Author Archives: ricardo.pauleta

With the 10th edition of the GSI on the way, the consultant LBC hosted a session for its Alumni community to promote networking and the discussion of current emerging issues.

This event had the special participation of LBC’s San Francisco-based partner, who brought us the key trends and key issues of the Bay Area. Data management and growing on-demand application to various sectors, such as health, education, retail, media, and entertainment, were two of the major themes presented. This race, led by major tech companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, for real-time data and service, is focused on the Bay Area. The recent acquisition of FitBit by Google is an example of this race between the tech giants.

It was also discussed the impressions and pros and cons of the WebSummit and its impact on Lisbon and Portugal in terms of promotion, the attraction of talent and inspiration, with Lisbon being nowadays a destination increasingly sought after by startups and entrepreneurs.

The GSI IEP, which has already had the participation of more than 400 entrepreneurs, has its 10th edition dated from 1 to 5 June 2020 and will focus on topics such as Smart Cities, Mobility, Agrotech, and Fintech.

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Benefiting from nowadays’s biggest technological event, where entrepreneurs and investors seek business and opportunities linked to innovation and technology, LBC brought together a group of entrepreneurs from the Brazilian ecosystem and promoted the connection with market players in entrepreneurship and innovation areas in Portugal

During their stay in Lisbon, the 32 entrepreneurs were also in contact with entities that support entrepreneurship, internationalization, and innovation such as Portugal Ventures and PLMJ Advogados. They also visited Startup Portugal, EDP, Talkdesk, Mygon, Unbabel, among other entities.

The four days of the 11th edition of WebSummit 2019, completely sold out, were marked by thousands of pitches, hundreds of lectures, a thousand speakers and more than 70,000 participants from more than 160 countries who walked miles between the Altice Arena and the other pavilions, through which it this small technological world is divided.

In the last decade, LBC has been bridging the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in Silicon Valley, where organizes executive immersion programs since 2009, in which more than 400 international entrepreneurs have already engaged. Know more about the GSI’s executive and corporate programs.

What should leaders in Government and the public sector do to make sure that a country, a region or an economic ecosystem do not stay behind and that as many citizens as possible benefit from the digital revolution, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, to use the term that marked the 2018 Davos Conference.

Countries, regions and economic ecosystems have different challenges and levels of maturity. However, from our project experience of working with Governments and several stakeholders, and from our research, it is important to act in a structured way in, at least, eight dimensions¹.

1. Make the digital challenge a priority for the country, region or ecosystem
2. Use eGovernment as an anchor
3. Ensure maximum broadband internet connectivity
4. Promote a strong and open entrepreneurial ecosystem
5. Stimulate businesses to transform themselves
6. Develop critical digital skills
7. Fight the digital divide – protect the society
8. Engage top champions and top advisors

1. Make the digital challenge a priority for the country, region or ecosystem

Government and public-sector leaders need to build a sense of urgency, define a shared vision, mobilize society and build an actionable framework or guide plan with maximum support from a wide variety of stakeholders. This is not easy, as many of the concepts of this emerging information society are vague, new models are difficult to visualize by public and business managers, resistance and fear of change are endemic in society, and the media industry focuses more on daily short-term impact events.

Several actions can be taken in this regard. Leaders should have the courage to place digital transformation high in the political agenda. After all, jobs created or threatened by technology do matter, as well as new ways of serving the citizen in health, education and other social dimensions. It is important to place the political responsibility at the highest level in Government, not in a peripheral ministry or on a political agent with low weight and notoriety. It is also useful to build and empower one or more stakeholder bodies with a real say in policy and implementation. A useful operational lever is to introduce a digital agenda in all Government budgets, at national, ministry, regional or institutional levels.

Public-sector leaders need to build a sense of urgency, define a shared vision, mobilize society and build an actionable framework or guide plan

2. Use eGovernment as an anchor

Government leaders should embrace boldly the digital agenda and build a citizen-centered Government, breaking down as much and as fast as possible Government silos, integrating the latest technologies to build a “one to one” relationship with citizens and businesses instead of the dominant “one to many” relationship.

