Mobile Internet Innovation in Greece
Friday, May 8th, 2009Chris Koopmans, Bytemobile vice president of Product Development, was recently a featured company speaker at a workshop on ‘Entrepreneurship in Greece and Synergies with Silicon Valley’ at Stanford University. The purpose was to promote innovation and growth in Greece through international investment and collaboration in emerging technology ventures. Bytemobile was profiled as a unique success story – a global market leader, incorporated in the U.S., with a large development center located in Patras, Greece.
Chris presented the Bytemobile story – born at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – and the story-within-a-story of the European Development Center – born at the University of Patras and growing steadily since 2004. He recounted the company’s strategic decision to build a breakthrough mobile internet product – the Web Fidelity™ Suite of content adaptation software – in Patras. He also cited the innovation and dedication of the Greek engineering team as a key factor in Bytemobile’s growth.
Chris shared with the audience his unique perspective as both a founding employee of Bytemobile in the U.S. and a resident of Greece for the last 2.5 years, working out of the Patras center and directing a worldwide R&D team. Through examples and anecdotes, he made the point that cultural differences among engineers in different locations actually foster rather than inhibit innovation. Also, living and working close to customers in key geographic markets – rather than centralized in a headquarters location – enables engineers to think globally while delivering local solutions. This advantage is critical for Bytemobile, which today serves 107 customers in 54 countries.
The all-day workshop, held on May 2, was attended by approximately 200 executives, entrepreneurs, investors, professors, students, and U.S. and Greek government officials. The event was organized by the Hellenic Association of Stanford in conjunction with the Hellenic Semiconductor Industry Association (HSIA) and other economic development organizations in Greece. The HSIA administers government funding to match investments in Greek operations by Bytemobile and other foreign companies.
The workshop was covered in the Greek news media (English translation). ERT, a major satellite television channel in Greece, plans to interview Chris, Bytemobile founder and Chief Technology Officer Constantine Polychronopoulos, and other participants on the event and the progress of Greek entrepreneurship.
All materials presented at the workshop will be available on the Hellenic Association’s website.
-Tod Bottari
Image use courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/eusebius
