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Startups: A New Generation of IEEE Members Launch Heir Own Ventures
Startups: A New Generation of IEEE Members Launch Heir Own Ventures
Startups: A New Generation of IEEE Members Launch Heir Own Ventures
ORG
S P E C I A L
R E P O R T
Startups
A new generation of
IEEE members launch
their own ventures
Limor Fried
Founder,
Adafruit Industries
PAG E 6
REGION NEWS
S O U T HWE S T ERN
U N I T E D S TAT ES
Student branch at University of Oklahoma, Norman,
forms IEEE Microwave Theory
and Techniques Society chapter.
REGION
REGION
WESTERN UNITED
S TAT E S
Student branch formed at
University of Arizona, Tucson.
E U R O P E , MI D D L E EAS T,
A N D A F R I CA
10
9
1-6
L AT I N A M ERICA
Student branch at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana,
Bogot, forms IEEE Electron
Devices Society chapter.
10
M E M B E R S A R O U N D the world
are organizing special events in celebration of IEEE Day on 6 October.
Now in its sixth year, the day commemorates the anniversary of the
1884 meeting in Philadelphia where
members of the American Institute
of Electrical Engineers, one of IEEEs
predecessor societies, gathered for
the first time to share technical ideas.
IEEE members from every
region are planning events including technical and networking
meetings, panel discussions, and
social gatherings. Last year, a total
of 523 celebrations took place.
Visit http://www.ieeeday.org to see
what other IEEE groups are planning
and add your own event to a world
map. You can also download this years
IEEE Day logo and T-shirt design.
There are also contests for the
best photos and videos taken at IEEE
Day celebrations. Cash prizes will be
awarded to each IEEE organizational
unit that submits a winning photo
or video. Winning entries will be
displayed on the IEEE Day website.
To commemorate the event,
IEEE is offering a US $30 discount
on dues for new members who join
between 4 and 10 October. (The
offer does not apply to student or
graduate student memberships.)
New members can simply enter
the promo code IEEEDAY15 at
http://www.ieee.org/join to receive
the discount.
A.D.
INSIDE
4
10
16
ONLINE
Available at theinstitute.ieee.org
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THEINSTITUTE.IEEE.ORG
E A S T E R N U N I T ED S TAT ES
Dayton (Ohio) Section
forms IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) and IEEE Young Professionals (YP) affinity groups.
N O R T HE A S TERN
U N I T E D S TAT ES
Student branches at the
University of Massachusetts,
Amherst, and Suffolk University, Boston, form IEEE Power & Energy
Society chapters.
REGION
REGION
BRIEFINGS
IEEE-Eta Kappa
Nu Celebrates FiveYear Anniversary
I T S B E E N F I V E Y E A R S since
Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) merged with
IEEE to become the organizations
honor society. Formed more than a
century ago to recognize exemplary
college students, it is now known
as IEEE-HKN and continues to recognize excellence in scholarship,
leadership, and service. Inductees are chosen on the basis of their
technical, scientific, and leadership
achievements. Since the merger,
they must also be IEEE members.
The merger expanded HKNs
operations and chapters well
beyond North America. Since 2010,
IEEE-HKN has grown from 125 to
193 active chapters at universities
around the world.
More than 100 years old, HKN
itself was founded in 1904 by
Maurice L. Carr and a group
of nine other engineering students at the University of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign.
Calendar &
IEEE Events
September
3
1930
The Lackawanna
Railroad inaugurates
electric passenger train
travel in New Jersey,
between Hoboken
and Montclair.
1850
Birth date of Eugen
Goldstein, a German
physicist (born in Poland)
who would coin the
term cathode ray for
the stream of electrons
observed in vacuum tubes.
October
4
1854
Birth date of
Michael E. Pupin, who
served as president of
both of IEEEs predecessor
societies: the Institute of
Radio Engineers (in 1917)
and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers
(in 1925 and 1926).
1965
London opens its
Post Office Tower
(now the BT Tower), a
telecommunications
structure.
1011
Region 8
meeting in
Ljubljana, Slovenia.
