Let's define ... SME 2.0 Looking for a new version of SME?

On October 28, held its 90th edition Thursday dedicated SME 2.0. Reading the prologue I wonder if they are prepared to talk SMB 2.0 (which is supposed variation WEB 2.0 and applied to SMEs or could guess) considering the original concept of Web 2.0 launched by O'Reilly and MediaLive International where The technological environment is only a tool of the surrounding Web 2.0.

Indeed we must verify that the new technologies benefit the improvement of productivity of SME companies (provided they take advantage and do not end up being an obstacle), however this is not something new: new technologies have been incorporated into the business processes of SMEs and they have helped to give impetus to their business initiatives.

WEB 2.0 concept goes much further: it involves networking, means relying on users / customers to add value to their products and services which improve the more people use them. Now we have to ask:

- Are they really prepared Spanish SMEs to share network elements of their business is not strategic?

- Are they sufficiently prepared to "listen" to customers and act accordingly?

I recently found an article that I found very interesting: Innovation comes when companies encourage the networking that appeared in LaFlecha.NET and provides a series of very successful based on the work of Keith Sawyer (his new book "Group Genius ") or Janet Rae-Dupree and Ed Catmull (Pixar) on the importance of networking for real innovations.

How many times will "reinvent the wheel" in SMEs in the introduction of technological solutions that will have significant economic efforts course, impacts on business and have not abject failures (tripping where others have already done so but he has gone through not wanting to listen to before)?

It is obvious that any company has to find its value differential to competition to increase their market share, which is also clear is that new technologies are not now-a-element to help such differentiation be affordable for all ... then this differentiation remains "heritage" of the strategy of the company itself.

What about all the processes that could be shared with other firms in the sector, but not to help the differentiation, it would reduce costs and thereby increase earnings per share efforts?

There is an interesting example that seems to be extrapolated: The Innovation Learning Network established by a group of health care systems in the USA. With this solution the introduction of new technological solutions to the sector and management of core processes and requires a common effort less.

Perhaps we should begin to develop common platforms between companies in a sector to help them improve their results through collaborative initiatives. Although this step is necessary that these companies are willing to change their way of thinking and open their minds to a new form of collaboration.

I just buy the book Sawyer, and I like to read it. For the moment, I am reading the blog Drew Boyd Innovation in Practice ... an example.

We Update You: UPDATE 08 Two. Where are we going?

Today I had the good fortune of being able to attend the event organized by the CEEI Castellón: WE UPDATE YOU, Update two 08 Alfons Cornella and Antonia Broglia.

But what is 08 UPDATE TWO?

Quite simply, although their preparation is not as simply a well orchestrated meeting that makes a profound summary of the documents (articles, books, cases, conferences ..) on new trends in innovation and enabling the world's 10 key ideas of business and aims to open the eyes of employers. Such sessions Infonomia (speakers) the organized twice a year.

This is the first time attended a UPDATE and frankly, I felt fantastic (Alfonso and Antonia had already heard in other previously maintained its "fingerprint" in this event, clear, concise, "visionary" and drivers of business motivation through pure reflection of the content)

This time is very interesting topics and that I stayed with some thoughts:

- Growth / survival in times of crisis. In this first "step" had to consider some conclusions:

* It is necessary to increase the "culture" financial
* The turbulence is fantastic opportunities to launch new business initiatives.
* The current crisis makes the design of the value chain is made from the price the customer is willing to pay ....
* The Internet has become an essential platform for lanzamieto tool user support.


- The next 5000 days of the Internet where they reviewed the major developments in the Internet: Web Objects (Semantics)

- Womenomics. Interesting perspective of women as an entrepreneur and high levels of talent that is taking advantage of low business. Here is an important niche and explore in depth.

- "Free!" The economy of the free. I especially liked this aspect as it reinforced the potential of platforms ... I would not say "free" by the negative connotations that wash ... open source, knowledge sharing at IESE. This section would highlight how the growing exchanges between the main actors, local .... for activities that can then be exported.

- Emerging Technologies of the semester, which was presented CLOUD COMPUTING as an alternative to the very immediate future and that will give much more to talk about ...

