This episode of Techtalk features Tamar Raz, CEO at Hadasit Medical Research Services & Development, the technology transfer company of Hadassah University Hospitals in Jerusalem, and a Technology Transfer Expert with nearly 20 years of experience leading business transactions and management in the biotech and life sciences sector. Tamar is also the Director of KAHR-medical Ltd. and she serves as the chairperson of Hadasit Bio Holdings, a public holding company allowing public participation in the promising field of biotechnology.

This conversation covers Tamar’s point of view about the technology transfer in Israel and her remarkable experience as an expert and entrepreneur who brings medical innovations from the laboratory to the market.

Tamar starts with an historical overview of the technology transfer sector in Israel and continues by giving us precious insights about the technology transfer infrastructure, steps, phases and key departments. We discuss not only the basics of technology transfer, but also more advanced industry activities like the incubation or acceleration programmes, that can not exist without the infrastructure described before.

IBM Alpha Zone - the first accelerator that IBM built in the world, located in Israel - is a great example.

Moreover, Tamar shares lessons about how a technology transfer center like Hadasit can become financially sustainable and the importance of a flexible business model that means long-term investment and short-term activities that bring revenues.

“We worked in Hadassah, in the last 4 or 5 years, to enlarge the innovation ecosystem of Hadassah. So, we want to bring companies to work with us not only based on our IP, but also based on their IP, on their ideas. Because we believe that connecting the physicians and professors of Hadasa to the industry and to the start-up companies, we create a cycle of innovation at Hadassah that will bring us more work and will bring us more revenues. But also we create better inventors that will think about the new ideas all the time”, Tamar explains.

Tune in to find Tamar’s favorite Hadasit success story and:

🌐 Historic overview of how Israel became such a great example of technology transfer (04:30)
🌐 How the technology transfer infrastructure was built (10:30)
🌐 The universities input in creating technology transfer departments (18:30)
🌐 The first steps that Romania, or other countries with an undeveloped technology transfer sector, should take (26:00)
🌐 Key departments for successful technology transfer (35:30)
🌐 The differentiators of an incubation or acceleration programmes (39:00)
🌐 Why Digital Health? (41:00)
🌐 IBM Alpha Zone and its impact (43:00)
🌐 What makes a technology transfer center like Hadasit financially sustainable? (45:00)
🌐 Tamar’s favorite Hadasit success story (48:30)
🌐 The economic impact of the technology transfer in Israel (57:30)

Follow Tamar Raz on:

🌐 Hadasit Website - https://www.hadasit.org.il/team/tamar-raz-phd/

🌐 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamar-raz/

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In this episode, meet Peter Cowley - serial entrepreneur and angel investor, board member of the Global Business Angel Network (GBAN) and President Emeritus of the European Business Angel Network (EBAN) - as he walks us through the lessons he learned while founding and running 14 businesses in technology, property and publishing, over the last 40+ years, and while building a portfolio of 76 angel investments over the last decade - 11 positive exits (one of which at 107X, paying back all invested cash), 14 failures, 51 still living.

Peter explains his investment criteria (The Team and the CAC CLV Ratio, The Product and The Finances) and talks about the importance of trust and chemistry not only between investors, but also between investors and the investees. He also describes what a good relationship between founders looks like and points out the reasons why investors leave.

In addition, Peter gives us his honest point of view about the advantages and disadvantages of university spin-outs, the implications of not having enough financial knowledge as an entrepreneur or about his energy and drive resources, that help him push his limits and do so many things in life.

“I really enjoy learning. And particularly, I enjoy spending time with people of all sorts of age or younger. The Millennials, I just absorb so much from them”, Peter says.

Listen to this episode to learn more about:

🌐 How did he get to his investment criteria and why are they so important for him? (04:45)
🌐 The second criterion - The Product (10:15)
🌐 The third criterion - The Finances (14:00)
🌐 Reasons for failure that he discovered through his portfolio (20:00)
🌐 Why do investors give up founding a team (26:15)
🌐 His favorite company or investment (29:00)
🌐 What makes for him a good relationship between founders? (32:00)
🌐 The main differences between university spin-outs and non-university spin-outs (34:30)
🌐 How does one become better at business? (41:30)
🌐 Peter as a book author (48:30)
🌐 Where does he take the energy and drive to push his limits and do so many things? (57:00)

Follow Peter Cowley on his:

🌐 Website - https://www.petercowley.org
🌐 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/plcowley
🌐 Twitter - https://bit.ly/3vNF0kR

You are invited to read Peter Cowley’s:

🌐 A letter to my 29 year old self - https://www.petercowley.org/a-letter-to-my-29-year-old-self
🌐 The Invested Investor: The New Rules For Start-ups, Scale-ups and Angel Investing - https://www.investedinvestor.com/book
🌐 Founder to Founder: Tips and Tales From 100 Entrepreneurs and Investors - https://www.investedinvestor.com/founder-to-founder

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This episode of Techtalk features Jan Smejkal, better known as #YourChinaGuy, who resides in Shenzhen and is the founder of YCG, a boutique cross-border business expansion firm working with a selected group of companies to supercharge their operational and business development capabilities in China. Jan is a venture partner at Black Panther Capital (BPC), founded by established and influential family offices around the world. And he is also Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) at Stacks Accelerator, which is investing in outstanding startup teams building on the Stacks Blockchain. Nevertheless, Jan is the one who scaled Startup Grind (the world's largest startup community) in Asia.

In this interview, Jan talks about the beginning of his new life and entrepreneurial journey in China, back in 2018. And also about how he manages to facilitate the next generation's cross-border success in China by going much deeper than the past generations of entrepreneurs and by truly trying to understand the culture, in order to play a long-term game and to build sustainable entrepreneurial bridges.

“If you have that comprehensive approach - the next generation approach - that you want to understand the culture, you want to meet a lot of people, you want to build your network locally, not just in your specific area, but you want to go broad,” Jan says. “Those are the things that can save you eventually.”

Listen to this episode to find more about Jan’s point of view over the following topics:

🌐 How did he get to China and build his #YourChinaGuy brand? (04:30)
🌐 How does he facilitate the next generation's cross-border success in China? (14:45)
🌐 On the other hand, how does he help the Chinese companies that want to expand especially in Europe? (19:45)
🌐 How does he see the supply chain at the moment? (22:00)
🌐 Can we have high-quality products made in China? (26:00)
🌐 Will the manufacturing balance the supply chain problems and come back to Europe? (32:00)
🌐 What was his experience at Foodpanda, where he was part of the founding team? (37:30)
🌐 How do you get to be on the LinkedIn Power Profiles List? (40:45)
🌐 Where can people find him if they want to learn more about China? (46:00)

Connect with Jan Smejkal on his:

Website - https://yourchinaguy.co
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourchinaguy
Twitter - @yourchinaguy
Instagram - @yourchinaguy
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/jsmejky

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