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The Silicon Vikings is a collaborative business networking organization for the technology sector. Silicon Vikings operates in the intersecting worlds of Silicon Valley and the Nordic region to help members succeed in their professional and personal endeavors. Silicon Vikings accomplishes this by providing networking events, and by effectively communicating valuable information of interest to its members.
3/9 SV Event: Nordic Gamers Nite at Zebulon
9 Mar 2010 - 6:00pm
9 Mar 2010 - 8:30pm
Etc/GMT-7
83 Natoma Street [between First Street and Second Street], San Francisco
6 – 8:30 pm Tuesday, March 9, 2010
For more information and sign-up click on title or on read more button below. [01/26/2010]
4/27-28: Nordic Green ll
27 Apr 2010 - 8:00am
28 Apr 2010 - 5:00pm
Etc/GMT-7
Details
Nordic Green II is a follow up to the very successful conference in 2008. Silicon Valley will be the place, next spring, where cutting-edge green tech CEOs from Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Estonia and the United States will build lasting partnerships and develop the next generation of collaborative global energy and climate solutions. The conference will be a unique opportunity for Nordic companies who are seeking customers, partners, investors and other innovators in the US to gain exposure and connect with the VCs, entrepreneurs, researchers, thought leaders and other experts who make up the world class Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem. The sponsors include Silicon Vikings, Enterprise Estonia, Finnode, Innovation Center Denmark, Innovation Norway, Swedish Trade Council, Tekes, Norden, Nordic Clean Tech and greentechmedia. To read more see Nordic Green II website.
4/26: SV Mixer: Nordic Green II
26 Apr 2010 - 6:30pm
26 Apr 2010 - 9:00pm
Etc/GMT-7
Details
Silicon Vikings will host a mixer with the Nordic Green II participants on 4/26 at Wallenberg Hall at Stanford University. Further information later.
Bay Area Floorball have a new venue in San Francisco
News body
Bay Area Floorball (Inne bandy) in Mountain View now also have a venue in San Francisco. Starting March 23rd they will play Floorball at the YMCA, Treasure Island on
Tuesday's 7:30PM - 9:30PM. Stay tuned for SF Floorball news and updates at twitter.com/sf_floorball.
3/8: Stanford - "New Approaches to Software Innovation in Nordic Countries"
8 Mar 2010 - 4:15pm
8 Mar 2010 - 5:30pm
Etc/GMT-7
Details
Stanford School of Engineering are pleased to announce the 8th and final session for Winter 2010 in their European Entrepreneurship & Innovation program.
Monday, March 8 (4:15-5:30 pm Pacific). "New Approaches to Software Innovation in Nordic Countries", Skilling Aud, Engineering campus. Open to the Public at No Charge. Parking directions/map at website. Video via Internet available at No Charge (starting @ 9pm Pacific, pre-registration w Stanford SCPD required).
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AT NO CHARGE | Website: http://me421.stanford.edu
The final Winter Quarter session will explore software innovation practices in one of Europe's leading search companies that was recently acquired by Microsoft. The program will also feature a short overview by our national Government Partner Innovation Norway regarding the Norwegian innovation sector.
The teaching team will also give a summary overview of the European innovation ecosystem and startups landscape based upon the major themes touched upon by our speakers during the quarter.
SPEAKERS:
* Norway Overview: Svein-Egil Nielsen - Innovation Norway - San Francisco
* John M. Lervik - CEO (Emeritus), FAST Search & Transfer, Norway
Dr. Lervik was the co-founder and CEO of Fast Search & Transfer (FAST) through the acquisition by Microsoft in January 2008. Following the acquisition he served as a corporate vice president of enterprise search in Microsoft till January 2009. In 2005, Dr. Lervik was one of technology innovators named to the prestigious Forbes E-Gang. John holds a PhD from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where he was awarded the Esso prize for the best overall PhD in 1996/97.