The key to success is not conceptualization but the drive toward implementation.

Several countries provide case studies of best practices and of lessons learned which can be easily adapted. Several reputable bodies, such as the OECD – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, have researched and developed sound guidelines.

It is necessary to digitize entirely the public sector with new digital tools and to change processes, culture and service models. Empower central, regional and local Governments with budgets and people with coordination authority and implementation skills to sustain a strong implementation. Above all, it is necessary to avoid fragmented Government initiatives, which overlap, duplicate or are conflicting. Public sector CIOs need to be placed higher up in the hierarchy level. Transversal transformative projects need to have full political and budget support, based on business case proposals and tight calendars.

Digitize entirely the public sector with new digital tools and to change processes, culture and service models

Besides building a citizen-centric Government, leaders should use eGovernment as an anchor to speed up the digital transformation across society, involving business in the implementation of eGovernment, for higher efficacy and to strengthen the economic fabric and provide opportunities to start-ups, through smart procurement.

Furthermore, some strategies can accelerate digital transformation in society. For example, ICT (information and communications technology) in education has a fundamental impact on the citizens of the future but also permeates the whole society through the student’s families. “Smart city” solutions engage the average citizen in new ways of living.

Government regulation can unlock or block the societal drive towards digital modernization. This lever does not cost money and is often neglected.

Use eGovernment as an anchor to speed up the digital transformation across society, involving business in the implementation of eGovernment

3. Ensure maximum broadband internet connectivity

Although measuring the exact impact of broadband internet penetration poses several challenges to researchers, it is unquestionable its role as a disruptive enabler for economic growth, innovation and productivity, consumer surplus, empowerment of citizenship, job creation and poverty alleviation, amongst others. More important though, is the fact that those who do not have broadband, i.e., means of access to data communication, will be increasingly excluded from the competitive game and the social gains associated.

Therefore, the objective of having “everybody connected digitally at all times at high speed and at affordable prices” is not a utopia anymore, but a necessity for all countries which do not want to be excluded from the global digitally interconnected world of economic and social opportunities. Even for less developed economies/countries, internet access is key to reduce poverty-related to lack of information and knowledge and remoteness. The past policy of “universal access” to wireline communication should now apply to broadband.

Internet access is key to reduce poverty-related to lack of information and knowledge and remoteness

However, promoting broadband poses several issues that require strong leadership from Government.

Firstly, broadband is only effective if provided in combination with the adoption of information technology and socio-economic changes, i.e., new applications, services and contents, and changes in Government and business processes relevant to people’s lifestyle. Therefore, simplistic supply-side policies, based on infrastructure deployment, are bound to fail in its impacts and to bankrupt funders. A balanced supply and demand-side policy, integrated with societal processes relevant to people – health, education, public services, new services to consumers by business – is required. This calls for differing strategies for differing socio-economic groups, addressing in different ways wealthy and poor, disadvantaged social groups, rural and urban, formal and informal economy, age groups, geographical areas and the differing maturity of economic sectors.

Simplistic supply-side policies, based on infrastructure deployment, are bound to fail in its impacts and to bankrupt funders. A balanced supply and demand-side policy, integrated with societal processes relevant to people – health, education, public services, new services to consumers by business – is required

In addition, these services need to be affordable to citizens and consumers and within the reach of Government budgets, which is not an easy task. In general, State-owned facilities are the less desirable option, as they are less agile in serving the consumer-citizen, less innovative, more expensive and less transparent. Therefore, private sector investment should be the primary funding of broadband development in geographical areas where the market is sufficiently developed to offer sound financial returns for investments by carriers. Where there are unserved regions due to market failure, Governments should enter directly as a service provider or generate the necessary stimuli in order to render the market more attractive to private sector investment.