- Science and business. Alfons here put the "finger on the problem" when talking about the University-Enterprise that I said in another post on this blog, and how the delicate interplay from the Central Ministry is trying, through the national innovation system, improve . One aspect that I especially liked was the idea of COMBINED TALENTS in the university environment: join several universities to meet the targets. That is what, for example, in the Valencian Community is trying to GRADIENT Castellón.

- P2P economy. A concept to think in more depth: Bank of Time.

- Porter reinvents. The ability to reinvent what we do and give a more sophisticated.

Ultimately, a series of "art" that more than one will rethink their business model and explore new opportunities.

Thanks Alfons and Antonia. Congratulations.

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First e'SUC Digital: Tecnology Transfer Network from APTE

Last 17th of December, at 8.30 am, was held in the first e'SUC Digital espaitec, entitled "Presentation of the Transfer Network APTE (Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain".


What is e'SUC Digital? e'SUC is an extrapolation of the World Café but led to an environment where a STP debated over a period of 30 minutes a theme among all participants (only companies located in espaitec) and accompanied by orange juice, very typical of the province of Castellon. The digital component as being able to bring broadcast live on TV Channel espaitec and the possibility of virtual assistance through Skype to facilitate access to businesses that are outside of their offices.




On this occasion, as he commented, was presented the Technology Transfer Network APTE as a tool for collaboration and generate business opportunities. The session was very well accepted (15 people attended and almost all companies were represented). It also introduced e'SUCs schedule for the next 2009.

You can view the presentation and further details of the event in the Conference Room of the web espaitec.

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Tourism 2.0? ... but if half of little villages do not reach the internet!

Last Wednesday I had a reunion with all businesses in the tourism sector in the province of Castellon, as well as with various institutions (Universitat Jaume I-represented by several departments, Chamber of Commerce Castellón ...) to begin to design a Strategic Plan Tourism in the province and all provide a very interesting set of ideas to boost this sector and try to achieve the goal of which was a landmark Castellón tourism innovative national and even international ... we were looking at ways to form what could be called an Ecosystem of Touristic Innovation composed of all stakeholders.

Define standards, raise productivity tools supported in many environments Web 2.0 (but not only technologically speaking in terms of human, social, cultural ),.... ultimately "play" in designing the future of our province.

But I discovered a shocking detail that was presented as the main obstacle to our dreams were true: the majority of people of the province do not have a decent access to the network .... and asked how it is possible that in the twenty-first century have more than 50% of the province "isolated" in technological terms? ... the answer was clear: not a big deal for operators of communications (wireless or landline) ... Unbelievable but true.

Obviously, our dream in this situation is like building a house of cards in the air. But it seems it is not only an issue of our province, one only has to read the report: The Information Society in Spain 2008 to realize that we should take all of your hands and put them to mourn because our position on this issue about Europe (as we like to compare both) is painful.

And with so grossly disproportionate rates ... how we are going to require that rural people have access to the Internet? (It's funny article that I read about an advertisement of Telefonica, announced that it 6Mb access and just elected a village where the speed is not more than 512Kb ... precisely because they are not profitable).

In short, much work will be needed first to talk of a possible Tourism 2.0 without the vacuum and a purely political speech. ...

Twitter ... a new boom in the interrelationship professional?

Barely a few weeks ago I started to use an environment that is completely unaware of and which is becoming an inexhaustible source of knowledge: Twitter.

What is Twitter? It is as simple as a kind of technically SMS (allowed maximum 140 characters) via web and to become a quasi microblog interactive professionals with high potential.

At first did not quite see the value until it began to "follow" posts of interesting people like Tim O'Reilly, Martin Varsavsky, Javier Martin, Antonio Fumero, Marc Cortes, Genís Rock, Rob McNealy .. and so long ... characters from the world of innovation, entrepreneurship and are now the guilty that I had "hooked" literally.

Tim O'Reilly has written a very interesting report which deals with the revolution that has led microblogging with Twitter, and that comes to corroborate the potential of the tool to share ideas with other immediate professional, "speaker" of past news as well as tracking the latest trends in new technologies.

O'Reilly mentioned Twitter final six characteristics that make an ideal candidate for marketing and interaction with other companies:

- Twitter is simple.

- Twitter works like the people: if I'm interested in feedback from someone, I say that I am following with no need to request permission.