CORE CHALLENGES IN THE EUROPEAN INNOVATION SYSTEM
* Burton Lee - Course Director, Stanford Engineering
Dr. Burton Lee directs Stanford Engineering's European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders speaker series. His professional credentials span over 15 years of innovation sector entrepreneurial, senior executive leadership and advisory positions with venture-backed startups, global technology corporations, venture capital and private equity firms, angel investor groups, federal S&T agencies, state economic development offices, leading research universities and foreign governments. Burton's management and technical experience includes senior executive and research positions with Hewlett Packard, GE Global Research, DaimlerChrysler AG and NASA in the United States, Europe and Japan.
For more information and signup see Facebook event registration or LinkedIn event registration.
LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1573967&trk=anet_ug_grppro
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51240639965
Monday, March 8 (4:15-5:30 pm Pacific). "New Approaches to Software Innovation in Nordic Countries", Skilling Aud, Engineering campus. Open to the Public at No Charge. Parking directions/map at website. Video via Internet available at No Charge (starting @ 9pm Pacific, pre-registration w Stanford SCPD required).
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AT NO CHARGE | Website: http://me421.stanford.edu
The final Winter Quarter session will explore software innovation practices in one of Europe's leading search companies that was recently acquired by Microsoft. The program will also feature a short overview by our national Government Partner Innovation Norway regarding the Norwegian innovation sector.
The teaching team will also give a summary overview of the European innovation ecosystem and startups landscape based upon the major themes touched upon by our speakers during the quarter.
SPEAKERS:
* Norway Overview: Svein-Egil Nielsen - Innovation Norway - San Francisco
* John M. Lervik - CEO (Emeritus), FAST Search & Transfer, Norway
Dr. Lervik was the co-founder and CEO of Fast Search & Transfer (FAST) through the acquisition by Microsoft in January 2008. Following the acquisition he served as a corporate vice president of enterprise search in Microsoft till January 2009. In 2005, Dr. Lervik was one of technology innovators named to the prestigious Forbes E-Gang. John holds a PhD from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where he was awarded the Esso prize for the best overall PhD in 1996/97.
CORE CHALLENGES IN THE EUROPEAN INNOVATION SYSTEM
* Burton Lee - Course Director, Stanford Engineering
Dr. Burton Lee directs Stanford Engineering's European Entrepreneurship and Innovation Thought Leaders speaker series. His professional credentials span over 15 years of innovation sector entrepreneurial, senior executive leadership and advisory positions with venture-backed startups, global technology corporations, venture capital and private equity firms, angel investor groups, federal S&T agencies, state economic development offices, leading research universities and foreign governments. Burton's management and technical experience includes senior executive and research positions with Hewlett Packard, GE Global Research, DaimlerChrysler AG and NASA in the United States, Europe and Japan.
For more information and signup see Facebook event registration or LinkedIn event registration.
LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1573967&trk=anet_ug_grppro
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51240639965
Ericsson Get 4G Network Deal From AT&T
News body
Telecom equipment vendors L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co. (ERIC) and Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) Wednesday said they have been selected as suppliers for a next-generation wireless network for AT&T Inc.(T), the largest wireless operator in the U.S. The deal marks another key win for the two companies as equipment makers fight to win the first major orders for Long Term Evolution, or LTE, a fourth-generation wireless network technology that offers higher traffic speeds than older standards. To read more see Wall Street Journal article and Nyteknik article (in Swedish).
Cisco, Tandberg reveal technology road map
News body
San Jose-based Cisco and Oslo, Norway-based Tandberg said they remain competitors until the close of Cisco's $3.38 billion acquisition of the company, which is expected in the first half of this year. The companies reiterated previously announced plans to form a Cisco TelePresence Technology Group that will retain and build on product lines from both companies once the transaction closes. To read more see Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal.
