Held annually within the Quebec City Conference, the Public Policy Forum on Venture Capital and Innovation (“PPF”) has evolved into the premiere gathering of public policy designers and industry leaders (GPs, LPs academics and experts) responsible for encouraging high-potential entrepreneurship and venture capital from all major economies. Its objectives are to give participants an opportunity to exchange views, experiences and concerns regarding public policies in support of a buoyant venture capital ecosystem to finance emerging technology companies. Now in its sixth year, it is an invitation-only event building upon the international audience already developed by the Quebec City Conference. In 2011, 17 countries from North and South America, Europe and the Middle East, Asia and Oceania were represented. Despite substantial demand, attendees are limited to 120.
The Chairman of the Forum is Yigal Erlich, founder of the Yozma Group (Israel) and father of the Israeli venture capital industry. Dr Josh Lerner, Jacob H. Shiff Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard Business School and a world leading authority on venture capital and private equity is Special Advisor. The President of the Forum is Canadian expert Dr Gilles Duruflé.
Innovation and the development of entrepreneurial communities are based on the ability to develop, attract and retain talent. In the same way, venture capital’s success relies mainly on the management team’s expertise, specialisation, and depth. The problem with the financing of innovation is not “money”; it is “smart money”, that is the combining of capital and expertise.
The main theme of the 2012 PPF will be the linkage between the human and financial capital needed to create an ecosystem conducive to innovation. Among the more specific topics that it will consider, the forum will notably focus on the impact of accelerators (Y-Combinator, TechStars, SeedCamp, etc.), the new tools developed to generate, attract and engage talent and build entrepreneurial communities. Combining this theme with internationalisation, a Harvard Business Case will be presented that will consider Start-Up Chile, a program of the Chilean Government designed to attract world-class, early stage entrepreneurs to that country. Other topics will include “Cutting edge ideas and new models in corporate VCs” and “One year later: the new US Jobs Act”, a discussion on how the recommendations of the US Small Company IPO Task Force’s Report discussed at the 2011 PPF, were turned so quickly into legislation and what it means for US and non US Capital markets.
As it was the case in 2011, a series of workshops will be organized at the end of the day to allow participants to interact with peers on other important topics of interest to them.
The Main Conclusions of the 2011 PPF are to be found here.
The 2012 PPF will be held at the Historic Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City on Wednesday, October 24, beginning at 8:30 am and ending at 5:00 pm. All guests of the PPF are invited to the Conference, which will begin immediately thereafter (5:00 pm on Wednesday, October 24) and end at 6:30 pm on Thursday, October 25.
Now in its ninth year, the Quebec City Conference (QCC) is a private, invitation-only, not-for-profit annual meeting designed for institutional and strategic investors; sovereign wealth funds and family investment offices; leading international venture capital and private equity firms; and also for public policy makers, industry experts and leading academics supportive of long-term investment activity producing societal benefit, in a format intended for high-level exchange and reflection.
In 2011, the QCC was pleased to accept 451 participants from 30 countries. No other conference of this kind exists anywhere else in the world.
Chartered jets are being made available for the exclusive of QCC attendees from and to Boston and New York.
Additional information is on QCC’s web site at www.QuebecCityConference.com