Stephen Fleming's blog about academia, venture capital, and spaceships
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe, restful, and joyful holiday. Welcome back to what's sure to be an eventful 2013! I wanted to tell you a little about one of our newest neighbors in Centergy: Panasonic Automotive Systems (PAS). It's an interesting story about the power of place; EI2 and Georgia Tech play a critical role. … [Read more...]
In October, I got a call from Yves Berthelot, our Vice Provost for International Affairs. He'd been invited to participate in a Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce economic development trip to Brazil, but he was going to be in Singapore at the time. He knew that I had a special interest in Brazil... would I like to go if he picked up the travel … [Read more...]
In EI2, we have lots of roles. Coaches. Consultants. Analysts. Service coordinators. Lots of things. But we can never forget that we work for a university. And universities are in trouble. I was able to spend part of two days last week with Rich de Millo, former Dean of the College of Computing, and now the director of Georgia Tech's Center … [Read more...]
Some of you know that I was one of the original backers of the X PRIZE that awarded $10 million to the first private team to build and launch a piloted spacecraft to 100 kilometers above the earth's surface, twice within two weeks. As far back as my undergraduate days at Georgia Tech, I wrote a paper on the British Crown's establishment of a … [Read more...]
It's World Space Week! And to celebrate, some Georgia Tech students and friends are sponsoring SpaceUp Atlanta on Saturday, October 6, 2012. You should come! … [Read more...]
Georgia Tech graduates who are my age or a little younger will remember "Drownproofing." … [Read more...]
I'm taking advantage of my column this month to talk about something that seems completely unrelated to EI2, but I promise to connect it back in the last few paragraphs. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the story! On the evening of Sunday, August 5th, a crowd started gathering in the Hodges Room on the 3rd floor of Centergy. By 6:00 pm, we had … [Read more...]
We got some nice coverage in Atlanta magazine this month as one of eleven "Groundbreakers" in helping to transform the city. Here's the cover and pages 76-77 of the August 2012 issue. … [Read more...]
During January, the first class of Flashpoint graduates pitched their businesses at three events in Atlanta, New York City, and Menlo Park, California. I've written about Flashpoint before, but I find that a lot of EI2 employees still ask "So does Flashpoint compete with ATDC? Is it replacing VentureLab?" Now that we've seen our first results, it's … [Read more...]
In the fall of 2008, Atlanta was experiencing a major gasoline shortage. Hurricanes Gustav and Ike had rocked refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. Carl Rust asked David Bridges and James Seals if they could go to Savannah to help with a large College of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) proposal. Fortunately, the duo had just enough gas … [Read more...]
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