Cloud Computing is a Game Changer

With the advent of cloud computing, the cost of computation, application hosting, and content storage and delivery is plummeting. In addition to capital efficiency, this new paradigm is creating unprecedented opportunities for entrepreneurs and the cloud OS platform establishment. The cloud is reshaping the technology landscape and driving radically different and innovative applications that are creating unprecedented opportunities.




Whether or not you drank the cloud kool-aid, learning more is a good idea...


On February 25th at the Westin in Waltham, John Landry, Founder and Managing Director, Lead Dog Ventures will lead a discussion at MassTLC's Annual Meeting with all the key players, including cloud OS platform providers -- Amazon Web Services, EMC, Google, IBM, Microsoft -- the hottest application developers who are building new and innovative businesses in the cloud -- Animoto, Sonian, TwinStrata -- and a cloud computing investor -- General Catalyst.


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Game Industry Needs Marketing Campaign

We sat down with local game industry leaders Peter Blacklow, CEO of Worldwinner, Brett Close, CEO of 38 Studios, David Grenewetzki, Studio Head at 2K Boston, Satayan Mahajan, CEO of Motus Games, Jon Radoff, CEO of gamerDNA, Al Reed, Studio Head at Demiurge Studios, Dan Scherlis, CEO of a stealth start up and past CEO of Turbine, and Kent Quirk of Linden Lab and Boston Post Mortem to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the sector. We heard themes familiar to many of our local technology clusters such as the need to better market the game sector for the purpose of attracting senior talent, companies, and investments into the region and sector. We agreed that further cluster development work should be pursued. Following the meeting, several members of the group met with Governor Deval Patrick who later announced that he plans to help recruit an anchor game company like Electronic Arts to Mass. during a west coast tour.

So, if you're running a company in the local game industry and are interested in joining the dialogue, drop me a line. Sorry but "Gaming" (aka gambling) company CEOs need not apply for this cluster.

Economic Benefits of IT Industry Investment to be Studied

Following a meeting with Governor Deval Patrick, the IT Industry Study Group, a consortium including representatives from the Mass Technology Leadership Council, Mass NetComms Council, AT&T, Cisco, Comcast, EMC, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Verizon, and the Governor’s Office of Housing and Economic Development, announced plans for a study on the profile and economic contributions of the IT industry in Massachusetts.

The University of Massachusetts’ Donahue Institute’s Economic and Public Policy Research Group will conduct the study on behalf of the consortium. The Institute will study the size and scope of IT industry sectors in Massachusetts and analyze the extent to which IT firms contribute to the competitiveness of other Massachusetts industries. The report will explore opportunities for the local IT industry and investigate major obstacles to growth and expansion in Massachusetts. The $150,000 project is being underwritten by the consortium of private companies, in partnership with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s John Adams Innovation Institute.


View press release.

Lessons from the Front Lines

Yesterday MassTLC's Social Media Cluster convened a panel of experts from Communispace, EONS, Gather.com, HubSpot, and Northeastern University to discuss "Getting Started with Social Media." There were close to 100 people in the audience and the discussion became very interactive with panelists offering "dos" and "don'ts" for companies using this new medium.

This video clip will give you a flavor for the conversation...

Also, you should check out Paul Gillin's summary of highlights from each speaker, Patrick Rafter's blog about The Social Media SeeSaw, and "Is Social Media an Oxymoron" by Barbara Bix. Click here for event overview and attendee list.

MassTLC Robotics Leaders Address the NEVCA

The New England Venture Capital Association invited leaders from MassTLC's Robotics Cluster to present on the State of the Robotics Industry in New England at their January meeting. This clip features Michael Greeley, Managing Partner at Flybridge Capital, Charles Remsberg, CEO of Hocoma, David Kelly, CEO of Bluefin Robotics, Bob Quinn, President, Talon Division, Foster-Miller/QinetiQ, Ted Acworth, CEO of Artaic, and Mick Mountz, CEO, Kiva Systems.




Bill Gates recently noted that the robotics industry today is similar to that of the computer industry back in the early 80’s, saying “I can envision a future in which robotics devices will become a nearly ubiquitous part of our day-to-day lives.”

Selling Healthcare Technology to the Corporate, Consumer and Payor Segments

MassTLC's HealthCare Cluster hosted a panel discussion that explored how products and services are positioned for maximum market appeal, how different stakeholders in healthcare technology form their purchasing decisions, and various sources of payment, including creative arrangements that will open your eyes to building a market for your healthcare technologies.

The panel included Tom Iglehart, President of Care Commons as moderator, Lee Belniak, Vice President of Health and Insurance Benefits at Fidelity Investments, Benjamin Bielak Jr., Director of Technology at Dovetail Health, Patrick Boyle, Vice President, Americas Healthcare and Life Sciences Solutions at IBM, Nadine Hays, Chief Marketing Officer at D2Hawkeye, and Chuck Eberl, VP of Marketing at Silverlink.

Topics included: Factors that were decisive in their market model and segmentation strategies; Lessons learned and changes made to their business model as they pursued stakeholders who pay; Bundling products with services, creating tiered bundles to meet the needs of different customer segments, and building recurring revenue; Role of customization in products and services to benefit the end user; and Opportunities to leverage technology to scale their product and service delivery.

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Innovation 2008 unConference: Video Overview (Draft)

Hollywood film editor Larry Jordan http://hdfilmtools.com/ attended the unConference and also ran a small film crew to capture the event. This is a draft of the video that he created. While we still have a little editing yet to go, we wanted you to see what we have so far.

Thanks, Larry for your excellent overview!



By the way, an even higher resolution version of this video is available on Larry's Jodada website at http://www.jodada.com/masstlc/masstlc2.mov

Getting Started with Social Media -- Lessons from the Frontlines

Thursday, January 22, 2009, 8-10:00am
Communispace, 100 Talcott Avenue, Watertown, MA

Social media is a fast, efficient and relatively inexpensive way to get your message directly to an audience, but the variety of available tools can be intimidating. Blogs, podcasts, online video and social networks each present intriguing opportunities for audience engagement, but one size doesn't fit all. Successful social media strategies start with defining strategic objectives and then selecting the appropriate mix of tools to achieve them. In this session, successful social media practitioners share their secrets for getting initiatives off the ground and pointed in the right direction.

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Video Game Gold in Massachusetts

Jon Radoff, game industry entrepreneur and CEO of GamerDNA.com, lead a discussion at a MassTLC program on the growing billion-dollar video game industry in Massachusetts.

Panelists included Peter Blacklow, CEO of Worldwinner, Brett Close, President & CEO of 38 Studios, Jim Crowley, CEO of Turbine, Florian Hunziker, VP Business Development at Harmonix, Oscar Jazdowski, Senior Relationship Manager at SVB, and Jason Schupbach from the Mass Office of Business Development.

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