Go Global, Eat Local, Listen Local

Since the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership launched, I've thought a great deal about the extent to which local companies can be global.  I have big dreams for my company and for the region in which it was founded.

But I won't have to think global - I'll BE global - at the Tastes & Sounds of the Valleys Reception on Wednesday, August 24, 2011.

Tastes & Sounds of the Valleys is the welcome celebration and opening ceremony for the VT KnowledgeWork Global Partnership Week which includes the Global Student Challenge and interactions and meetings with student teams, university faculty, business professionals and business leaders from all over the world.  I'll be present locally at the Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, Virginia, USA, enjoying the local menu and music, but I'll BE among the global citizens of the world.

Please join me in being global!

Tastes and Sounds of the Valleys Reception
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center
Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Map

Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0, is a member company of VT KnowledgeWorks.  VT KnowledgeWorks is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated.

Artbeating Presents to Panel, Models Global Partnership

"French-founded company Artbeating presented its business model to a panel of regional corporate leaders on Friday, July 29, 2011, during their summer work-abroad experience at VT KnowledgeWorks in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg, Virginia. In addition to providing useful feedback to the young entrepreneurs, this type of interaction fosters bonds of trust between globally distant partners and lays the groundwork for continuing inter-regional cooperation."
- VT KnowledgeWorks

I am neither an Athenian, nor a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
- Socrates

I was delighted and honored to be a member of the panel to which Artbeating presented its online marketplace for companies in need of designers in industrial, graphic, fashion, interior or motion design fields. I was particularly interested in the soon-to-be-released iteration of Artbeating.com in which a company can submit a brief and then select from, and negotiate with, the best designer for its creative project.

As part of VT KnowledgeWorks, I have attended dozens of presentations and pitches by young men with online enterprises.  What differentiated Artbeating's presentation from most of the others I've heard - and heartened me as well - is that the company is not seeking funding in the near future.  They want to create a superior product and service, then prove they have done so with the most fundamental measure of market value - revenue. 

In Artbeating Accelerates in Blacksburg, I wrote about the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership's goal of establishing the Blacksburg, Virginia and Roanoke, Virginia regions as a global destination for companies seeking to accelerate their enterprises.  I would argue that Artbeating's presence in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA - an excellent one at that - is evidence of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership achieving its mission of fostering both the tangible and intangible benefits of global collaboration, partnerships and relationships.

Congratulations to Artbeating and to VT KnowledgeWorks.  You do us all -  citizens of the world - proud.

 
Artbeating.com team members at the JumpStart Community at VT KnowledgeWorks pictured left to right: Martin Houdbine, Charles-Éric "Charlie" Gorron, Romain Lauwerier, Mathieu Lima (Photo by Florent Mérian)

VT KnowledgeWorks is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Artbeating Accelerates in Blacksburg

In addition to fostering collaboration, partnerships and interactions, a goal of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership is to establish the Blacksburg and Roanoke, Virginia, USA area as a global destination for companies seeking to accelerate their enterprises.  Artbeating.com participated in the 2010 VT KnowledgeWorks Global Student Business Concept Challenge and returned in the summer of 2011 to Blacksburg, Virginia to do just that.  Artbeating.com is part of the JumpStart Community at VT KnowledgeWorks.  We asked Martin Houdbine, co-founder of Artbeating.com, to tell us more about Artbeating and about the company's choice to return to Blacksburg.  Martin kindly replied.

Artbeating.com is an online marketplace whose goal is to connect companies' needs and freelance designers' offers in industrial, graphic, fashion, interior or motion design fields.  Online, a company can submit a brief to our community and then select the best designer for its creative project. Artbeating's business model is based on a commission system.

Artbeating also provides information and various collaborative tools in order to enhance a designer's creativity that can become essential to their day-to-day creative life.

