The Edinburgh Stanford Link is a £6 million, 5 year initiative funded by Scottish Enterprise to foster collaborative research and commercialisation links between the Human Communication Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh and the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University.[1] Starting in Feb 2002,[2] the programme focuses on speech and language processing technology. There are two core parts to the Link, the commercial programme and the student programme. The former focuses on working with commercial companies and the latter focuses on fostering a culture of entrepreneurship within the University of Edinburgh. They are located in Level 8 in Appleton Tower, Crichton Street, Edinburgh.
The Edinburgh Stanford link has two major facets; the first is working with Scottish companies to facilitate technology transfer, the second is working with the School of Informatics to foster an entrepreneurial culture. This includes teaching three entrepreneurship courses at the University of Edinburgh. Broken down further, the Link considers the following as their core activities:[3]
The Link's research activities are focused around Speech and Language technologies. These include:[5]
The Silicon Valley Speaker Series was inspired by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. Starting in 2004,[6] it features Silicon Valley based entrepreneurs speaking on current trends and emerging sectors. The format is an hour-long talk at 6.30pm, followed by 30 mins of questions, and an hour-long networking session in the foyer on the University of Edinburgh Business School in Bristo Square (next to Potterrow).
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 18 October 2005 | "On raising early stage financing from venture capitalists" | David Cremin, DFJ Frontier |
| Tuesday 1 November | "On Presentation and Pitching" | Bill Joos, Garage Technology Ventures |
| Tuesday 7 March 2006 | "On Business Models: innovation and making money" | Sean Foote, Labrador Ventures |
| Tuesday 14 March | "On bootstrapping a Company from Scratch" | Ken Hess |
| Tuesday 21 March | "On Building a C2C internet business" | Jessica Harwick, Swapthing |
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 6 February 2007 | "On Design and Creativity" | David Law, co-founder of Speck Product Design |
| 21 February 2007 | "On the Culture of the Internet and Online Communities" | Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist |
| 20 March 2007 | "How to Start a Venture Capital Fund" | Trevor Loy, Flywheel Ventures |
| 13 March 2007 | "On Venture Capital Financing in Silicon Valley" | Randy Haykin, Outlook Ventures |
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 17 October 2007 | "On Practices of Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Firms" | Bart Balocki |
| 1 November 2007 | "Blogs and Wikis: Growing influences and markets of the internet" | Mark Fletcher |
| 14 November 2007 | "Innovation in Internet Advertising" | William Urschel, CEO of AdECN |
| 21 November 2007 | "Venture Capital Investment Strategy in Cleantech" | Alex Sloan, Expansion Capital Partners |
| 23 April 2008 | "The Trials and Tribulations of an eLearning Spinout" | Mike Clouser |
The Link organised the first BarCamp to be held in Scotland – Barcamp 2007. The next Scottish BarCamp is to be held on 1 and 2 Feb in Edinburgh, 2008.
The current team is composed of[7] (in alphabetical order):