1926
The Radio Corporation
of America launches
the National
Broadcasting
Co. (NBC)
20
1954
Fortran, a high-level
programming language,
runs for the first time, on
an IBM 701 computer.
2324
Region 7
meeting in London,
Ont., Canada.
November
1867
Birth date of Marie
Sklodowska-Curie, who
would win two Nobel
prizes, one for phyics and
the other for chemistry,
for her pioneering
research on radioactivity.
11
1973
The Ethernet, a family
of computer networking
technologies for local
and metropolitan
area networks, begins
functioning at the Xerox
Palo Alto Research
Center, in California.
13
1922
Birth date of IEEE Fellow
Ambros P. Speiser, a
Swiss pioneer of digital
computer design.
24
1960
Bulova begins selling
its Accutron, the
first commercial
electronic wristwatch.
18
29
1901
Birth date of
Enrico Fermi [above],
recipient of the 1938
Nobel Prize in Physics
for his work on induced
radioactivity by
neutron bombardment
and the discovery of
transuranic elements.
29
1971
Surgeons at the University
of Pennsylvania, in
Philadelphia, are the
first to successfully use
electric stimulation
to repair a patients
bone fracture.
1963
Western Electric Co.
manufactures the first
telephone in the United
States with push buttons
instead of a rotary dial.
1823
IEEE Meeting
Series in New
Brunswick, N.J.
Historical events are provided by the IEEE History Center. For photos and videos of these
engineering milestones, visit http://theinstitute.ieee.org/briefings/calendar.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: MONDADORI PORTFOLIO/GETTY IMAGES; CORBIS; SSPL/GETTY IMAGES; FOTOSEARCH/GETTY
IMAGES; NBCU PHOTO BANK/GETTY IMAGES
THEINSTITUTE.IEEE.ORG
S P E C I A L
R E P O R T
Making IEEE
a Home for Founders
Startups
ENGINEERING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
in many ways go hand in hand. They require imagination, know-how, and the ability to bring a concept
to reality. IEEE members have for decades been at the
forefront of turning their ideas into successful businesses. In this issue, we present IEEEs efforts to attract
more entrepreneurial types to the organization and to
support members ventures through online resources,
networking events, and more.
The IEEE Technical Activities Ad Hoc Committee on
Entrepreneurship, for example, is making it a priority to
help members start or grow their ventures [this page]. You
can also read about IEEE members who launched startups
in the past decade. IEEE Member Limor Fried [p. 6]
found success with her do-it-yourself electronics company, Adafruit Industries. She turned a simple idea into a
US $33 million business selling electronic kits and parts
for hobbyists as well as tutorials for building smartphones,
wearables, handheld video games, and other gadgets.
Other members have launched ventures in connected
cars, robotics, and mind-controlled technology [p. 8]. An
IEEE Fellow who has taken two of his companies public and
has invested in six othersnone of which has failedoffers
advice to members on how they can do the same [p. 10].
Whether you already have a project in the works or are
just now toying with ideas, we hope this issue inspires you
to take the next step. Remember: You dont have to go it
alone. There are related conferences to attend [p. 14] and a
number of IEEE resources [p. 15] to help you. Dont forget
that Hewlett-Packard founders William Hewlett and David
Packard and Medtronic cofounder Earl Bakken started their
companies in garages [p. 18].
Wed like to hear about your venture or if you have advice
for aspiring entrepreneurs. Write to us at institute@ieee.org.
Monica Rozenfeld, associate editor
Pictured above: Center: Limor Fried. Clockwise from top left: Jessica Colao, Devon
Ryan, Milton Chang, Mou Riiny, Earl Bakken, Tan Le, Melonee Wise, and Joo Barros.
O D A Y S entrepreneurs
have different needs in
terms of fund-raising,
product development,
and social marketing.
Often, the startups are not just
developing new technologies but
also creating innovative software
for existing ones. Creative thinkers
enjoy going to networking events
with like-minded individuals as
well as attending academic conferences. And they are likely to
subscribe to credible sources that
curate content theyre interested
in, including research articles,
videos, and other material related
to their product ideas.
Those are just some of the findings from a years worth of analysis
conducted by the 2014 IEEE Ad Hoc
Committee on Entrepreneurship.
