In a nod to its humble beginning in the garage of a Silicon Valley house, Google Inc is building “campuses” around the world intended as fertile ground where entrepreneurs can flourish.
A campus that opened last month in Madrid was the fourth such start-up nurturing facility opened by a Google for Entrepreneurs team at the California-based Internet titan.
The first campus opened in London in 2012, followed by one in Tel Aviv and then a third in Seoul.
“We began as a start-up in a garage 17 years ago and really believe in empowering the next generation of start-ups,” Google for Entrepreneurs director Mary Grove told reporters. “The goal is to foster entrepreneurship all over the world.”
Google plans to open startup campuses in Warsaw and Sao Paulo later this year.
Campuses provide spaces for start-ups to meet, work and learn. Partners are brought in to provide cafe services for which Silicon Valley tech companies are renowned.
Each campus has large event spaces that groups can apply to use free of charge.
The London campus averages four big events daily.
Coworking desk spaces can be rented, with certain operations contracted out to partners such as TechHub, which provides work space for tech entrepreneurs, and investment fund Seedcamp.
The campuses have about 1,858m2 of space and 200 desks.
Membership is free, and about 55,000 people around the world have signed on, according to Grove.
She said the process of users going from being a new arrival to learning from mentors, meeting potential investors and gaining traction is referred to as “working their way through the building.”
“It’s a hive of activity and has a tremendous energy about it,” Frugl founder Suzanne Noble said. “I’ve lost count of the interesting workshops and talks that I’ve attended there and have really helped to grow my business.”
Her company is behind an app that helps people on budgets find affordable things to do and she is taking part in a freshly launched London campus program devoted to tech company founders over the age of 50.
In contrast to typical start-up accelerator programs, being at a campus is more about sharing skills and maximizing use of resources made available, according to Noble.
Wikikids cofounder Inbal Miron-Bershteyn attended a baby friendly start-up program for entrepreneurial mothers at the Tel Aviv campus. There are mattresses on the floor for nap time and children are free to crawl around while their mothers talk to mentors, experts and women who have started companies of their own, according to Miron-Bershteyn.
Diaper changing and breast-feeding are accepted parts of the routine.
“Even sometimes a crying baby will be held by a mentor,” Miron-Bershteyn said, while describing her Campus for Moms experience.
“It is a great community, everybody comes together. It works, I think, on good karma. Mentors come for nothing and the women get encouraged and empowered,” she said.
Wikikids is a talking encyclopedia tailored for children, launched just a couple of months before Miron-Bershteyn took part in Campus for Moms last year.
Google does not earn any revenue from its campuses, and did not disclose how much it spends on the facilities or the programs.
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
RSS