#VelvetInnovation 2023

On 15 November, I attended the #VelvetInnovation Conference in Brno, Czech Republic, and it reinforced why the 2nd-largest Czech city is often referred to as the Silicon Valley of Central and Eastern Europe (#CEE). ?? The event opened with warm welcomes from Event Host Martina Pouchlá, Brno Mayor Markéta Vaňková, and South Moravian Region Governor Jan Grolich.

NOTE: I already shared an event summary in a standard LinkedIn post, but I want to expand on a few things here in a longer format to include more of the insights that I obtained from the event.

Keynote Presentation ??

The keynote, delivered by Daria (Dasha) Krivonos (@KrivonosDaria) CEO of Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies (@cphfutures), helped to transform the day's framework for discussion. Notably, especially poignant to Czech culture, she emphasized that history is a heavy anchor when imagining ideal Future scenarios (in my words, "let it go" and move forward). And her visuals contributed much to her audience's rapid understanding.

Insights from Daria ??

• In 'Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies', the 'Futures' is plural on purpose, to emphasize that there are multiple potential outcomes for us.
• Strategy for Failure: Why don’t we do what we’ve always done, at a time when everything is different.
• Are you making decisions today about tomorrow based on yesterday?
• History is a heavy anchor.
• Are you building bridges over rivers that are already moving? (see slide image below)
• If a group decision gets made too quickly on a complex topic, then someone is lying... or missing... or both.
• Ask endless questions (of yourself and others) about what the Future looks like.
• In this Future that I am painting, what needs to be true?
• What needs to happen… what needs to not happen… and what needs to go backwards?

For more info on Cophenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, visit: https://cifs.dk

UPDATE: Watch the keynote presentation and the first group panel discussion here:

Group Panel: Sustainable Prosperity of the Region ??????

The first group panel discussion, moderated by Martina Pouchlá, featured Jan Grolich, Ondrá? P?ibyla, Daniel Prokop, and Daria (Dasha) Krivonos, and addressed many of the local challenges to enhancing innovation in the region – key topics being how to focus our attention on imagining what we want (rather than focusing on negatives), how to achieve better integration with educational institutions, and how it would help to make more courageous mid-term commitments (rather than overly specific long-term goals that will change again in a few years).

Insights from the Panel Discussion ??

• Transforming education is key. (Prokop)
• This is the first generation where we are painting a worse Future. (Krivonos)
• 50 facilities in Czech Republic are responsible for 50% of Czech CO2 emissions. (P?ibyla)
• If you can share the learnings of your innovation, you are helping the whole community. (P?ibyla)
• Politicians will always be a few steps behind entrepreneurs. (Grolich)
• Increased cooperation between business, education etc. is needed, e.g. improving educational management of innovation in secondary schools. (Grolich)
• Removing the barriers is essential. What do we want to be known for in 20 years? What are we doing or not doing now that will prevent us from getting there? (Krivonos)
• Know the difference between feel good and do good. For example, food waste is a massive problem, so in some cases it can make more sense to preserve food with plastic than to let it go to waste. (Krivonos)
• We don’t have a good strategy, and when politicians do express some strategy it’s overly specific, e.g. creating microchips. It would be better to establish several more general strategies that can be actioned. We need fewer specific long-term goals (which change every few years) and more courage in stating specific mid-term goals. (Prokop)
• We need to be ready for change, and that will require preparing our education institutions for innovation. (Grolich)
• Many companies are already fully sustainable, as they are virtual in the cloud and only need renewable energy. (P?ibyla)
• Be honest with yourself. Don’t confuse innovation with improvement. A smart fridge is still just a fridge. (Krivonos)
• Three things that enable innovation: Brains, Money, No red tape. (Krivonos)

Sessions split after this, and I attended the following:

Session: Business Opportunities for ESG ??

This was a lively and insightful discussion between Y Soft CEO Vaclav Muchna and Group Head of ESG at CTP Adam Targowski, MRICS, hosted by Petr Holík. A primary takeaway was that ESG should not be looked at merely from a governmental (regulatory) lens, but more from an entrepreneurial (opportunity) perspective.

Insights from the Session ??

• You can look at ESG from the Governance level (regulatory), Corporate level, or Entrepreneurial level.
• Entrepreneurs focus on top line, CFO watches the bottom line. Entrepreneurs ask how can we use ESG for our top line?
• At Y Soft, over half the company has no managers… and everyone still works from home (operating in 17 countries… Brno and Prague offices are empty). Muchna, who has had an electric car for six years, quit his private pilot license training when he realized the environmental cost.
• ESG drives customer demand. For example, Y Soft started to sell CO2 emissions offsetting.
• New business opportunities abound: e.g. software for employee/fleet reporting at electric car charging terminals.
• Don’t think about how to be compliant, think about where the opportunity is.
• For employee buy-in, the business opportunity needs to be clearly conveyed by the CEO. But typically, employees just expect it [i.e. an ESG policy and focus].
• Creates a more responsible work environment, to attract and retain top talent.

Session: Scaleup Success Stories of the Year ??

In this session, two intriguing success stories were shared by Kentico Founder Petr Palas and Smartlook Founder Petr Jano?ík, hosted by Jiri Tobola. My main takeaways: 1) when you are looking for someone who fits your culture, find someone to fit the culture that you want to have, not only what it is now, and 2) founders should be less frightened and more open to selling companies when they get to a particular stage.

Kentico Insights from Palas ??

• When they replaced their COO, they spent about five months to filter through 100 candidates to find the right one.
• They wanted someone who understood their business, product and market… but they also wanted someone the right cultural fit.
• 'Right culture fit' does not mean someone who is like your current culture but someone who can help you create the sort of culture you want to have.

Smartlook Insights from Jano?ík ??

• After two investment rounds, they started looking around to find a company to buy them, and though there were a lot of companies that would buy them, there were not many GOOD companies that would buy them.
• After seven years, they went with a buyer.
• They had to be careful because news got around that they were going to sell and it caused challenges around the team not feeling stability.
• One reason Jano?ík sold was not having time for himself and his family… so now as a corporate things happen a bit slower and they have more personal time.
• Find a good cofounder, then a good investor, then a good buyer.
• Founders are sometimes afraid to sell a company but should be more open to selling companies.

Seeing Old Friends and Meeting New Ones ??

I was particularly glad to see my former Avast colleague Josef Hos for the first time since 2014, as well as Robert Pinkas, both of whom are undoubtedly two of Brno's secret weapons for thriving business growth.

And I was happy to meet Nikola Kozuljevic and Jenda Perla from the Brno B2B Marketing group, who introduced me also to Ondrej Hradil of Masaryk University.

And lastly, just before I had to leave early to meet my daughter, I met Monika Kvapilová of Moni ON AIR ?, and we had a great discussion around podcasts and what they can do as a low-cost means of getting a message out.

For more info on Moni ON AIR, visit: https://www.monionair.cz

Major Thanks ??

There was much that I missed, but I will return. Thank you to JIC - business with a purpose #BrnoRegion! ??

For more info on JIC, visit: https://www.jic.cz

And I am especially grateful to my colleague Nikita Palchikov for enabling me to attend this event in Brno by his being in Prague to represent Runecast Solutions in accepting our Frost & Sullivan 2023 European New Product Innovation Award for the CNAPP industry. ?? ??

For more info on Runecast, visit: https://www.runecast.com

Conclusion

Together, we make history.