Artbeating.com team members pictured left to right: Martin Houdbine, Charles-Éric "Charlie" Gorron, Romain Lauwerier, Mathieu Lima (Photo by Florent Mérian)

Artbeating was founded by four French students in December, 2010.  Since then, the community has been built (more than 500 designers use the website every day) thanks to the tools provided (Portfolios, Trends etc.). The second version of the website, which enables companies to submit their briefs, will be released soon.

To further develop our company, we chose to spend the summer in Blacksburg, first because we met plenty of interesting people, both professionally and personally when we participated in the Global Student Business Concept Challenge.  We had the opportunity to come back and share with people who have known our project since last year. Thus, we would be able to stand back and see what choices drove us from point A to point B and what things we would have done differently if we had to start all over.

Blacksburg is also a wonderful business place, especially in the technology and web technology fields. Many high growth companies are established there, such as Modea, a very interesting brand, also in the design field. We had the desire to come here for a different point of view on our business, and to create or foresee opportunities. 

In terms of our goals for our work this summer, we want, by September 2011, to have a global vision for our business.  Then, we seek feedback on our service in order to see if we could settle in the United States. We also want to observe business operations in other sectors, and try to adapt and apply them in our business.

Finally, we want to meet as many people as possible, to be able to ask for feedback and opinions when we need it, and to offer the same in return.

Welcome back to Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, Artbeating!

***

You're invited to read more about Artbeating on Handshake 2.0.

The 2011 VT KnowledgeWorks Global Student Business Concept Challenge will be held during the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Week in Blacksburg and Roanoke, Virginia, USA, August 21-27, 2011.

Registration is open for participants, advertisers, and attendees.  Tastes and Sounds of the Valleys, the kick-off reception for the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Week, will be held on Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 5:30 PM - 7:30 - PM, at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center in Roanoke, Virginia.

VT KnowledgeWorks is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

Start-ups Get Early Start on Global Partnership

The VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Week begins on August 21, 2011, but we start-ups are getting an early start!

In Going Global, I wrote:

Looking ahead five years - maybe fewer - if the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership's vision plays out, my university-rich locale will be enlivened not only by the presence of global students, researchers and faculty members, but by global corporate leaders and professionals as well.

No need to look ahead - global corporate leaders are here now!

Artbeating participated in last year's VT KnowledgeWorks Global Student Business Concept Challenge and company members have returned to spend this summer accelerating their start-up at VT KnowledgeWorks as members of the JumpStart Community.   

I love this quote from VT KnowledgeWorks:  [The VT KnowlegeWorks Global Partnership] "offers university students, faculty, and business professionals from all over the world a chance to collaborate, form partnerships and interact on a completely unique and exciting level."  Yes!

Welcome back to the "unique and exciting" Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, Artbeating! 

Artbeating and Handshake shared lunch at Wikiteria at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center on June 24, 2011.  Pictured left to right: Mathieu Lima, Romain Lauwerier, Charles-Éric "Charlie" Gorron, Martin Houdbine, Anne Clelland.

Photo credit: Florent Mérian

Registration is open for participants, advertisers, and attendees of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Week, August 21-27, 2011, Blacksburg and Roanoke, Virginia, USA.  Tastes and Sounds of the Valleys, the kick-off reception for the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Week, will be held on Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 5:30 PM - 7:30 - PM, at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center in Roanoke, Virginia.

The VT KnowledgeWorks Global Directory mobile application, offering members of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership community a way to find and connect with each other, is a Handshake(R) mobile app from Handshake Media.

VT KnowledgeWorks and the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center are clients of Handshake Media, Incorporated, a VT KnowledgeWorks member company and parent company of Handshake 2.0.

VT KnowledgeWorks to Hold Global Party: Tastes and Sounds of the Valleys

Exciting news from VT KnowledgeWorks:

 
Kick off the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Week in style with unique food and music from the Roanoke and New River Valleys of Virginia.  Help introduce our Valleys to an audience of students, university faculty, and business professionals and leaders from all over the world as we celebrate our growing place in the global community.