It is important to:

• have a national broadband plan
• promote a shared vision and to align and federate efforts of all stakeholders in the right direction
• coordinating actions of private and Government bodies
• reduce inequalities
• implement policies of digital inclusion and to target key sectors, such as health, education and public services, to widen societal impact
• increase investment efficiency
• make available regulation, competition policies and incentives for private investment in infrastructure and to implement
• platforms for sharing of infrastructure
• increase adoption levels
• stimulate and support innovation by businesses in services relevant to citizens
• make incentives available to business and consumers-citizens.

4. Promote a strong and open entrepreneurial ecosystem

The opportunities and the threats of the digital revolution derive not from incremental gains but from the disruptions that can emerge from the new technology. Digital era services and products have wide impact. These disruptions make incumbent market leaders and economic value-chains redundant, leading to reduced economic output and job losses, and, over time, to economic and social decline. On the other hand, through innovative disruption, newcomers can become the new leaders.

However, disruptive innovation requires completely new ways of working, new culture, new tools, new economics, new everything.

Technology start-ups are figuring out how to adapt and succeed in this new digital world better than the incumbents. It is therefore important that Government leaders create very strong incentives for start-ups and for the creation of innovative entrepreneurial ecosystems that attract both talent and smart capital and scale up promising new services and products. Large investment in entrepreneurs is cheaper than the alternative social security funding or joblessness unrest.

Technology start-ups are figuring out how to adapt and succeed in this new digital world better than the incumbents

In addition, since ecosystems take time to form, it is important to promote linkages to the most advanced ecosystems in the world, rather than close-up local ecosystems, attracting foreign talent and capital, and helping local entrepreneurs go global.

Government leaders should take caution and not engage in what must be led and done mostly by business and university/research centers. The government should concentrate on creating the right conditions for success by these players, through regulation, incentives, taxes, policies, legislation, and funding. Government support must be selective and focused on high economic impact/high long term social impact entrepreneurship, i.e., transformational entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, not wasting resources on exploitative entrepreneurship.

It is important to promote linkages to the most advanced ecosystems

5. Stimulate businesses to transform themselves

Businesses create jobs and revenue, not Governments. Hence, a country can respond successfully to the digital challenges only by mobilizing its private sector to react quickly to digital challenges.

Therefore, Government leaders should incorporate into their role to create the conditions to stimulate and support businesses to transform themselves.

Digital technology has only begun to penetrate industries. As it continues its advance, the implications for revenues, profits, and hence for society, will be dramatic. Comprehensive digital strategies for companies and for value chains/ecosystems will be the biggest differentiator between companies/value chains that win and that don’t. Those that engage in disruptive innovations related to creation of new markets, new value propositions, new hyperscale platforms, new supply chains, and business systems will have the highest returns.

Government leaders can act in a variety of ways. Three types of actions should be considered. Firstly, promote the creation or emergence of a strong ICT sector that can serve the rest of the economic sectors to help them export and compete globally. For existing ICT sectors, its reinforcement should be a priority of economic policy. Secondly, increase ICT spending in terms of investment and consumption. Thirdly, implement participated sector approaches, whereby economic policy is not only directed at the economy as a whole but also directed at very specific economic sectors and with specific measures, for example, connected manufacturing, customer centric retail, smart farming, smart cities, digital education and human centered health.

Digital technology has only begun to penetrate industries

6. Develop critical digital skills

Because the Fourth Industrial Revolution runs on knowledge, Government leaders need to promote a concurrent revolution in training and education.

This requires a national plan for digital skills. Such a plan needs to address both the new skills necessary and the impact of the new digital technologies on jobs.

The new skills set needs to be addressed at three levels. Firstly, regarding STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – mostly at high school and universities, to power the digital capacity of the economy in the short term. Secondly, at all school levels, introducing digital access to all students (laptop per student or other methods) and changing the teaching method, whereby the teacher is no longer the center of the classroom, but the facilitator to a wide range of knowledge accessible through the internet. Thirdly, basic digital literacy for the population at large in order to reduce the digital divide.

Because the Fourth Industrial Revolution runs on knowledge, Government leaders need to promote a concurrent revolution in training and education.

