Where's the Beef

BeefCAMPus 2007 has been really great so far

We launched the first BeefCAMPus in Mallorca in April 2007. 15 participants solved 9 real cases. Great stuff. You can read some of the testimonials at our new BeefCAMPus website . From Jacob Bar's and my perspective the most interesting challenge is the balance between SOLVING THE CASES and LEARNING methodology. Using real cases in real-time exercises is extremely complex both for us as trainers and certainly for the trainees. But using pre-studdied cases takes some of the authenticity out of the workshop.

In Cyprus (at the TII Summer School) we got the opportunity to work two days with 23 participants from 15 countries and started out by giving priority to methodology: guess what the trainees wanted?? Real case! So we worked with a case of mushroom culture and disinfectant technology. Really interesting. Jacob has tuned his fabulous search engine and it is now a power tool in the hands of the trained driver !!

The second Mallorca event takes place in late October 2007 and here we have reduced the number of cases and participants to be able to use real cases but also have time to work with methodology. We have universities from 3 countries and two startup companies, one of which is a gazelle with an exceptional growth over the latest 5 years.

We have agreed to deliver 3 more workshops in 2007: one in Canarias where we will be focusing on 7 startup companies; one in Portugal (with a mixed group of university tech transfer officers and startup companies) and finally one in Mallorca in December. 2008 promises to be even more interesting.

Stay tuned/come back and find out what we learnt.

BeefCAMPus: 2008 Calendar fully subscribed

BeefCAMPus: real CASES, real ACTION, real LEARNING
Combines professional learning with real-life practice and consulting.
Three-step learning process: careful screening and preparation of participants; 3 days of workshop in Mallorca -AND IN OTHER, EASY-TO-REACH, NICE PLACES (SUGGEST ONE); follow-up.

IN 2007, WE TRAINED MORE THAN 200 PARTICIPANTS TO BECOME "questioneers". NEW 2008: on this site, we have started to build a series of FUTURE NOW articles, mainly RSS feeds from other sources, which have been carefully selected for the Beef Thinker.

This is a special offer for researchers technology transfer and innovation professionals from companies, universities and contract research organisations.

Jacob and Max have packed all their many years of experience into a compact format.

BeefCAMPus, 3 days of building your own clear-cut action plans about how to commercialise a portfolio of concrete cases. How to build the business case of your own Technology Opportunities, and, as usual, a lot of learning.

Beef CAMPus will be offered on the island of Mallorca, which, apart from its natural beauty and friendliness, is easy and cheap to reach from almost anywhere in Europe. Together with local partners we offer the best training facilities.

Beef CAMPus will be for 8-16 participants at a time. Led by Jacob Bar ("questioneer") and Ernst Max Nielsen ("Where's the Beef").

Objectives
The objective of the Beef CAMPus is to develop skills in regard to commercialising inventions and innovative business ideas. Secondly, to enhance the business case for presented inventions/ideas brought by the participants. Thirdly, to actually assist in the commercialisation business process, i.e. to achieve real results.

Participants will learn to make the proper decisions and to evaluate business plans and feedback from real action in regard to real life cases.

These objectives will be reached through lectures, exercises, case-based training and consulting as well as group-based presentations and discussions.

Benefits
The participants will learn to make better, faster decisions, and to prioritize a given portfolio of technology opportunities with a view to determining the cases offering most business potential. Another benefit will be learning how to prepare and conduct negotiations with potential stakeholders for a given case. Participants will learn to use and implement results of advanced searches using state-of-the-art engines. Participants will learn how to use multi-criteria decision making support tools to rank and weight a portfolio.

Participants are surveyed for pre-existing skills and needs and wishes.
Participants' cases are screened before workshop.
Participants get follow-up mentoring online and by phone in regard to own cases (all included). Subject to limitations.
Participants get a free 30-day trial period (access) to JBEngine and discounts on follow-on subscriptions.

Powerful Ideas Summit

The International Congress 'Powerful Ideas Summit' will take place at Valencia Polytechnic University next 24 to 26 of January 2007. The meeting will see talks by experts with a variety of backgrounds, such as investment companies (Ariadne Capital), entrepeneurs (Terrafugia, Brainstorm, MIT MediaLab), business schools (MIT Sloan School of Managment), and technology centers (MIT MediaLab). I would like very much to meet the people behind Terrafugia Inc. (may I call them propellers of the idea?), which have a business idea for a road-able aircraft that will be able to land at the airport and drive on the road to home just like a car (watch the animation in their web!).