Tastes and Sounds of the Valleys Reception
5:30-7:30 PM
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center
Roanoke, Virginia, USA

Questions? Please call 540-443-9100 or email info@vtkwglobal.com. Here's the Tastes and Sounds of the Valleys "Save the Date" flyer (.pdf).

***

The VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership is a three-layered, ongoing cooperative association of regions building permanent social, academic, and commercial relationships with each other, honoring their mutual best interests and for mutual long-term advantage.

On Handshake 2.0, we wrote about the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership's recommendations in Going Global.

The VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Week offers university students, faculty, and business professionals from all over the world a chance to collaborate, form partnerships and interact on a completely unique and exciting level in Blacksburg and Roanoke, Virginia, USA.

The VT KnowledgeWorks Global Directory mobile application offers members of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership community a way to find and connect with each other.

VT KnowledgeWorks is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.

JumpStart and FirstOffice for Good People and Good Companies

My passion is sharing good news about good people and good companies.
 
I was reading the latest from VT KnowledgeWorks on its co-working space, the JumpStart Community, and a new package called the FirstOffice Program. VT KnowledgeWorks is a client of Handshake Media and we publicize the VTKW member companies, partners and sponsors through the VTKW blog and our social media services and consulting.  JumpStart and FirstOffice offer many features and benefits, but it was this bullet point that captured my fancy:  “4-month membership in VT KnowledgeWorks.” 
 
This means two things to me:  1) My company, Handshake Media, Incorporated, is a VT KnowledgeWorks member company.  When I hear of new members at VT KnowledgeWorks, I want to clasp their hands.  They have no idea what good is ahead for them. 2) I’ll get to continue to pursue my passion - my company will get to publicize FirstOffice members.

Here are highlights of JumpStart and FirstOffice from VT KnowledgeWorks:

The VT KnowledgeWorks JumpStart Community is a co-working space for start-up companies and businesses.  Located at VT KnowledgeWorks at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, JumpStart is a step up for home office-based entrepreneurs in all industries, but still short of a full commitment to a private office suite.
 
FirstOffice Program - $750

Fundamentals and perks:

• 4-month membership in the JumpStart Community for up to 3 people
• work space
• conference rooms
• interaction with fellow founders
• wi-fi
• coffee
• $50 gift certificate to the Wikiteria Cafe 

Business acceleration services:

• 3 two-hour strategy sessions with 2 professional mentors
• market opportunity review
• product/service differentiation
• profitability plan
• 4-month membership in VT KnowledgeWorks

According to Jim Flowers, “We offer Class A office space, plus all the amenities and perks of a CRC domicile, such as cool conference rooms, easy parking, and seasoned professional mentorship.  And we run a professionally administered blog and social media program to publicize our members.  And, BTW, we are easily accessible from all over town, including the campus, via regularly scheduled Blacksburg Transit bus service.”
 
Looking forward to hearing who signs up for FirstOffice and to sharing their good news!
 
VT KnowledgeWorks is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated.  Handshake Media, Incorporated is a member company of VT KnowledgeWorks.

Global Handshake Survey

"Know thyself."
-inscribed on the Temple of Apollo in Delphi

The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman is now in a 3.0 version, but when I read it five years ago, I didn't have a high-tech start-up with high-growth dreams, and I certainly had not done business internationally other than as a consumer.  Now that I do have that company and have done business internationally, if only minimally, I have become thoughtful about Friedman's premise about the oneness of the global economy.

I'm not alone. I am studying work by Pankaj Ghemawat, professor of global strategy at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, and author of World 3.0: Global Prosperity and How to Achieve It. In The Cosmopolitan Corporation (Harvard Business Review, May 2011), Ghemawat writes:

 "For every article or book you read about the world being flat, you’ll read another that highlights the rise of state capitalism and the economic rivalries between China, India, and the United States. It’s worth reemphasizing that the world is neither a collection of autonomous nations (World 1.0) nor perfectly flat (World 2.0), but semiglobalized, with some places being much closer to home than others. In such a world, rooted cosmopolitanism is a more realistic and, ultimately, more useful objective than statelessness."

