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Course Overview

Comparative Innovation Ecosystems :: Europe v Silicon Valley v Asia


Continental Europe (CE) today serves as the foundation model for many societies, economies and innovation ecosystems across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Key structural elements of this 'traditional' model include conservative family- and state-owned enterprises, public universities, a strong State role, a bias towards debt over equity finance, an emphasis on communalism over individualism, and a historic focus on mature legacy industries, particularly manufacturing, natural resource extraction, commerce and agriculture.
Silicon Valley, in contrast, with its heavy focus on fast-moving information technologies, risk capital, research universities, public corporations, early adopting consumers, and individual initiative, has emerged as the region that diverges most strongly from the CE's dominant socioeconomic model. Over the past 10+ years, Europe has made significant progress towards a world-class startup, scale-up and venture capital ecosystem, but continues to lag Silicon Valley in several areas. As Europe faces growing competition from Asia and the US in computing, semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI), are its traditional science, engineering, and industry IP/growth platforms adequate to secure CE’s future competitiveness, prosperity, sustainability and societal well-being? What lessons does Europe offer for Silicon Valley and Asia?

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Course Methodology

Tactile Design Thinking for Complex Systems :: Cultural Anthropology

'Slice & Dice' :: Ecosystem Layers :: Clay Model Work :: Relationship Maps :: Building the Ecosystem 'Stack' :: Institutions :: Networks :: Markets :: Family Structures :: Social Stratification :: Hierarchy :: Governance :: Identity, Narrative & Groupthink :: Myopia & Taboos


This course employs hands-on ‘Tactile Design Thinking’ to deconstruct, embody, map and assess core entities, relationships and performance in innovation ecosystems. Students use sculpting clay, relationship maps and storytelling to capture the layered structure and behaviors of key institutions, groups and socio-technical influences and constraints. Collaborative design projects focus students' attention on grounded comparisons of ecosystem structure and performance across Europe and Silicon Valley. The approach references the respective science, engineering, design, industry and management traditions, mindsets, networks and cultures that undergird innovation economies. Sociological concepts such as hierarchy, status, social stratification, group identity, herd behaviors, groupthink, cultural myopia, signalling and myth-telling are valuable in building coherent narratives that help explain and predict past and future trajectories of ecosystems and their component entities.
Students are exposed to analytical methods derived from cultural anthropology that offer new insights into the social foundations of - and impediments to - entrepreneurship, innovation, science, risk aversion, failure avoidance, software and IT adoption. The course aims to move beyond today's tired narratives focused on ‘startups’, ‘venture capital’ and ‘digital transformation’ to reveal the underlying family structures and inheritance traditions that can heavily influence ecosystem emergence patterns, growth trajectories and performance. Lessons from Asia are also introduced in an effort to identify new ways forward for Europe and the United States.

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Sponsors 2022

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Center for Design Research (CDR), ME Design Group

Time | Location

Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM | Spring Quarter
Peterson Building #550 | d.School Building
Stanford University, Engineering Campus
550 Panama Mall
Stanford, CA 94305

Stanford Students & Faculty | Invited Speakers & Guests

Attendance by Invitation Only
Persons Interesting in Attending a Session Should Contact the Course Instructor in Advance

Schedule 2022 - Year Twelve

Week One

Startups, Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital in Europe v Silicon Valley


Sessions 1 & 2 || Tue Mar 29 || Thu Mar 31

Speakers: To be announced

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In Which Sectors does Europe show Particular Strength as a Startup Ecosystem? Fintech, Gaming, Crypto, MedTech, Deeptech, AI, Consumer, Enterprise

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What are the Factors Underlying the Strong Growth of Europe's Startup Hubs? London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Dublin, Wien, Helsinki, Tallinn, Warsaw, Prague

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What is Driving the Growth of Venture Capital across Europe? How do Europe's Top VCs Compare to Silicon Valley's Leading VC Firms?

Week Two

Slicing & Dicing Complex Innovation Ecosystems with Tactile Design Thinking


Sessions 3 & 4 || Tue Apr 5 || Thu Apr 7

Speakers: To be announced

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Understanding Complex Socio-Technical Systems :: Slicing & Dicing of Structure & Relationships :: Causes, Effects & Causal Chains :: Success & Failure Modes

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Chess as a Physical|Tangible Model for Medieval European Society :: Le Torri di Bologna :: Leveraging Spock's 3-D Chess

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Tactile Design Thinking :: Interactive Modelling of Institutions, Social Structures and Relationships with Clay and Maps

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WEIRD Societies :: Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic :: Kinship-based Institutions v Hyper-Individualism, Hyper-Mobility :: Cultural Evolutionary Theory

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Student Team Design Projects

Week Three

Family-owned Enterprises (I)


Sessions 5 & 6 || Tue Apr 12 || Thu Apr 14

Speakers: To be announced

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Governance, Organization, Culture & Status of Family-owned Enterprises (FoEs) in Europe and the USA :: FoEs in Asia, Africa & Latin America

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How Has the Family-ownership Model Shaped/ Constrained Continental European Thinking about Corporate Governance, Management, Hierarchy, Culture, Structure, Ownership and Growth?