The IEEE Board of Directors established the committee to recommend
programs, products, and services
that the organization should
provide to help encourage more
engagement with these individuals.
After all, record numbers of young
people are starting businesses
just the type of people IEEE wants
for future members.
Its not that engineering
research isnt helpful, but todays
entrepreneurs are looking to
network with other talented and
creative people, investors, and
entrepreneurs in order to develop
their companies, markets, and
products, says IEEE Senior Member Ken Stauffer, the committees
vice chair. These unmet needs are
some of the reasons why its not
easy for entrepreneurs to find a
home within IEEE.
In 2003 Stauffer cofounded
Technology Assurance Labs, an
independent laboratory in Orlando,
Fla., that provides business-focused
solutions and products.
CENTER: ADAFRUIT INDUSTRIES; CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: JESSICA KLIMA; CARLOS SALAZAR/TRESALPHOTOGRAPHY; MILTON CHANG; IEEE SMART VILLAGE; AP PHOTO; EMOTIV; FETCH ROBOTICS; VENIAM
ROBERT NEUBECKER
CENTER: ADAFRUIT INDUSTRIES; CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: JESSICA KLIMA; CARLOS SALAZAR/TRESALPHOTOGRAPHY; MILTON CHANG; IEEE SMART VILLAGE; AP PHOTO; EMOTIV; FETCH ROBOTICS; VENIAM
The
Do-It-Yourself
Entrepreneur
Posting DIY
projects on my
website used
to be a way
for me to kill
time until I
got a real job
capital funding Fried has grown her
business, which earned revenues
of $33 million last year. It now has
83 employees at its 930-squaremeter facility in New York City.
H OW I T AL L BEGAN
ADAFRUIT INDUSTRIES
Melo
READY
TO
LAUNCH
MEET FIVE
OF IEEES
ENTREPRENEURS
B Y A M A N D A D AV I S
IEEE MEMBERS
Comp
Robot
Locati
Year fo
M IND CONTR OL
Tan Le
Company: Emotiv
Location: San Francisco
Year founded: 2003
focus, excitement, stress, and relaxation. Over time, patterns in the data
could help doctors detect the onset of
dementia and similar disorders. The
headset has been sold for US $399 in
more than 90 countries.
Le told National Geographic
magazine she wants to keep the price
down so the headset is accessible to
researchers everywhere: I want to
leverage the creativity of researchers
in mathematics, statistics, data mining, computer science, biology, and
medicine, as well as the general public, she says, adding, The brain is the
cornerstone of virtually every facet of
our lives. I wish we knew more.
Jessica Colao
Company: iHub
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Year founded: 2010
Melonee Wise
Company: Fetch
Robotics
Location: San Jose, Calif.
Year founded: 2015
Joo Barros
Company: Veniam
Location: Porto, Portugal
Year founded: 2012
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: EMOTIV; FETCH ROBOTICS; VENIAM; CARLOS SALAZAR/TRESALPHOTOGRAPHY (HAIR STYLIST: JULI RISTAU); JESSICA KLIMA
NU R T U R I N G N E W I D EAS
CAREERS
Getting Schooled
on Startups
10
ership in Entrepreneurial
Spirit, which recognizes
an individual who has
been instrumental in furthering entrepreneurial
growth and enthusiasm in
the United States.
How has Chang been
able to help startups
succeed when so many
others have failed? With
an engineering approach,
he says.
B ECO MI N G AN ENTREPRENEUR
N EV ER S TO P L EARN I N G
MILTON CHANG
F TE R TAKING T WO
Some things
dont make sense.
ER
6/8/15 1:29 PM
OPINIONS
CHIME IN
Sparking Conversation
In June, The Institute
described whats needed
to make wearable
fitness trackers accurate, secure, better
equipped to monitor
vital signs, and more
enjoyable to use. The
conversation continued on our website.
