Cisco’s leadership in the emerging market for the Internet of Everything (IoE), Smart Cities and Big Data/analytics rests on our ability to harness the technologies and business models of our global partner ecosystem – especially those of early-stage startups who are building truly disruptive capabilities for the future. I previously shared my vision of Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence (Cisco EIR) pioneering new ways for Cisco, already a successful innovator in the global IT space, to collaborate with innovative entrepreneurs in shaping the emerging technologies that will redefine our industry and change our lives. Since then, six startups joined our first incubation track last spring in Silicon Valley and began collaborating closely with Cisco business and engineering groups to co-create solutions for Cisco’s customers and partners. I shared various updates in the following months about the EIR program’s exciting milestones adding co-incubation partners across the US, taking the program to Europe and selecting the first startups to join our program there.

Today, I am pleased to share two more milestones marking the continued success of our open innovation strategy at Cisco, with Cisco EIR helping to lead the way.

Cisco EIR Demo Day 2014

On December 8^th, 2014, we celebrated the successes of the startups in our inaugural cohort with our first Cisco EIR Demo Day (photos) a gathering of over 100 attendees, including Cisco business and technology leaders, VCs, partners and others from the Silicon Valley startup community.

Read More »

Tags: analytics, Big Data, chicago, Cisco, Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence, cisco live, ciscoeir, Edzard Overbeek, EMEAR, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, Europe, EvoNexus, Fresno, innovation, Internet of Everything, internet of things, IoE, IoT, Mala Anand, pioneers, San Diego, security, Silicon Valley, Smart Cities, Smart City, startups, Vienna

CiscoLive! Milan 2015 kicks off on the 26th January and five Cisco IT graduates have been given the opportunity to attend the event as members of the IT Management (ITM) Program. On-site responsibilities will revolve around showcasing the impact & outcomes of Cisco IT to event attendees. We will also aim to reduce IT cost of delivering the ITM Program by assisting with operational activities, whilst gaining exposure to Cisco technologies, customers & partners.

Meet the team…  Read More »

Tags: #CLEUR, 2015, business of it, cisco live, coc-business-of-it, Europe, IT management, itm, milan, Millennial

I recently wrote about how we are extending Cisco Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR)  and our open innovation strategy beyond Silicon Valley through local incubation partners in Chicago, San Diego and Berkeley.  Our presence in these innovation hubs will enable us to discover, influence and learn from new ideas and talent at early-stage startups with potential to disrupt our industry.

Today, I am pleased to announce the launch of Cisco EIR Europe, extending our program to a non-U.S. innovation hub for the first time.  Cisco EIR will be located initially in Vienna, where we plan to launch a small cohort of early-stage European startups by January 2015 – to be supported & incubated by Cisco – drawn from across EMEAR.  As with Cisco EIR in Silicon Valley, we will look for game-changing entrepreneurs in IoE, security, Big Data/analytics, Smart Cities & other transformational opportunities that are in Cisco’s strategic line of sight.  Also as in our Silicon Valley program, the startups will be supported by Cisco engineering & product teams as well as our EMEAR partner ecosystem.  The Vienna-based program is intended to serve as the beachhead – our “Phase 1” – for a broader EU-wide footprint for Cisco EIR.

Key to our success is how we leverage the startup ecosystem that already exists in Europe.  To this end, starting in Vienna, we have partnered with Pioneers, a leading startup community organization in Europe.  More partnerships are in the works.

I know all of you will agree innovation knows no national boundaries.  Europe, with its deep entrepreneurial talent, large market and history of innovation, presents a unique opportunity for us.  Europe is also one of the key regions for our Smart Cities – as you saw from our recent announcement of a new Smart Cities initiative in Copenhagen, following similar projects in Barcelona, Amsterdam Chicago and Hamburg.

We are thrilled to forge relationships in the European startup community – and support entrepreneurs as partners in open innovation.

Tags: analytics, Big Data, Cisco, ciscoeir, cloud, entrepreneurship, EU, Europe, innovation, Internet of Everything, internet of things, IoE, IoT, Mala Anand, security, Smart Cities, Smart City, startups

Happy New Year! We’re kicking off the year strong with this very special international episode of Engineers Unplugged. Matthew Yeager (@mpyeager) and Juan Manuel Rey (@reypo) discuss cloud adoption in Europe and how the terms get lost in translation, but maintain a key focus: customers.

Metric Unicorn!

**The next shoot is last week of January at Cisco Live in Milan! If you want to be internet-famous, contact me ASAP to talk about being on the show.**

This is Engineers Unplugged, where technologists talk to each other the way they know best, with a whiteboard. The rules are simple:

1. Episodes will publish weekly (or as close to it as we can manage)
2. Subscribe to the podcast here: engineersunplugged.com
3. Follow the #engineersunplugged conversation on Twitter
4. Submit ideas for episodes or volunteer to appear by Tweeting to @CommsNinja
5. Practice drawing unicorns

Join the behind the scenes by liking Engineers Unplugged on Facebook.

Tags: cloud, customer defined data center, data center, Europe

By Howard Baldwin, Contributing Columnist

As I wander through the world of broadband, I frequently worry that for every step forward, we take one step back. As I’ve written about previously, we seem to be at an inflection point where we see the potential value of broadband, but putting it into reality seems to be more ephemeral.

Especially here in the U.S., we seem to be “talking the talk” more than we’re “walking the walk.” The confluence of certain events recently has underscored my ongoing concern even more recently.

Read More »

Tags: broadband, culture, Europe, intelligent community, internet, Japan, public policy, research