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European v Silicon Valley Corporations: Leadership, Org Charts, HR, IT Systems, Functional Management, Startup Engagement, Open Innovation and M&A

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How Has the FoE Sector Influenced the Mission and Structure of the European University, Business School and Science System?

Week Four

Family-owned Enterprises (II)


Sessions 7 & 8 || Tue Apr 19 || Thu Apr 21

Speakers: To be announced

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How Do End Markets and Family Culture|Structure Influence Family Enterprise Management, Growth and Innovation Performance?

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Why Do European FoEs Under-invest in Information Technology, Corporate R&D and M&A?

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What Role do Family-owned Enterprises Play in Asia Today? South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China, India, Indonesia, Singapore

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Why are FoEs Largely Ignored in US Economic Policy, Business Schools and Industry Reporting? Would American Competitiveness, Economy and Society Benefit from a Stronger Domestic FoE Sector?

Week Five

The State and State-owned Enterprises


Sessions 9 & 10 || Tue Apr 26 || Thu Apr 28

Speakers: To be announced

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Role of the State :: Europe v US Models

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State-owned Enterprises in Europe :: History, Governance, Organization, Management Culture & Status

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How are State-owned Enterprises Similar|Dissimilar to Family-owned Enterprises? in Corporate Culture, Transparency, Use of Information Technology, Governance?

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State-owned Enterprises in the United States and Asia

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Bureaucrats and Civil Servants :: Privileges and Status :: Trust, Conflicts of Interest, Transparency & Accountability

Week Six+

Public/Private Universities & Business Schools :: Higher Education Systems :: IP, Research & Talent Production


Sessions 11 & 12 || Tue May 3 || Thu May 5
Session 13 || Tue May 10

Speakers: To be announced

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The Role, Mission, Structures and Governance of Public Universities :: Informatics and Business Faculties

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New University Models in Europe :: Emergence of Private Universities, Business Schools and Coding Academies :: University Reform Initiatives

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Influence of Universities & Business Schools on Startup Formation, IP Generation, Technology Transfer, Corporate Innovation

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Professors :: Privileges & Status :: How Does the Role, Elite Standing, 'Freedom' and Protection of Professors Influence Quality of Research, University Innovation Culture, and Science Focus and Impact? Trust, Conflicts of Interest, Transparency & Accountability

Week Seven

Case Study I :: Semiconductors and Display Sectors


Session 14 || Thu May 12

Speakers: To be announced

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The State of European/US Semiconductor, Electronics & Display Sectors: CPUs/GPUs, OLED/LCD Displays, Memory, FPGAs, EDA, IoT, Embedded Systems, Flexible Electronics, Arduino, Raspberry-Pi

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What are Europe's Strengths in Semiconductors and Electronics? Lithography, Materials, Automotive IC, Displays, Batteries, ASIC/SoC, RF, Sensors, Flexible Electronics

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Leading European Semiconductor Research & Manufacturing Centers :: IMEC, CEA, Holst, Fraunhofer || Leuven, Grenoble, Eindhoven, Dresden, Munich

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How Did Europe Grow Global Leaders in Semiconductor and Display Technology & Manufacturing? ASML, NXP, SCHOTT, ARM, Infineon

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What Can Europe & US Learn from Asia's Semiconductor Leaders and Industrial Policies?

Week Eight

Case Studies II & III :: Computing, Computer Science & Software Sectors


Sessions 15 & 16 || Tue May 17 || Thu May 19

Speakers: To be announced

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What are Europe's Strengths in Software and Computing? HPC, Quantum, Embedded Systems | Fintech, Gaming, eCommerce, Enterprise, CyberSecurity, Crypto, Open Source | SAP, Avast, Wise, Spotify, N26, UiPath

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How Did Europe Arrive at Its Current Structural Weaknesses in Computing, AI, Software and Cloud?

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What Happened to Europe's Original Homegrown Computer Companies? Why Did They Fail? What Lessons Can Be Learned? Olivetti, Nixdorf, Groupe Bull

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How is European 'Informatics' Different from 'Computer Science & Engineering'? Foundations, Historical Roots and Reforms

Week Nine

Self-Correction & Quality Control in Innovation Ecosystems :: Feedback | Feedforward Loops :: Failure, Institutional Mis-Management & Corruption


Sessions 17 & 18 || Tue May 24 || Thu May 26

Speakers: To be announced

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Corporate Corruption in Europe :: Wirecard, Volkswagen & Warren Buffett

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Corporate Malfeasance in Silicon Valley and America :: Theranos, Uber, WeWork, Purdue Pharma

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Whistleblower Protections and Class Actions Laws

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Investigative Journalism Traditions & Impact on Ecosystem Health :: Continental Europe v UK | USA

Week Ten

Team Design Project Presentations


Session 19 || Tue May 31 (extended)

Jurors: To be announced

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Lessons Learned in Tactile Modelling of Innovation Ecosystems, Their Institutions and Underlying Social Structures & Culture

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What Can Silicon Valley Learn from Europe and Asia?

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What Can Europe Learn from Silicon Valley and Asia?

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Tactile Design Thinking :: Moving Forward an Emerging DT Body of Practice


Featured Videos

Ukraine & Russia - 2015

European Tech Media

Poland & Austria - 2015

UK & Croatia - 2014

Angry Birds & Prezi - 2013

European Market Entry