Research Tours
Silicon Valley Research Tours
Since 1996 we have been visiting Silicon Valley every year (with a couple of exceptions), and sometimes twice a year, where we have met large enterprises, startups & scaleups, accelerators, incubators, industry analysts and Venture Capitalists such as Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Intel Capital, Next World Capital & Sequoia Capital, amongst others.
These visits have given us some unique advantages including:
Many of the enterprises we have met are the movers and shakers of technological and application development across the world and include:
Silicon Valley Research Tours
Since 1996 we have been visiting Silicon Valley every year (with a couple of exceptions), and sometimes twice a year, where we have met large enterprises, startups & scaleups, accelerators, incubators, industry analysts and Venture Capitalists such as Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Intel Capital, Next World Capital & Sequoia Capital, amongst others.
These visits have given us some unique advantages including:
- gaining early insight into technology and market trends that will arrive in the UK and Europe some time later,
- gaining 'first mover' advantage,
- access to a network of specialist subject matter experts in Silicon Valley and the tech hubs of Europe, and
- membership of an alumni and professional network which spans a wide range of public and private market sectors.
Many of the enterprises we have met are the movers and shakers of technological and application development across the world and include:
- Adobe Systems
- Cisco Systems
- Docker
- EMC
- HPE
- IBM
- Microsoft
- Oracle
- Pivotal Labs
- Ripcord
- Salesforce
- Samsung Research America
- Splunk
- Tesla
- vArmour
Innovation Competition - Poland
We participated as one of the judges at an Innovation competition organised by one of our clients and one of their suppliers in Poland. The event took place in Krakov and Warsaw where we saw about 15 presentations from startups and early stage Polish companies. We participated in all sessions and provided our feedback as well as scores for each one. This gave us the start of an insight into the vibrant Polish startup ecosystem.
Israel Research Tour
We have visited Israel to research their startup ecosystem. Israel has been referred to as The Startup Nation, and for good reason. The country has a unique and vibrant startup ecosystem. It is one that starts out with an international perspective.
Silicon Valley Research Tour (single client)
We organised a private week long Research Tour to Silicon Valley for one of our Australian clients. We organised the logistics and curated the content for the Tour, our clients flew in from Australia and spent a week visiting Venture Capitalists and established enterprise IT suppliers including Kaggle, Splunk, Oracle and Samsung Research America. We also included a number of small startups and incubators, including The Loft and The Australian Landing Pad where we met with the Australian Consul-General. This was one of our most successful Tours with delegates following up with many of the organisations we met.
Silicon Valley Research Tours
We have been visiting Silicon Valley for over 20 years. The Tour moved from The Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, (sadly now part of one of the big chains as it failed during the pandemic) after 21 years to The Stanford Park Hotel, Menlo Park. The Stanford Park Hotel was selected to reduce the amount of time spent travelling up and down Highways 101 and 280, where traffic volumes (and consequential delays) have increased significantly these past few years, a sign of the growth in activity in Silicon Valley and recognition that the locus of startups and innovation has moved from San Jose and its surrounding areas closer to San Francisco
European Technology Research Tours
We have also participated in European Technology Research Tours where we have met with European startups and growing enterprises as well as researched the startup ecosystems of a number of countries. The host cities we have visited include Copenhagen, Helsinki, Munich and Prague.
Single Company bespoke Research Tours
Some organisations seek insights into the technology developments that are happening or could potentially disrupt specific vertical markets. We have been involved in helping to organise single company research tours, with an agenda that is bespoke to that client's specific industry and business challenges.
Research Tour Insights & reports
We produce comprehensive reports from each of the Tours we attend, which includes an Executive Summary of the emerging themes and trends together with insights as to their potential impact on our clients businesses. The comprehensive report includes a summary of each company that presented on the Tour, including selected extracts from their presentations and an analysis of what they presented with more detailed insights into their potential impact on our client's businesses.
Bird & Bird's European Disruptive Technology Challenges
Our founder, Gerald Janes has also participated as one of the judging panel in 3 of the recent European Disruptive Technology Challenge events which have been run annually by Bird and Bird.
We participated as one of the judges at an Innovation competition organised by one of our clients and one of their suppliers in Poland. The event took place in Krakov and Warsaw where we saw about 15 presentations from startups and early stage Polish companies. We participated in all sessions and provided our feedback as well as scores for each one. This gave us the start of an insight into the vibrant Polish startup ecosystem.
Israel Research Tour
We have visited Israel to research their startup ecosystem. Israel has been referred to as The Startup Nation, and for good reason. The country has a unique and vibrant startup ecosystem. It is one that starts out with an international perspective.
Silicon Valley Research Tour (single client)
We organised a private week long Research Tour to Silicon Valley for one of our Australian clients. We organised the logistics and curated the content for the Tour, our clients flew in from Australia and spent a week visiting Venture Capitalists and established enterprise IT suppliers including Kaggle, Splunk, Oracle and Samsung Research America. We also included a number of small startups and incubators, including The Loft and The Australian Landing Pad where we met with the Australian Consul-General. This was one of our most successful Tours with delegates following up with many of the organisations we met.
Silicon Valley Research Tours
We have been visiting Silicon Valley for over 20 years. The Tour moved from The Fairmont Hotel, San Jose, (sadly now part of one of the big chains as it failed during the pandemic) after 21 years to The Stanford Park Hotel, Menlo Park. The Stanford Park Hotel was selected to reduce the amount of time spent travelling up and down Highways 101 and 280, where traffic volumes (and consequential delays) have increased significantly these past few years, a sign of the growth in activity in Silicon Valley and recognition that the locus of startups and innovation has moved from San Jose and its surrounding areas closer to San Francisco
European Technology Research Tours
We have also participated in European Technology Research Tours where we have met with European startups and growing enterprises as well as researched the startup ecosystems of a number of countries. The host cities we have visited include Copenhagen, Helsinki, Munich and Prague.
Single Company bespoke Research Tours
Some organisations seek insights into the technology developments that are happening or could potentially disrupt specific vertical markets. We have been involved in helping to organise single company research tours, with an agenda that is bespoke to that client's specific industry and business challenges.
Research Tour Insights & reports
We produce comprehensive reports from each of the Tours we attend, which includes an Executive Summary of the emerging themes and trends together with insights as to their potential impact on our clients businesses. The comprehensive report includes a summary of each company that presented on the Tour, including selected extracts from their presentations and an analysis of what they presented with more detailed insights into their potential impact on our client's businesses.
Bird & Bird's European Disruptive Technology Challenges
Our founder, Gerald Janes has also participated as one of the judging panel in 3 of the recent European Disruptive Technology Challenge events which have been run annually by Bird and Bird.