Partners Corner: Intel Corporation

Share:

Along with the great support that we receive from our Selection Committee members, our  Partners and their input is equally valuable to make the Technology Pioneers programme possible.

 

Partners Corner will address questions to management teams of Strategic Partner companies which have chosen to support the Technology Pioneers programme.

Today I would like to share with you some of the thoughts our supporters at Intel Corporation had on the following questions: What is your company currently doing to support innovation?; Why is supporting the Technology Pioneers important to you?; What are some of the major trends you're seeing within your industry?; What are the most important "wicked problems" that we should be tackling today?; What advice would you give to entrepreneurs today?

 

More and more companies in the technology industry – from large companies to start-ups – are looking closely at occasions to apply technology to help solve global challenges, including climate change, healthcare, education, etc. We believe there is a great opportunity for our industry to encourage and support innovative companies and social entrepreneurs who are developing disruptive technologies and finding opportunities to scale solution.

One initiative that we are particularly excited about is our collaboration with the World Economic Forum on the Technology Pioneers Program. Why? Because Intel was founded by inventors, and the company's continued success depends on innovation and entrepreneurship. Our own history reinforces our belief that entrepreneurship is the key to driving economic growth and improving social conditions. As a result, we are passionate about fostering entrepreneurship in communities around the world and inspiring innovators to apply technology to address global possibilities and challenges.

Technology Pioneers’ mission is closely aligned with Intel's vision, which is to create and extend computing technology to connect and enrich the lives of every person on earth, and we believe that technology will play a fundamental role in solving the global challenges we face today. 

Over the past few years, our company has invested in a number of initiatives aimed at inspiring, and providing education and critical skills for young entrepreneurs. Many initiatives include a social entrepreneurship component aimed at encouraging students to develop projects or business plans that address social or environmental challenges. For example, the global Intel Challenge business plan competition invites university students from around the world to submit plans for turning their technology ideas into business opportunities, and to showcase those plans to potential investors.


For many years, Intel has invested in education and entrepreneurship programs around the world, by partnering with governments and development organizations to help fuel innovation. Our company has a global presence with investments in more than 50 countries and fosters entrepreneurship and innovation across a wide variety of sectors within the technology landscape. With our footprint and breadth of coverage, we have access to most of the technology start-ups around the world.  Therefore we believe it is important for us to contribute our expertise back to the global community by working with the Technology Pioneers programme and assisting the selection committee to evaluate and assess new ideas and opportunities.

In terms of Intel Capital's participation in the venture capital industry, we are seeing a general decline in the number of venture capital funds and professionals operating in developed economies.  At the same time in those economies we are seeing an increase in the number of angel investors and strategic investors.  Angel investors are a growing source of capital for less capital intensive businesses (such as software start-ups).   As for some of the best of strategic investors, we are seeing that they can offer their portfolio companies a value add that is differentiated from traditional venture capitalists.  Many of the traditional venture capital investors which remain in business are moving to later stage investing and closing a greater number of larger secondary investments in more mature companies (particularly in the social media industry).

Some of the more challenging areas where we believe that technology can play a role are in energy efficiency and climate change, water conservation and management, education access and quality, and healthcare. In the area of energy efficiency – we role model energy efficiency within our own operations, and also have made it a strategic priority to continue to drive energy efficient performance in our projects. We are also empowering our employees to identify new applications of our technology and the development of solutions in the areas of home energy management, data centre energy management, smart grids, and environmental sensing. Another area that we are looking more closely at is expanded opportunities to empower girls and women through technology and education, in support of Millennium Development Goal #3. Intel's education and entrepreneurship programs have been helping to improve technology access and opportunity for girls and women around the world – and we continue to look at new opportunities in this area. Research has shown that devoting resources to quality education for girls is among the best investments than any society can make. A 100-country study by the World Bank showed that increasing the number of women with a secondary education by 1% boosts annual per capita income growth by 0.3 percentage points.

We know that today's entrepreneurs face many challenges as they work to develop the next breakthrough technology or solution. Our advice to them as they continue to deepen their work and continue on their paths to innovation:
1. Choose investors that can help grow and build the company i.e. seek value beyond equity
2. Especially for emerging markets, think BIG!  Identify product opportunities with potential for high growth and large market size
3. Recruit executive management who are passionate about what the company does and are experienced to make it happen
4. And most importantly, stay focused and persistent; never give up in what you believe in.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Share:
World Economic Forum logo

Forum Stories newsletter

Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.