SAP University Alliances – the week of entrepreneurship of scale at #GES2016, sf.citi @Linkedin, Greater China and many more highlights - SAP UA supports White House Tech Inclusion initiative & Empowering the Next-Generation of Entrepreneurs at the Global
SAP University Alliances was proud to take part in the 7th annual GES 2016, officially known as the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, hosted by the President of the United States, Barack Obama, taking place at Stanford University, in the heart of Silicon Valley, this past week!
GES 2016 is a government initiative that aims to showcase inspiring entrepreneurs and investors from around the world creating new opportunities for investment, partnership, and collaboration; connect American entrepreneurs and investors with international counterparts to form lasting relationships; and highlight entrepreneurship as means to address some of the most intractable global challenges. This year GES hosted 700 delegates/entrepreneurs, representing 170 countries and more than 30 world governments joining the event.
The 3-day long agenda was jam packed with ideas worth to share through championing thought leaders such as:
- Barack Obama, President of the United States,
- Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook
- Mary Grove, Director of Google for Entrepreneurs
- Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google
- Nina Vaca, Chairman and CEO of Pinnacle Group
- John L. Hennessy, President of Stanford University
- Ruth Porat, CFO of Google
- John Kerry, Secretary of State
- Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Commerce
- Sergey Brin, Co-founder of Google and President of Alphabet Inc.
- Steve Case, Co-founder of AOL
Just to mention a few of the hundreds of the world’s top influencers who were part of the extraordinary list of speakers.
Day I
SAP University Alliances Next-Gen Consultants Alex Matthys, Sandra Moerch-Petersen and Ben Christensen were an active part of the agenda in collaboration with the University Innovation Fellows out of the d.school at Stanford, where they supported the day long workshop “Hack your Creative Culture” with 80 GES Delegates in collaboration with Google for Entrepreneurs. You can meet 19-year-old Ayesha Babur, a powerhouse of a girl and famously selected entrepreneur from Pakistan, who built her social startup with her two brothers respectively 14 and 16 years old, and see many other unique GES Entrepreneur Delegate stories, on our YouTube channel or catch the new and great Facebook LIVE feeds.
Later in the evening the UA team also had the great opportunity to cover the launch of Techies at Linkedin’s new San Francisco downtown campus, hosted together with sf.citi. Techies is a portrait project focused on sharing stories of tech employees in Silicon Valley, covering subjects who tend to be underrepresented in the greater tech narrative. Check out the video report here
Day II
SAP University Alliances led SAP's engagement into discussion on building entrepreneurial ecosystems across the globe, accessing capital, fostering diverse talent, and what it takes to be an effective female leader. Ruth Porat CFO of Google, Nina Vaca Chairman and CEO of Pinnacle Group, Ann H. Lamont Managing Partner Oak Ventures and Nermin Sa’d Founder of Handasiyat.net demonstrated incredible thought leadership and drove a high energy movement throughout the panel.
Later in the evening, SAP University Alliances supported the 30 Stanford Entrepreneurship showcases in HealthTech, Machine Learning & VR/AR hosted by Tina Seelig, Executive Director, Stanford Technology Ventures Program. The showcases brought 3d printed heart surgery components, tesla-like wheel chairs, designed to overcome disability stigmas.
Day III
Final summit day! the UA team was ready to see Barack Obama share the stage among many great thought leaders. Some statements Obama gave we would like to share with you that resonated with us was for example "The world has shrunk. It is interconnected. It promises to bring extraordinary benefit, but it has challenges and can sometimes evoke fears. Entrepreneurship remains the engine of growth" - "Entrepreneurship is a spirit that speaks to something deep inside of all of us regardless of how we look or where we come from, we all share the same spark" - "Silicon Valley is no longer just a place or a destination, it is an ideal!".
Mark Zuckerberg also stated that "Personally, the biggest thing I’m concentrating on is connectivity. For most folks, this is a blocking factor. Without access to Internet, it is hard to imagine what you are missing out on". All in all we are moving into a world where the present leaders understand the importance of interconnectivity and matching the world's markets supplies and demands optimally in facilitating this connection/link.
The UA team was also fortunate to engage with top Cyber Security female leader Elena Kvochko, Head of Global Cyber Security Strategy and Implementation at Barclays, who we will look to partner up with around Hudson Yards and the banking accelerator efforts.
Google for Entrepreneurs in collaboration with Shared Studios had placed a Portal onsite at GES 2016. You may think that this is just a gold trailer, however It is a global technology art initiative. The Portal connected GES at Stanford University to Campus London, Campus Seoul, and Centraal, a Google for Entrepreneurs Tech Hub Partner in Mexico City. In collaboration with Pascal Finette of Singularity University we were supporting one of these sessions, that the president himself got to explore first hand, check it out here.
SAP University Alliances is heavily invested in the network based approach and globally interconnected mindset when it comes to optimizing our impact, and it was great to experience global top leadership confirm this strategy as key to success in today’s world. GES2016 was a remarkable experience not only to the delegates, but we do believe to anyone who touched the event, whether that was from connecting through the Google Portal, the online conversation or the support and staff of the event. Thank you GES we look forward to seeing you next year in India!!
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