Aquí sí hay brotes verdes
Source: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/portada/hay/brotes/verdes/elpepusoceps/20110911elpepspor_9/Tes
Hay un lugar en el mundo donde todos aún sonríen. También los españoles. Lleno de pequeños y ambiciosos emprendedores, y gente con ideas y estupendos discursos para venderlas. Allí están Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter... Es University Avenue, en Palo Alto (California), capital de Silicon Valley.
Estamos en El Dorado, en Palo Alto (California, EE UU). Y hasta aquí peregrinan chinos, coreanos, italianos, franceses, indios y, cómo no, españoles. Todos en busca de su milagro. Es el lugar donde reinventarse desde cero si se tienen las dosis adecuadas de inteligencia, ambición y dinero. Algunos triunfan y otros no, pero se marchan más sabios que cuando llegaron. University Avenue es una calle repleta de cafés con alta concentración de Ferraris y Maseratis por metro cuadrado. De lunes a viernes, y de 10.00 a 17.00, se convierte en un laboratorio donde, si se aguza el oído, se puede aprender cómo ser un chico de 20 años, tener una intensa relación con el pantalón de pijama y el MacBook Pro y convencer a un señor capitalista de que se tiene entre manos el nuevo Twitter en el que invertir 500.000 dólares.
Nadie se sienta a negociar en un café de University Avenue por menos. Esos señores ricos, llamados VC por sus siglas en inglés (venture capitalist), llegan en sus cochazos desde Sand Hill Road, el sitio uniformado y aburrido donde tienen oficina. Allá irán luego muchos de los aspirantes a millonarios más jóvenes a peregrinar por una…
Spanish infrastructures installed in the USA
Source:http://www.spaintechnology.com/icex/cda/controller/pageGen/0,3346,1549487_6719805_6728366_4273409,00.html
The Spanish companies have been constantly on the rise in the area of international infrastructures in recent years. In fact, according to the annual report published by Public Works Financing (PWF), groups such as ACS/Iridium, Sacyr/Itinere, Ferrovial/Cintra, Global Vía (FCC-Caja Madrid), Abertis, OHL and Acciona/Necso are among the leaders in the world ranking of concession operators. It is a complex sector in which experience, both in management and in number of projects, tends to be the business card presented when participating in a tender.
It is precisely this background that has enable a large part of the Spanish firms that lead this ranking to make room for themselves in the United States. Until just a few years ago in this country, Spanish presence in the sector was practically symbolic, but now it is increasingly relevant.
Today, the United States is the world's largest infrastructure market, primarily in the area of non-residential civil engineering. Environmental demands, the need to adapt transportation lines to modern times, mobility problems, traffic in the cities or simply the deterioration of the infrastructures are some of the most notable characteristics that make it a sector with a future for concession operators.
The Spanish position
The rise of Spanish infrastructure companies on the American market has not been by chance, nor exclusive to this sector. The advancement of Spanish multinationals abroad has increased year after year, becoming relevant in the world's different industries, from finances to…
Abengoa closes $1.2 billion financing for the Mojave Solar Project and starts construction
Loan proceeds will be used for the construction of the 280 MW (gross) Mojave Solar Project, utilizing advanced technology manufactured in America
Total investment will be approximately $1.6 billion and is already creating jobs across the United States and spurring economic developme
Denver, Co.-September 14, 2011- Abengoa, the international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainable development in the energy and environment sectors, announced today that it has finalized a $1.2 billion loan guarantee with the Department of Energy to build the Mojave Solar Project. This concentrating solar power (CSP) plant will use advanced proprietary parabolic trough technology that will increase the plant’s efficiency and lower the total cost.
With a total investment of approximately $1.6 billion, the 280 MW Mojave Solar Project will create more than 900 construction and permanent operations jobs and over a thousand direct and indirect service and manufacturing jobs throughout the supply chain that will span the country. Construction has already begun and the Mojave Solar Project will come online in 2014.
The Mojave Solar Project demonstrates America's commitment to build an American-made solar industry which will provide energy independence, much-needed jobs, and economic development in the currently weak manufacturing sector.
The Department of Energy (DOE), through the Loan Programs Office, issued the loan guarantee to support this project. Abengoa signed a power purchase agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric (AMEX: PCG-PE), one of America’s largest electric utilities, to buy the energy produced by the Mojave Solar…
Marketing To Hispanics: Show It, Don’t Spell It. Lesson From Coca-Cola, Twitter and Univision
The words “Hispanic” or “Latino” is never used for any campaign targeting that very market for Coca-Cola whose Hispanic consumer base represents 15-20% of its total business.
On the panel of BizTechHispanic held in San Francisco on Sept 13th, representatives from Coca-Cola, Twitter and Univision shared marketing points on communicating and interacting with the Hispanic community.
The overall consensus centered around three main marketing points that small businesses can adopt when marketing to the Hispanic community.
1) Relevance – While this may be true across the board for any business, marketing to the Hispanic does not necessarily mean you only write copy and communicate in Spanish only. As most Hispanics in the U.S are bilingual, relevance in terms of imagery and personalized messaging becomes more important.
2) Cultural Fluency – Having an in-house staff who is Hispanic is essential when it comes to managing the marketing campaigns and messaging. Language and cultural nuances are key in reaching the target audience. Jaime Jimenez from Univision gave the example of TV series Southland, an east Los Angeles based police unit which did not showcase a single Hispanic person on the show — An impossible fact if one is to be in the East L.A area. While TV may not always be a true representation of real-life, this fact alone will alienate the entire Hispanic community if that was the intended target audience of the show.
3) Passion Points or Interest – Coca-Cola uses…
European Networking Event
On August 31st, European Networking took place in San Francisco. Profesionals who are from different countries and sectors gathered to network. During the event, entrepreneurs, VC's and the professionals involved in cross-border business exchanged their point of view.
This event was organized by GABA, the French American Chamber of Commerce (FACCSF) and the British American Business Council (BABC) in cooperation with the Irish Network SF, the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, the Business Association Italy America (BAIA), the California-Spain Chamber of Commerce and the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce.
EVALUACIÓN COMPARATIVA DE LA INNOVACIÓN Y LA COMPETITIVIDAD DE EE.UU. Y LA UE
Fuente: Oficina Económica y Comercial de EspañaEmbajada de España
The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation organizó el 19 de julio en Washington DC una conferencia en la que se presentó la actualización del informe “The Atlantic Century: Benchmarking U.S. and EU Innovation and Competitiveness”, presentado por primera vez en 2009. Los participantes fueron los siguientes:
- Robert D. Atkinson, presidente de The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
- Michael C. Maibach, presidente y director ejecutivo de European American Business Council.
- Marja Kuosmanen, Ministra Consejera de Asuntos Económicos de la Embajada de Finlandia.
- Kent Hughes, director del programa de Science, Technology, America and the Global Economy del Woodrow Wilson Center.
- Lenny Mendonca, director de Knowledge Development en McKinsey Global Institute.
Atkinson presentó las conclusiones del estudio y destacó que no se trataba de…