Wind River (Intel) acquires Virtutech
News body
Wind River, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation, today announced it will add the Virtutech product line to its embedded software product portfolio after the completion of Intel Corporation's acquisition of Virtutech signed earlier this week. Virtutech, founded in 1998, is based in San Jose, Calif. and operates a development center in Stockholm, Sweden. To read more see Wind River press-release and Virtutech founder Peter Magnusson's blog.
Saab Product Plans for 2010 and Beyond
News body
Following years of careless stewardship at the hands of a neglectful American foster family, the quirky Saab brand has been adopted by Dutch supercar builder Spyker. But if trouble-prone Saab is to be healthy, its future offerings need to quickly get competitive with some standout products from BMW, Audi, Cadillac, and others. What might future Saabs be like? Well, Spyker has just provided details on the new models it plans to introduce over the next two years, as well as its vision for the brand over the longer term. To read more see Car and Driver article.
Mårten Mickos Joins Index Ventures
News body
Mårten Mickos, former CEO of MySQL AB, has joined Index Ventures as a European Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Mickos will focus on seeking out new investment opportunities within the European technology market, helping to identify and evaluate companies on behalf of Index Ventures. Mr. Mickos also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for Benchmark Capital in Silicon Valley where he focuses on seeking out new opportunities in the U.S market. To read more see PEHub article.
Napatech has been awarded a Red Herring Global 100 company
News body
Northzone Ventures' portfolio company Napatech of Silicon Valley, Boston and Copenhagen, has been selected as one of the top 100 private companies in North America, Europe and Asia by Red Herring. This follows Napatech's selection for a Red Herring Top 100 Europe award in April 2009. Napatech received the Red Herring Global 100 award in recognition of the superior innovation, technology and financial performance that Napatech has exemplified. To read more see Northzone press-release.
theCITYHOUR.com a New Danish online magazine for Danes abroad
News body
theCITYHOUR.com is the brand new Danish online magazine, with an international touch - with a mission to entertain, inspire and educate, through both serious and humorous articles, photos, mention of favorite people, places and shops, links to rich resources and selected videos. Everything with a deliberate violation of the JANTE law. To read more see theCITYHOUR.com.
VC Investments Drop 47 Percent In 2009
News body
Venture investments dropped to the lowest level in more than a decade,
according to the latest venture capital numbers released today in the
MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture
Capital Association (NVCA). The numbers, based on data from Thomson
Reuters, showed that venture capitalists invested only $17.7 billion in
2,795 deals in 2009, the lowest investment levels since 1997. The report
showed that there was a drop of 37 percent in terms of dollars, and 30
percent in deal volume during the year. Among other data points, the
report found that early stage investments fell 13 percent in dollars and
17 percent in deals, with a small 2 percent increase in investments in
seed state companies in terms of dollars--but with much smaller volume,
down 37 percent in terms of deals. In a statement, NVCA President Mark
Heesen said "The venture capital industry had no choice but to slow the
investment pace in 2009," explaining, "The weak exit environment
resulting from an unstable public market combined with a challenged
limited partner base sent a strong message to the venture community to
pull back the reins -- and the VC's listened."
03/25: SACC SF Luncheon: with Rikard Steiber – Global Ads Marketing Director at Google
25 Mar 2010 - 12:00pm
25 Mar 2010 - 2:00pm
Etc/GMT-7
Details
SACC-SF invites Silicon Vikings members to their Monthly Luncheon at 12 noon on March 25th, Urban Tavern San Francisco. Guest speaker this month is Mr. Steiber. Steiber is the Global Ads Marketing Director at Google. This includes product marketing and product launch responsibility for all Google advertising products. His speech will focus on interesting trends on the Internet today and how you can use the power of Internet to generate more business. He will also discuss different perspective on what could be our generation’s most prominent company-Google. For more information and sign-up see SACC SF Invitation.