- Twitter integrates well with a myriad of applications: Facebook, Adium ... This technology allows you to create interesting synergies.

- Twitter goes beyond the Web: You can use my PDA, my mobile phone, a PC ... is very versatile.

- Twitter is user-extensible, so you can make a set of actions with a series of tags (like @ a reply to anyone commenting on any topic)

- Twitter is evolving very quickly.

In short, a very interesting tool that offers business opportunities unimaginable. Like all things in this world, moderation is key. I have come to see how people spend also Twitter as an SMS-sender simply to say when getting up or lie down ... or what they eat ... and also using it for their personal reflections, often full of interesting content .... is there for all tastes and colors, you just have to know what you use and what can be interconnected by "virtual" in real time.

Do you encourage twittear?

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Since the concept of Web 2.0 ... Everything is 2.0!

It is curious how since Tim O'Reilly coined the term Web 2.0, in those famous sessions brainstorming between O'Reilly and MediaLive International. Is evidenced by the fact that the web was going to be a first in the development of any activity of man (not only from the point of view).

Also that famous phrase:

The network externalities arising from the user's contributions are key to market domination in the era of Web 2.0.

However, as in all (the concept of innovation has happened something similar), the thing has been enriched already spoken environments Health 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Business 2.0, or 2.0 SME until recently Phones 2.0 for all terms coining try an activity related to Web 2.0 and the tools it provides.

The concept of SMEs 2.0 came at the 90th edition Thursday with red.es, which took place last night 30 October 2008 under the title:

"Small Business 2.0"

And in that defined: "The spread of information technology, gives the greatest opportunity which so far have been small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to compete in a global market. It also needs to operate in mobility, business network established in society and new forms of advertising and communication identifies a scenario that offers new opportunities, while establishing the final challenges for the modernization of the most important sector in the Spanish business. It's time for SMEs are SMEs 2.0 "

And I wonder if the concepts are based on X 2.0 a dynamic Web 2.0, when it finished moving to Web 3.0 (which is already speaking) again redefenir and X 2.0 X 3.0 to migrate? and that in most cases confuse the true meaning of a Web 2.0 simply use the Internet and ... that ... confused.

The term Web 2.0, productivity tools based on collaborative, cooperative environment goes far beyond mere Internet is simply a vehicle for such collaboration. No longer talking about software but infoware but to change the switch to Web 2.0 is to break some schemes, these schemes privacy of "this is mine and I do not agree with," ... that's why I say that not only have a blog or all day surfing the Internet.

In the article 'The Cornucopia of the Commons', Dan Bricklin and analyze the immense potential that has the community. One of the key lessons of the era of Web 2.0 is reinforcing: Users add value. Which companies use Web 2.0 methods inclusive in order to add user data and generate value for the side effect of using the regular application.

With the approach of Web 2.0, collaborative environments and so are key schemes that are obsolete and decadent many institutions / companies to preserve their own and not share with anyone, but for the gallery applying its approach to Web 2.0 is completely wrong and wasted the opportunity to create products, activities, much more shocking by the mere fact of collaboration. ... The power of the masses .... Marx end up going to be right and what is funny is that applicable to the capitalist world.

In this field we still have ... a boil ... need to precede a change in attitude but I fear that this will be the most difficult. Will, I hope, that the digital natives-as-tsunami rolled across the infostructure to this collaborative environment, collaborative-coopetitivo ... and cherish what Suriowecki James called 'the wisdom of the masses.

So take or surfboard and we slides over the tsunami holding hands or that we engullirá (it is not enough to know Excel and Powerpoint ...)

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Seventh International Conference of APTE 2008 ... A techno-innovation-emotional management

Last 5, Nov. 6 was held at the Park Tecnolóxico of Galicia (Tecnopole) the seventh International conference of APTE (Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain) with the slogan: INNOVATE FROM THE TALENT and that was precisely what most had in those rooms.

The list of speakers was most elite in the world for innovation:

* Genís Roca, a guru of Web 2.0 we introduced the utility of this current in the online world of business.

'What is Web 2.0 in business?