The concept of "some places being much closer to home than others" seems in keeping with the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership's recommendations for regional economic development. While those recommendations are addressed to "cities with strong universities," I used them as criteria by which to evaluate my own company "going global" as I attempt to contribute to my locale becoming "among the globally competitive regions as the economy of the 21st century evolves."

I am finding my company's current greatest strength and contribution to be in "deliberately creating multi-layered global networks."  Those networks are with people and they, of course, are what Handshake 2.0 is all about - "It's still who you know." 

With regard to globalization, Ghemawat writes that an estimated 90% of the world's population will never leave home, yet "it’s the people who are their [corporations'] customers, employees, investors, and suppliers."  He asserts, "...a global strategy and a global organization...must be based not on the elimination of differences and distances among people, cultures, and places, but on an understanding of them."

Let's start "close to home" with understanding of self first, then others.  To aid in the process of understanding each of our companies in a region that is part of a global economy, I invite you to take our Global Handshake Survey.  We'll share the results.  Feel free to leave thoughts, ideas and feedback in the comments.  Thanks!

***

Go straight to the Global Handshake Survey. 

Photo: Martin Houdbine and Charles-Eric Gorron share a global handshake at Handshake Media. They are two of the founders of France-based Artbeating which will experience acceleration services at VT KnowledgeWorks in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA during the summer of 2011.

Handshake 2.0 is the flagship site of Handshake Media, Incorporated. VT KnowledgeWorks is a client of Handshake Media.

Going Global

I am neither an Athenian, nor a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
- Socrates

Looking ahead five years - maybe fewer - if the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership's vision plays out, my university-rich locale will be enlivened not only by the presence of global students, researchers and faculty members, but by global corporate leaders and professionals as well.

To achieve that vision, here are the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership's recommendations (my numbering and bold):

Cities with strong universities are particularly well-positioned to be among the globally competitive regions as the economy of the 21st century evolves. To do so, they must:

1. pro-actively embrace globalization
2. expand their regional brand recognition by deliberately creating multi-layered global networks, and
3. act in a regionally coherent manner at every opportunity.

My company, Handshake Media, Incorporated, is a VT KnowledgeWorks member company, as is Automation Creations, Inc., from which She Chooses(TM), the social network for women, is a co-spin-out enterprise. From my upbringing with parents who quoted Socrates and from the myriad powerful experiences I've had through my association with VT KnowledgeWorks, I have natural buy-in to the idea of "going global."

Although to create "globally competitive region" using the Partnership's list of "musts" requires regional consciousness and effort, let's see how I'm contributing personally to the mission.  I'll use a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is "Who needs global? I have a local company." and 5 is "I'll be in Beijing then, too.  Shall we meet?"

1. pro-actively embrace globalization

Handshake Media's fundamental mission is to create global handshakes, first of greeting, then on deals.  Every time a post goes live on Handshake 2.0, it's globally available.  That's an on-going, proactive reaching out to the world. This is definitely a 4.  An actual handshake beats a virtual one, but a virtual handshake is better than not even knowing the other hand exists!

2. expand their regional brand recognition by deliberately creating multi-layered global networks

Handshake 2.0 is a "multi-layered global network" by definition, so that's good.  Handshake Media developed the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Directory, a mobile app for both iOS and Android, also a global network by definition, also good.

Those are the more cerebral facets of creating a multi-layered global network.  More personally, I loved being a host from the community for student entrepreneurs competing for the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Student Challenge Trophy.  We had the delight of spending a week with Martin Houdbine and Charles-Eric Gorron of Artbeating in 2010 and look forward to hosting a team of this year's competitors. Professor Nikola Hale, a scholar visiting Radford University from Hochschule Furtwangen University, was also a recent welcome guest at Handshake 2.0 Headquarters.

