Diasporas, Governments, VCs

and the conundrum of the

sustainability of your home-
grown ad-hoc network

Can you fill the glass and drink it

too?

Emiliano Kargieman

ek@aconcaguaventures.com
Timeline of relevant networks
I’m working with
 ECODAR
• A coordination of established
Diaspora groups to help Argentina
develop a significant knowledge-
based economy

• Workshops & meetings & ...

• Pilot Projects:
– THASA / G-Lab test
– Urbix / mentoring & intl. exposure
– Evaluation of R&D results
 RAICES
• A program inside SECyT, designed to:
– Strengthen the links of academia with their diasporists
– Help retain talent
– Help repatriate talent

• Actions:
– Cesar Milstein Subsidies
– Return Subsidies
– Network subsidies
– Workshops & …

• New!: High-qualified job searches; Double the budget,

double the fun?; How to measure impact? How to raise the
bar?
 Canary Tech
• You can figure it out: Help bring the Canary Islands to
the knowledge economy 

• Big selling points:

– Availability of talent;
– Belonging to the EU; EU incentives

• Strategy: Import start-ups

• Pilot – Nov 06
– Venture forum with 40 companies from Germany, US,
Mexico, Argentina
– & Workshops & …
 LATIPNET
• Goals:
• To educate Latin innovation agents on the value of
IP stressing commercialization and new venture
generation
• To gap knowledge and value creation

• Structure: 501(c3) in Silicon Valley, nodes in

Spain, Mexico and Argentina (being incubated
inside Secyt!)

• Figuring out model; launching with:

• A Biotech startup hot from the university lab
• IP strategy and patenting consultancies for small companies
• Due dilligence services for VC funds
• & Workshops & preaching the word & …
 In the proposed framework
Venture forum Canary Tech

Evaluation R&D results

(effort)

Latipnet Biotech startup

Latipnet Patent services

Urbix
Give

Network subsidies

THASA / G-Lab

Return subsidies
Cesar Milstein subsidies

Get (results)
The experience so far tells
me…
we know we can pour water
but…
we are not so sure if there´s a
glass, and…
who drinks from it
 To move to the virtuous
quadrant
(effort)
Give

Get (results)
 The Biggest Challenges
• Align different players with potentially
conflicting interests:
– Find the right public/private - profit/non-profit mix

• Keep the word spreading (keep building

momentum)
– We should abuse the transactional and resource
opportunities for these
– We still need the workshops & the preaching & the
databases & the forums

• Measure success
– Distance to the magic quadrant!
– AND the first derivative!
(is that second forum of yours more successful? Keep them coming,
but align expectations)
 The Dream
• More Success stories!!!

• Lab-nerds in the frontpage of Caras Magazine showing off

their ferraris

• To build symbiotic, collaborative relationships:

public/private, startups/grownups, etc

• To develop local capabilities to measure success and risk

• To go from government champions to government policy

• To get a few % of the pension funds into risk investments;

to get a few % of the oil tax into clean energy research;
etc… you get my point.