On the other hand, balancing between job gains and losses and overcoming the mismatch of skills required/skills available (shortage) is a complex undertaking that requires close cooperation among education providers, Governments, and businesses.

The best way of protecting jobs is not to delay technologies that take up jobs but to accelerate those technologies that create new jobs. Efficiency innovations reduce jobs. Disruptive market creation innovations create jobs.

Lastly, Government leaders must be bold in engaging as early as possible with social institutions and labor unions regarding the flexibility of work in the digital era.

Efficiency innovations reduce jobs. Disruptive market creation innovations create jobs.

7. Fight the digital divide – protect the society

The digital revolution can have a dramatic impact on those sectors of society less prepared to adapt or already in a disadvantaged position. The tendency is for digital disruption to increase inequalities, unless Government leaders take decisive action to work on models of greater inclusiveness.

Equal access to the internet is a necessary basic levelling field that can open up new opportunities for the poor and for those previously excluded by providing cheaper and faster information and knowledge to all.

Government programs directed at the youth, the urban poor, the rural and remote dweller, the elderly, women and recycled workers, can make technology a liberating factor. Mobile devices and communications, DIY (do it yourself) models, social media and other technologies can allow for new economic models to emerge, that can more easily give competitive resources to the individual and the small economic operator than in the past.

Equal access to the internet is a necessary basic levelling field that can open up new opportunities for the poor

8. Engage top champions and advisors

The digital revolution makes the competitive landscape more complex. Our life is becoming a combination of physical, technical and biological dimensions.

Due to the rapid pace of technological advancement, countries that harness digital technologies stand to reap significant economic benefits in the long run. Nations that are slow to embrace the digital run the risk of falling further behind.

In this context, Governments, political parties and the public sector should adopt practices that attract the most qualified individuals and should give them the necessary conditions to succeed. In this regard, nationalistic perspectives should be balanced with the gain associated with getting the best-qualified individuals in the world, independent of nationality, to reinforce universities and public institutions.

In addition, a new type of leader is required, one who is able to think creatively of the new social frameworks needed to adjust to the challenges of the digital revolution. Moreover, a new type of leadership is needed, more related to learning and coordinating than to instructing, to sharing than excluding, to experimenting and innovating than to managing, to communicating digitally than formally, to formulate agile responses than bureaucratic rules.

Moreover, a new type of leadership is needed, more related to learning and coordinating than to instructing, to sharing than excluding, to experimenting and innovating than to managing

Government leaders of today have a very high responsibility in creating the conditions for future generations to live adequately in a technologically driven future.

1. This article is based on a keynote speaker presentation by LBC’s CEO, Carlos Oliveira, at the Technology Innovation Conference in Johannesburg, 2018. ↩︎

The last decade witnessed the creation of Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) divisions by hundreds of companies. The participation of CVCs to the overall Venture Capital (VC) ecosystem is growing and VC is no longer strictly associated with financial companies. In fact, in 2018, the average CVC deal size reached an all-time high of $26.3 million, according to CB Insights. Apparently, CVC has emerged as a relevant source of entrepreneurial capital.

But this prompts 2 questions: How does the nature of CVC as a corporate investment differ from the traditional intermediary VC model and why are established companies focusing on venture capital?

Firstly, it is important to clarify that Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) can be defined as an equity investment by an established corporation in an entrepreneurial venture. According to the article Making Sense of Corporate Venture Capital, the definition of  CVC excludes investments made through an external fund managed by a third party, as well as, investments of more general “corporate venturing”.

The nature of CVCs differs from the traditional VC model as the firm seeks to maximize the value for shareholders on both financial and strategic value, contrary to a pure focus on financial return. It seems the essence of Corporate Venture is more than an investment, instead, it consists in bringing up structural collaborations, partnership arrangements and a fantastic marriage with external ventures – start-ups and scaleup companies – benefiting internal corporate innovation and generating a mutual growth.