* Eric Michel-Dufeil, responsible for regional development in the Directorate General for Regional Policy of the European Commission and speaking of

'The R & D in the Spanish Programming ERDF 2007-2013'

* Tapan Munroe, an expert in regional economy, impact studies and analysis of financial and economic sector of high technology who presented his book: "Silicon Valley. Ecology of Innovation" supported by Mark WestMind.

* Lestón Daniel Fernandez, who works at IBM where he has placed special focus on the study of emerging technologies and their impact on the world of business. In this area working with the community, within IBM, explores the potential of online virtual environments like Second Life and who presented the paper

'And tomorrow, what? The 3D Internet and on-line life '

* Jose Ramon Garcia, president and executive director of Blusens Global Corporation and gave a spectacular view of how a start-up can have an overwhelming success as is the case with Blusens:

'Blusens: paradigm of entrepreneurship, internationalization and technological innovation'

* Then we had the luck with Chema for Dapena, is a local artist with an international showing to perfection the-art research and tandem opened the debate:

'¿Innovation in art or art of innovation? "

* Mon Santiago Alvarez, a professor of the Department Managing People in Organizations IESE chair sat with an excellent presentation focused on

'The innovative talent management'

* And finally, Xoán and Xosé Cannas, Jose Luis Perez and Raul Mateo delight us with the prospect of innovation in the culinary arts

'The kitchen and cellar as the laboratories'

All the presentations were excellent but I want to highlight some aspects of some of them superb and it seemed to me that, thanks to the depth of the messages, I have been able to stop time for a moment and reflect:

Genís Roca, during his talk, we opened our eyes to the current state of the digital world and the future that awaits us and printed the flow like a tsunami which are mounted on the Digital Natives, this new generation of young people that has defined so well Marc Prensky and whose vision of reality is quite different from ours, what Prensky calls between digital immigrants and those who consider myself one more with all the positive and negative connotations that entails. Although there was nothing more shocking as his reference to the times in which we live: "Liquid Times", a term coined by Zygmunt Bauman and which accurately reflects the transit of a modern "solid" - stable, repetitive, a "liquid "- Fickle and flexible. I am reading the book right now and I have to say that the message you are conveying is hard but at the same time real and that explains the flow of intense volatility, lack of security and uncertainty in which we live. Highly recommended.

Tapan Munroe, made us reflect on the importance of the ecosystems of innovation (which desarrollaré in a future post) along the lines of the Silicon Valley and that really is not that far from what other regions are doing more or less successful. What I pointed out, as a visionary of what is coming, it's innovation that can give you a change of direction to the current crisis (hopefully someone will notice it).

Accompanied him, as the author of his book, Mark Westmind who might surprise everyone present impressed with his perspective of the road to take to disseminate and inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship to young people.

Introduced a draft (GreenBiz) very ambitious but loaded with content and it seems that, as always, is to wreak havoc in the U.S. and creating environments enviable. Maybe it's the formula we need to change that uneasiness of the latest generations and avoid the apathy that are suffering.

Professor Santiago Alvarez de Mon gave us, all present, a real lesson in management or rather self-management. In my case, I opened my eyes to many aspects of talent management and are clear predictors of the implementation of successful strategies in the management of parks (and even of life itself, as no!). He cited Ortega Gasset (If you want to send to the other prevailing on yourself) and Einstein (Imagination is more important than knowledge) among others and "set" (if I may say so) "chair", saying that " There is no intuition if there is no work and effort "... rather small element in our days.

The emotional part came from the hand of Chema Dapena with his art that printed color green room as well as the taste joined by brothers Cannas introducing his mastery in the kitchen and in the manufacture of wine.

Ultimately, the conference would define as INNO-TECHNO-EMOTIONAL ( "stealing"-but with the honey-term Pau Arenós , a friend who created it to the kitchen to catalog created by great masters) since it was able to combine technology, innovation and art to end an emotionally charged sprinkled nitrogen and give a final touch icing.

With all these ingredients, the organizers have ensured that these two very intense days-have-been recorded, the style of Chema Dapena, in our minds and in our hearts.


From here I want to thank the entire organization (especially Sandra, Bea F, Cristina, Bea T, Elisabeth, and Noemi Noemia for the patience they had with me) for the superb job they did, for his efforts and for the warmth and kindness to which had to bear all present.