on London, their names whispered in the networking clubs: Index Ventures, Accel, Atlas Venture. “Money is coming from a number of sources,” says Ze’ev Rozov of Sportingo, a start-up that brokers sports content. “US VCs have opened offices here, and they’re making investments in start-ups in England.” Rozov, who has worked across the world, thinks conditions in the UK are “ripe”. Some go further. “London has become the Silicon Valley of Europe,” says Eric Baker of Viagogo, a ticket-reselling site that launched in 2006 with a $20m injection – gained precisely because of the London factor. Indeed, Biddulph has noticed “there’s a lot of money and sometimes not quite enough to spend it on.”

Whereas here in Spain we have the slowest but most expensive ADSL in Europe. Nothing new, of course. But let’s face it: slow tech infrastructure won’t make up against southern lifestyle and a beach.

London swings in the second internet boom, Barcelona spinns around tourism. Good night and good luck!

Stay tuned, we go to London soon to interview Matt Biddulph, co-founder of Dopplr, the online travel club.

Curioso que es un chico de Barcelona… Bueno, aquí en este blog siempre pensabamos que la city produce y atrae mucho talento.

Cada lunes sale un nuevo capítulo en HD.

It is a way to bring together young architects and designers and gives them 20 pictures, 20 seconds each of them to present their ideas, projects, dreams to an audience. The system is self-organizing; everybody can set up a Pacha Kucha Night in his/her town. There were / will be events in Madrid, Tokyo, Ljubljana, LA, Delhi, Austin, Lima, Linz, Bern, Groningen, Hamburg, Oslo, Belfast, etc etc…..

BUT nobody has taken initiative in Barcelona so far? Isn’t that weird in a “creative” place like Barcelona with tons of desingers and architects?

* It is essential to bet on individuals ready to take risks, ready to face uncertainty; the age of the famous entrepreneurs when they created their start-ups shows that youth is indeed a key ingredient. Passion and dreams have to be the keywords for these people. You can not succeed in a start-up without them. Remember Hegel: “Nothing great on the world has ever been accomplished without passion. Of course mental age is as imporant as real age so you also have mature “young people”.

* Ambition has been missing in Europe. Entrepreneurs are driven by their ego; they are most of the time impossible people because they are focused on a single thing, their success. Betting on ambition is compulsory. Speed is a linked ingredient; and speed requires resources and money; too many entrepreneurs fear venture capital which is essential; talking about “vulture capital” will not help; business is tough… Without feelings of urgency, your competitors succeed. (BG: see also this previous post)

* Innovation requires entrepreneurs and investors who understand each other; there is a virtuous circle of ideas and money which has to be well digested; of course this implies losing control and dilution, but a small piece of a big cake is better than a big piece of nothing. Understanding venture capital is another component of that world; oftentimes, the investors were themselves previously entrepreneurs. And… money may still be seen as a taboo after the speculative fever of the Internet bubble.

* Of course experience is necessary and Europeans may have nice ideas and technologies but seem less capable of developing them. Silicon Valley has many, many Europeans who may be willing to help, mentor the ambitious young entrepreneurs. These should not be mercenaries, but experienced people interested in sharing, helping. Silicon Valley has been known for this openness; networks of people are very efficient in SV such as Indian, Chinese, Taiwanese, Israeli associations and today these people help their native country.

* The main error that Europe and other areas have made is to put in place first an infrastructure (sciences parks, innovation agencies, fiscal, administrative support and so on) whereas Silicon Valley is an ecosystem, i.e. people who interact informally; the culture came before the infrastructure and there is not much you can do about it… infrastructure does not hurt but has too often been seen as the solution, it is a tool only.

* Finally, Silicon Valley is a cluster of people where the fluidity of the exchanges is the major cultural element. When start-ups are about team, team, team, SV is about people, people, people…

Have a great 2008!