Oracle-Sun union is strongly opposed by MySQL founder
News body
Oracle’s $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems, in the works since last spring, cleared a major hurdle Thursday, finally winning the approval of European Union regulators. The European Commission had some lingering concerns, particularly about the fate of MySQL, a popular open-source database acquired by Sun in 2008. But after looking at the database market and noting Oracle’s pledge to preserve and nurture the program, the EC gave the OK. While the news was favorable, Oracle may still run into some obstructions on the way to the finish line. The founder of MySQL, Michael "Monty" Widenius, remains strongly opposed to the deal, and as antitrust lawyer Paul McGeown said, “Vocal complainants during the process are potential litigants.” Florian Mueller, a spokesman for Monty Widenius, called the EC decision wrong. “It’s not based on hard facts. … It should not serve as the basis for decisions taken by other regulators because it would set an awful precedent for merger control in connection with open source and a variety of other IT business models.” To read more see Good Morning Silicon Valley blog.
Successful launch of Silicon Vikings Stockholm Chapter
News body
Silicon Vikings Stockholm had a fantastic kick-off meeting on January
21st. Participants were treated to good wine, food and Anchor Steam beer,
courtesy of Thomas Nygren at Hamilton Advokatbyrå. With a lovely
backdrop view of Kungsträdgården in central Stockholm, all 27
attending Vikings introduced themselves and their companies, from tech
to capital to academia. It was, in essence, a micro ecosystem of
Silicon Valley. The Stockholm chapter is 130 members strong and they
have kicked-off in good style. Thanks to all!
Opera Software of Norway Acquires San Mateo-Based AdMarvel
News body
Opera Software, the Norway-based developer of web browser technology for mobile phones, said on Wednesday that it has acquired San Mateo-based AdMarvel, a provider of mobile advertising services. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Opera said that the acquisition will allow it to offer ad monetization services for its mobile products and services. Founded in 2006 by a team of mobile veterans led by CEO Mahi de Silva, AdMarvel offers services designed to let mobile publishers and operators source, provision, manage and track advertising. "Every month, nearly 50 million people access the web using Opera on their mobile phones and together with AdMarvel, we think we can play an important role in the evolution of mobile advertising," said Lars Boilesen, the CEO of Opera Software. To read more see Opera Software press-release.
FlatFrog Laboratories AB has raised €12.5 million in new VC funding
News body
FlatFrog Laboratories AB, a Lund, Sweden-based maker of optics-based multi-touch kits and subsystems, has raised €12.5 million in new VC funding. Invus and Promethean co-led the round, and were joined by return backer Sunstone Capital (of Menlo Park and Copenhagen). To read more see PEhub.com article.
1/19: SACC-SF Happy Hour @ MR
19 Jan 2010 - 5:30pm
19 Jan 2010 - 7:00pm
Etc/GMT-7
Details
SACC/SF invites Silicon Vikings members to join SACC-SF for a great Happy Hour at MR 5:30-7:00 pm. For more information and sign-up please see SACC/SF invitation.
1/21: Silicon Vikings Stockholm: Kick-Off Meeting
21 Jan 2010 - 7:00pm
21 Jan 2010 - 9:00pm
Europe/Stockholm
Details
The Stockholm chapter of Silicon Vikings (SVS) will start on Thursday 1/21 (7pm to 9pm) with a kick-off meeting with some beer and appetizers. We will meet at Hamilton Advokatbyrå, Hamngatan 27, Våning 6 (opposite to NK in the Sweden House).
Jakob Vendle, who is a Silicon Vikings Board Member and who recently returned to Stockholm after 17 years in the US, will make an introduction. This will be followed by each participant giving a short introduction of who they are and how they see that SVS can assist. It will finally then be time to have some beer and mingle.
A special thank you to Thomas Nygren and Hamilton Advokatbyrå. Thank you!
Jakob Vendle, who is a Silicon Vikings Board Member and who recently returned to Stockholm after 17 years in the US, will make an introduction. This will be followed by each participant giving a short introduction of who they are and how they see that SVS can assist. It will finally then be time to have some beer and mingle.
A special thank you to Thomas Nygren and Hamilton Advokatbyrå. Thank you!