And we are already halfway to answering the second question – why do companies invest in entrepreneurial ventures? – Previous studies reported that CVC may perform as an instrument to identify potential substitutes for existing corporate offerings such as novel products, services, or technologies. In light of most surveys results, firms have stated key strategic objectives for investing as follows:

• “gain a window into new technologies and new markets”;
• “import or enhance innovation within existing business units,” and
• “identify potential acquisition opportunities”.

“This is the single best time ever for corporations to invest in early stage start-ups because the cost of starting a start-up is the lowest it has ever been (…) we’re in a key moment in time”. Pierre Rogers, Venture Investor and Founder, PuroTrader

Corporations are partnering with start-ups earlier and earlier, and 2018 mirrored a high-flying growth in Global Corporate Venture Capital. CVC groups participated in $52.95B of funding across 2,740 deals and 264 CVC firms invested for the first-time (Maersk Growth, Porsche Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, to name a few).

Google Ventures (GV) once again took first place as the most active CVC, investing in over 70 companies. Salesforce Ventures was the second most active, followed by Intel Capital. Concerning the most active investors in unicorn companies (companies valued at $1B+), the top 3 was occupied by CapitalG (Google Capital), GV and Dell Technologies Capital.

Internet, mobile and healthcare sectors attracted CVCs investment in 2018, showing an increasing number of deals and funding. Regarding emerging industries, AI, Cybersecurity and Digital Health were the trends of Global Corporate Venture Capital.

All that said, we would like to suggest a moment of reflection on your own company’s growth path and how corporate finance and innovation policies are perceived within your area of operation.

Don’t miss the bus and join us on the Global Strategic Innovation Program (GSI) to meet Silicon Valley’s experts, leading companies and emerging start-ups. Learn about the impact of disruptive technology on business and society development and how to improve business models and strategic management capabilities.

The city of San Francisco illustrates the advancement of technology in the commerce sector by offering futuristic experiences. Going into a store, selecting products and leaving is possible and is the experience that Amazon Go offers.

The simplicity of the purchase and the absence of payment queues in the store are achieved through the advanced technology of machine learning, computer vision, and artificial intelligence. How does it work in practice?

The client installs the Amazon Go application, saves the phone and does their shopping. And it’s still so simple. The ‘Just Walk Out‘ technology is able to add all the items that the customer automatically collects on their virtual card, collects them and issues the receipt in the application.

The experience of entering a convenience store supported by high technology was so easy and thoughtless, that when I left the store I had the feeling that I was carrying articles illegitimately. Did the app record all the items I got? Seconds later I received my payment receipt, clarifying all the suspicions that “this cannot be that easy,” but it is!

The mobile-tech industry enables the technology to be portable and simple mobile phone to be an instrument present in performing a wide variety of common ”tasks”.

In our Global Strategic Innovation Program, you can meet leading Silicon Valley startup companies and how you can transform your business.

FoodTech expresses the cross between food and technology. The goal is clear: to apply technology in order to improve the production, chain, and distribution of food. But how does innovation happen?

Innovation in the food system involves the development of new food products or a combination of food products that already exist, as well as the continuing investigation of food trends and industry management. Take Impossible Foods as an example.

Founded by Pat Brown, Professor of Biochemistry at Stanford, Impossible Foods is committed to recreating the taste of the meat by circumventing the negative health and environmental impacts associated with livestock products.

The Bay Area company aspired to “make meat from plants better than meat from animals” and the truth is that it conceived an Impossible ™ Burger capable of saving the equivalent of 96% less land, 87% less water, and 89% fewer emissions than a beef hamburger for each unit produced. Plant-based food is a fast-growing trend and Burger King itself is already testing the recipe¹.

The social and quality issues inherent in the food industry are certainly due to the development of Foodtech.

In GSI Program, you to learn about leading Silicon Valley startup companies and learn about disruptive technology and its impact on business and society development.

1. Lucas, Amelia (2019-04-01). “Burger King is testing vegetarian Whopper made with Impossible Burger”. CNBC. Accessed 2019-04-17. ↩︎