Dr. R.A. Mashelkar to speak at TiE-Boston’s Legends & Leaders Event September 29, 2011
Posted by TiE Boston- "The Network for Entrepreneurs" in Entrepreneurship, General, Life Sciences & Healthcare, News and Views, Technology, Uncategorized.Tags: breakthrough technology, engineering, entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, idea, India, Indian scientist, Innovation, intellectual property rights, IPR, legends & leaders, Legends and Leaders, life science, low cost, Masheklar, mit, product innovation, R.A. Mashelkar, science & technology, speaker tie, Technology, TiE, TiE-Boston
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On October 4, 2011, eminent scientist and scholar, Dr. Raghunath A. Mashelkar, will be speaking at MIT’s Sloan School of Management about Innovation’s Holy Grail: Getting More from Less for Many.
Ever imagine a new car for under $2000, a refrigerator for $69, or even a cataract surgery for $30? Probably not. But thanks to Mashelkar’s push to innovate through clever engineering, even the most expensive products have been brought into the realm of the possible for everyone.
He has been propagating a balanced culture of innovation and intellectual property rights for over a decade. His efforts led to the growing awareness of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in India. He successfully challenged the US patents on Basmati rice, Turmeric and Neem, setting up new paradigms in the protection of traditional knowledge base which led to the set up of India’s first Traditional Knowledge Digital Library.
Thanks to Mashelkar, using ancient recipes that have been passed down from mother to daughter for generations does not fall under patent infringement. Just like Gandhi stood up to the British against tax on salt, Mashelkar stood up to the corporations trying to patent Indian staple items. Maybe that’s why his model for innovation is called “Gandhian engineering.”
Mashelkar has said that India is the land of ideas and the US is the land of opportunity. It is no surprise then that he would take such an active and critical role in shaping India’s reform policies in Science & Technology, Auto Fuels, IPR, Telecom and Higher Education in order to change India from the land of ideas to the land of opportunity.
To hear from a man who overcame poverty to become one of the most decorated Indian scientists with over 50 awards and medals at national and international levels is sure to make you think and maybe even inspire you to innovate in a new way.
Don’t pass up the opportunity to hear Mashelkar discuss innovation and creating breakthrough technologies on October 4 at MIT.
TiE Boston Launches TiE Angels Investment Group January 25, 2011
Posted by TiE Boston- "The Network for Entrepreneurs" in Angel investing, CleanTech and Energy, funding, General, Life Sciences & Healthcare, News and Views, Software & Services, Wireless & New Media.Tags: angel investing, angels, business plan, Entrepreneurship, idea, investment, seed capital, startup entrepreneur, TiE Angels, TiE-Boston, venture capital funding
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TiE Angels to Provide Entrepreneurs with Start-up Capital and Strategic Support
BOSTON, MA – January 25, 2011 – TiE Boston, a nonprofit organization that fosters entrepreneurship in the New England area, today announced the launch of TiE Angels, an angel investment group comprised of charter members of TiE Boston. TiE Angels’ mission is to provide entrepreneurs access to seed capital and ongoing strategic and operational support. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to visit TiE Angels website (www.tieangelsboston.com) to submit their business plans for investment consideration.
According to the latest Money Tree Report, venture capital funding increased by 19 percent in dollars and 12 percent in the number of deals in 2010 over the prior year, the first such annual increase since 2007. However, according to the most recent data released by the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Venture Research, angel investors across the country put much less money into startup deals during the first half of 2010 than they did in 2009 or 2008. The study found that in the first half of 2010, 65 percent of membership in angel groups were “latent” angels, or individuals who have the necessary net worth but have not made an investment — an increase of non-participation from 2009 of 54 percent and 36 percent from 2008.
“Increased VC funding is a good sign for entrepreneurs and the economy, but angel investing still hasn’t picked up yet and entrepreneurs are having a difficult time securing funding in the current economy,” said Abhishek Jain, chair of the TiE Angels steering committee. “With TiE Angels our goal is to help promising early stage companies, particularly those in the Northeast, bridge the gap between innovative ideas and successful operational companies. TiE Angels is a natural extension of TiE Boston’s primary goal of fostering entrepreneurship. Now, in addition to all of the entrepreneur-related mentoring and events TiE already provides, we are enabling start-ups to launch with initial capital.”
Members of TiE Boston include successful entrepreneurs, top executives of Fortune 500 companies, Venture Capitalists, academicians, analysts and policy makers. TiE Boston charter members have founded or head some of the best known businesses in their respective industries. The 35 founding members of TiE Angels have significant financial and experiential resources to invest in promising new ventures.
