Symposium Brings Entrepreneurs from Across the Globe to Menlo Park

The United States may be one of the most powerful countries, but it’s no longer at the top of the list of high-growth regions around the world.

“Ninety-five percent of people live outside of the U.S.,” said Lorraine Hariton, a special representative for business and commercial affairs at the U.S. State Department. “Therefore, the most growth opportunities are going to be outside of the U.S. in the coming years.”

Hariton is just one of an impressive line-up of speakers who are scheduled to speak at the upcoming Global Tech Symposium (GTS), to take place in Menlo Park over March 28-30.

The GTS is an annual investment conference aimed at providing insights for venture capitalists and tech industry leaders regarding investment opportunities in high-growth regions of the world. The symposium is renowned for providing invaluable insights and direction for global venture investors and entrepreneurs, and for  attracting the greatest minds in investing, engineering, entrepreneurship and international policymaking.

This year’s focus is “Entrepreneurship in a Global World.”

“It’s very important for us in the U.S., if we want to be successful in the long-term, to understand what opportunities are there, and how we can use the expertise we've developed to expand ourselves in this world.”

Hariton will be a part of the opening panel on the first day of the symposium, focusing on “what the U.S. government is doing to promote entrepreneurship around the world,” and talking about the U.S.-Russia Presidential Bilateral Commission’s “Innovation Working Group,” which works to examine policies and encourage successful, innovative systems around the world, and more specifically, cooperative projects and innovation between the U.S. and Russia.

On the third day of the symposium, Hariton will also give a talk entitled “Beyond the BRICs,” or Brazil, Russia, India and China, four countries that are deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development.

“In that panel, I will talk about early-stage investing in entrepreneurial businesses outside of the four BRICs,” Hariton explained.

Hariton said the panel will feature several important speakers that she feels will provide valuable insights for attendees.

“We’ll include a successful entrepreneur from Turkey, people who have invested in businesses in Egypt, someone from Microsoft who works in emerging markets,” and many more, she said. “We'll talk about what the environment is like, and give people a good understanding of what it's like to invest in the developing world. There really are tremendous opportunities in developing countries around the world right now.”

GTS President Sasha Johnson said the event’s audience is usually a mix of corporations, universities and individual entrepreneurs and investors.

“What we're trying to do is, we're trying to bring in elements of the ‘innovation eco-system.’ If someone has a unique idea, they need to have support around them so they can get funding when they need it,” she explained. “They need to have a market that will consume the products or ideas they develop. And, they need to have talented individuals to work with them, so that's often where universities come in.”

“It takes different aspects from many different business elements to make it work. So, we want to be representative of all of those,” she continued.

Johnson added, one of the reasons why the symposium is so successful is because it takes place right in the center of it all - the Silicon Valley.

“This symposium brings in people from all over the world to the Silicon Valley, to meet people and have access to the resources of the area, while also giving the Silicon Valley access to the resources of those remote places,” she said. “So, GTS is a meeting place for investors, entrepreneurs, and all those other types of people, here in the Silicon Valley.”

Hariton agreed – for anyone interested in this type of global business and entrepreneurship, GTS is the place to be.

“This is the premiere vehicle for doing all of that, in the Silicon Valley,” said Hariton, who previously lived in Los Altos for 15 years and was very involved in the Silicon Valley business community.

Another highlight of GTS is the Global Innovator Competition, during which startups pitch their companies to a panel of prestigious venture capitalist judges. The winning startup will receive the Global Innovator Award.

Other panels and “fireside chats” taking place throughout the weekend include:

• The Biotech Revolution: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Life Sciences Industry
• Brazil Rising: Hunting for Global Entrepreneurs in a BRIC Country
• Seeking the Final Frontier: Growth Markets Beyond BRIC Countries
• Who’s Who 3.0: Millennial Entrepreneurs
• Adventures in Capitalism: What’s Next for Venture Capital?

In addition to Hariton, other speakers appearing at this year’s symposium include:

• Craig Barrett, president, Skolkovo Foundation and former CEO, Intel
• Greg Becker, president and CEO, Silicon Valley Bank
• Steve Blank, consulting professor, Stanford University
• Norm Fogelsong, general partner, Institutional Venture Partners
• Pitch Johnson, founding partner, Asset Management
• Steve Jurvetson, managing director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
• Dave McClure, founding partner, 500 Startups
• Claudia Fan Munce, managing director, IBM Venture Capital Group
• Garen Staglin, owner, Staglin Family Vineyard

The Global Tech Symposium takes place March 28-30 at the , 2825 Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park.

To view the symposium’s full agenda, visit http://www.globaltechsymposium.com/agenda.html.

To register for the conference, please visit: http://www.globaltechsymposium.com/registration.html.