Overnight guests were infrequent in my childhood years and rare also in many of my adult years, so I will acknowledge that opening my home to people I've never met feels more like a leap off a cliff than a leap of faith, but the global-made-local in my very own home has generated priceless, unforeseen insights for me. More, please!  Let's go with a 3 on this one.

3. act in a regionally coherent manner at every opportunity

My best effort to date to "act regionally" - by which I was joined with the support and sponsorship of Coldwell Banker, Townside REALTORS, First Bank & Trust Company, Hutchison Law Group and Ryan Hagan - was to organize a network of women mobile application developersto address the shortage of mobile app developers in the New River Valley of Virginia.  This shortage may well lead to a regional loss of current and future market opportunities in the mobile industry.  Now known as the Brava Network of Women Mobile Application Developers, the group has met regularly for three months. 

Software development is difficult and takes more resources for training than we have.  This initiative was well-intentioned but points out that "acting regionally" requires a budget.  Pats on the back for everyone who tried and is still trying.  But able only to start this, but not yet sustain it, this is a 1 while I plan next steps.

Three 5s would be great, but a 4, 3, and 1 will do for now.  I want to be part of a globally competitive region.  I know what to do and where I stand in contributing to getting that done.  I'm going global.

Added 5/4/11: You're invited to take the Global Handshake Survey. 

Handshake 2.0 is the flagship site of Handshake Media, Incorporated. VT KnowledgeWorks is a client of Handshake Media.

News from Sauna Savu, a VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Member

Sauna Savu from the Aalto University School in Finland competed in the 2010 VT KnowledgeWorks Global Student Business Concept Challenge held in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.

Otso Virtanen shared the latest news from Sauna Savu about receiving funding for their start-up and included this amazing picture of a modular Finnish sauna from Sauna Savu being delivered to a customer in Fiskars, Finland.

Sauna Savu - Savu Oy (Savu Ltd) is a Finnish-designed Sauna available to international markets.  Sauna Savu, a modular Finnish sauna, is a sensitive mixture of Finnish vernacular architecture and Scandinavian contemporary design.  You're invited to read more about Sauna Savu on Inside VT KnowledgeWorks and to view a video of the Sauna Savu presentation on Facebook.

This year's VT KnowledgeWorks Global Student Business Concept Challenge will be held August 21-27, 2011 in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, in conjunction with the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership Week, a program of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership. Handshake Media developed the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Directory mobile app which connects the members of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership.

Handshake 2.0 is the flagship site of Handshake Media, Incorporated, a VT KnowledgeWorks member company and the makers of Handshake(TM) apps. VT KnowledgeWorks is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated.

VT KnowledgeWorks Global Directory Mobile App Available for iPhone and Android

The VT KnowledgeWorks Global Directory mobile app offers all members of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership community a way to find and connect with each other.

Searchable by individuals, companies, and countries, the VT Knowledgeworks Global Directory features profiles of people and companies, organizations and institutions in the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership community, offering one-touch access to their contact information.

According to Jim Flowers, Executive Director of VT KnowledgeWorks, "To have any kind of relationship with you, I have to know you exist, I have to identify some kind of shared interest between us, and I have to be able to contact you.  This simple little app enables members of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Partnership community to find and connect with all the other members.  It encourages others to join the community as well.  And it’s free.”

The VT KnowledgeWorks Global Directory for the Androidwas released in February, 2011. The VTKW Global Directory is now available for the iPhone and other iOS devices.

VT KnowledgeWorks Global Directory - Free in the iTunes App Store

VT KnowledgeWorks Global Directory - Free in the Android Market

The VT KnowledgeWorks Global Directory mobile application is a Your Handshake(TM) App from the line of Handshake(TM) mobile applications developed by Handshake Media, Incorporated.  The VT KnowledgeWorks mobile application runs on a Rackspace Cloud server.

Learn More: Rackspace Cloud Hosting & Cloud Computing

VT KnowledgeWorks is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.  Rackspace is a sponsor of VT KnowledgeWorks.