A S K T HE E X P E R T S
with a background in
experimental psychology;
M.C. Schraefel,
professor of computer
science and human
performance at
the University of
Southampton, in
England; Jesse Jur,
assistant professor
of textile engineering,
chemistry, and science
at North Carolina State
University, Raleigh; and
Kevin Curran, assistant
professor of computer
Q:
Q:
Q:
ISTOCKPHOTO
Steven Kotler: Is
Silicon Valley Ageist
or Just Smart?
the institute
EDITOR IN CHIEF
S E N I O R E D I T O R I A L A S S I S TA N T
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E D I T O R I A L C O N S U LTA N T
Alfred Rosenblatt
COPY EDITORS
Joseph N. Levine, Michele Kogon,
Mark Yawdoszyn, Peter Borten
IN 1877,
Edward Weston
founded the
Weston Dynamo
Machine Co. to
explore possibilities within the
expanding field of dynamo
machines. He would later move on
to establish the Weston Electrical
Instrument Co. in 1888.
In 1878, Thomas Edison
founded the Edison Electric Light
Co. In 1879, Elihu Thomson and
Edwin Houston founded the
Thomson-Houston Electric Co.,
which later merged with Edisons
company to form the General
Electric Co.
EDITORIAL OFFICES
EN REPRENEURIAL R OOTS
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Anthony Durniak (Staff Executive, IEEE
Publications), Matthew Genovese, Susan
Hassler (Editor in Chief, IEEE Spectrum),
Sheila Hemami (Vice President, IEEE
Publication Services and Products),
Terrance Malkinson, Cecilia Metra,
Mirela Sechi Moretti, Annoni Notare,
James ONeal, Krishnan Parameswaran,
Chonggand Wang
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THEINSTITUTE.IEEE.ORG
No matter how
an idea starts,
it needs a
community in
order to grow
Diverse communities, ones that
allow technical professionals to
pursue their ideas in any direction,
are the cornerstones of innovation. They are so critical that the
current IEEE Board of Directors
and the IEEE in 2030 Ad Hoc Committee have made the fostering
of such communities one of four
key strategic areas of focus in the
coming years.
Providing the right conditions
for forming startups isnt just a
good thing to doits critical. We
live in an era in which technical progress is measured by the
year and month; in the coming
decade, its likely that progress
will be measured by the month
and week. If IEEE neglects to
encourage the growth of communities that seek entrepreneurial
outlets for their efforts, it does so
at its own peril.
THE NEXT 130 YEA RS
13
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Entrepreneurs
Upcoming events cover innovating
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to search the knowledge base for
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to frequently asked questions,
submit your own question, or initiate
an online chat with an agent.
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ISTOCKPHOTO
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THEINSTITUTE.IEEE.ORG
BOOK SM A R TS
Kick-start Your
Business With
IEEE Resources
BY MONICA ROZENFELD
MBARKING ON A NEW
ROBERT NEUBECKER
TIM E TO N E T WO R K
Its important for new entrepreneurs to forge connections with likeminded people, and IEEEs countless
networking events around the world
are, of course, an integral part of
many of its conferences. In particular,
IEEE has groups to help members
launch and grow their ventures.
The IEEE Cyprus Entrepreneurs
Network, formed in January 2013,
helps members in Region 8. The
group offers workshops on many
entrepreneurial topics, including financing a business, protecting intellectual property, and
leadership styles. It also matches
members with potential angel
investors as well as mentors who
can help them evaluate their
business plans.
THEINSTITUTE.IEEE.ORG
I N N OVATI N G I N I N D I A
15
Powering Africa:
It Takes a
Smart Village
Learn More
innovate.ieee.org
Follow IEEE Xplore on
PEOPLE
B Y K AT H Y P R E T Z
William Hewlett
David Packard
Hewlett-Packard
IEEE Fellows David Packard [left] and William Hewlett stand in front of Hewlett-Packards original
headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. In 1939 the two started what would become a multibillion dollar
company out of Packards garage. The photo was taken in 1989.
18
THEINSTITUTE.IEEE.ORG
AP PHOTO
M O S T C O N S U M E R S A R E FA M I L I A R W I T H
Earl Bakken
Medtronic
I T WA S W H I L E R E PA I R I N G
IEEE Life Fellow Earl Bakken [above] was repairing electronics in his
Minneapolis garage when he was inspired to found Medtronicnow a leading
developer of pacemakers, catheters, and other medical equipment.
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