“As an investor and an entrepreneur, I’m thrilled to be part of TiE Angels to help finance, advise, and take a bet on other promising entrepreneurs in the area,” said Ramesh Motwane, TiE Angels steering committee member. “Our economy depends on the innovation and fresh ideas that entrepreneurs provide. TiE Angels’ expertise and flexible operating structure will allow us to move quickly to seed fund the next great business ideas.”
TiE Angels plans to invest in a range of early-stage companies, with priority given to those in the following sectors: healthcare, clean-tech, Internet/digital media, mobile, software, financial technology, technology-enabled services, and communications. The group expects a typical angel investment to be approximately $500,000, but they can syndicate up to $2 million.
TiE Angels aims to provide a forum for innovative companies to present their ideas and to attract funding from an accomplished group of individual investors. Entrepreneurs seeking capital may submit their plans to TiE Angels at www.tieangelsboston.com to enter the evaluation process.
For more information, visit the TiE Angels Website at: www.tieangelsboston.com
About TiE Angels
TiE Angels is an angel investment group of TiE Boston. The mission of TiE Boston is to foster entrepreneurship through Networking, Mentoring and Education. TiE plays a critical role in bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, service providers and public organizations to create an eco-system that fosters the genesis of great companies. TiE-Boston launched TiE Angels to provide entrepreneurs and start-ups with much needed seed capital and the support that they need to get to the next level. TiE Angels is governed by a Steering Committee.
TIE ANGELS is not a venture fund, an investment bank, a broker/dealer, investment clearing-house, or an Investment advisor, but rather a forum in which investors may be educated on aspects of investment and business, as well as be introduced to companies for possible investment. TIE ANGELS is not registered with the Securities Exchange Commission or any state securities commission. Each member of TIE ANGELS is responsible for his or her own investment decisions, and TIE ANGELS is not recommending any particular company for investment. Investors must conduct their own due diligence and negotiate the terms of any investment they elect to make.
Media Contacts:
John Isaf
Weber Shandwick
(617) 520-7056
Vanita Shastri
TiE Angels
(781) 272-3875
TiE-Boston Wins 2 Prestigious Awards February 11, 2010
Posted by TiE Boston- "The Network for Entrepreneurs" in News and Views.Tags: Awards, TiE-Boston
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| TiE-Boston wins two TiE-Global Awards at the TiE-Global retreat in December 2009. The awards were: the highest Global award for a Chapter, CONSISTENTLY PERFORMING AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL and the second was the AWARD FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INNOVATIVE PROGRAM. TiE-Boston was the only chapter that got two awards!
In the citation for the award TiE Global wrote, TiE Boston has shown consistency in performance in every aspect of chapter management and development. It is a strong contender in many areas – involvement of youth, innovative programs, mentor models, collaboration with chapters and organization and has shown a strong spirituality towards TiE values and philosophy. It is a chapter which has set high standards for other chapters to follow and has consistently surpassed all levels of expectations. TiE Boston is clearly the winner of this award. TiE Boston has successfully implemented a variety of new programs and initiatives and have created a good model for Engaging Charter Member. They have also instituted a comprehensive array of innovative programs to cater to different ages and stages of entrepreneurs such as TiE ENTER for the first time entrepreneurs, TLP to train young professionals to be future CEOs, E-Forum for early stage entrepreneurs, TYE for high school students and many more. Apart from initiating new programs, they are also measuring the efficacy of their programs and have created a Metrics system to measure if the mentoring needs of the participants were being served of not. |
Quarterly Newsletter – 2009-Q4 October 30, 2009
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TiE Boston ‘s latest quarterly newsletter is out. Al Kapoor, President, TiE Boston, detects an end to the economic slump. His assessment of the hardy entrepreneurs is encouraging – ‘The entrepreneurial green shoots that will sprout now will have been tested in the most dire of environments making them flexible and resilient.’ He also talks about Mentoring, and how veteran mentors help fledgling entrepreneurs navigate to success.
Vanita Shastri, Executive Director, also seems to sense the recovery of the slumping economy. She draws our attention to the emphasis that the Obama administration is giving to entrepreneurship. Aneesh Chopra, the first CTO of the country, has innovation as part of his four-pronged approach to recovery. She extends an invitation to all to listen to Chopra at a Dinner event titled “Innovation for America: Restoring Growth, Reforming Government, Fixing Health Care and Expanding Opportunity.”
Jugnu Jain is the featured charter member. “She is a co-founder of the Social Entrepreneurship SIG and has previously been a co-chair of the Life Sciences SIG. Jugnu is a Research Fellow and Disease Area Expert for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.”
Prabhu Rao‘s is the featured member profile. “He has been involved with TiE for over 10 years now. He is co-chair of the Cleantech SIG. With his experience of over 12 years in the clean energy industry, he is currently actively involved in creating the Cleantech Track for TiECON 2010. “
