Led by Dr. Riad Hartani (author of "Tech Nomads of the Universe"), we have gone through various iterations of jump-starting and growing tech businesses over the years, witnessing a lot of the challenges on the way up, or down...primarily out of the Silicon Valley as a center of gravity, as well as various other tech hubs all over the world (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Seoul, Taipei, Barcelona, Singapore, Paris, etc.)....We aim at working with entrepreneurs, policy makers and technology corporations to answer some of these challenges...in its own unique way: hands-on, selective engineering and business involvement, bridge to funding and ecosystem plug-in.
"Tech Nomads of the Universe" - Dr. Riad Hartani, Book Release - 2020 Edition
How are the world's tech entrepreneurship ecosystems evolving and thriving? Dr. Riad Hartani is uniquely positioned to answer this tricky but fascinating question, along with thirty long-time entrepreneur friends, with a wealth of knowledge and experience in tech and entrepreneurship on a global scale between them. This collection of interview-driven essays is a journey through regions and through time, canvassing the cultural, historical, geographical and governmental forces that drive innovation — or lack thereof. To create meaningful, lasting, universal change, we must know both where we're going — and where we have been.
Select Tech Articles and Videos
Select Strategic Advisory Clients and Projects
Advised four of the top 10 Tech Private Equity Firms on “Due diligence on Data Center M&A"
Advised one of the top 3 Technology Companies on “Due diligence on Telecom Operator M&A”
Advised one of the top 3 operators of Low Earth Orbit Constellations on “Space Internet Design”
Advised one of the top 3 Semiconductors chips companies on “Due diligence on 5G investments”
Advised two of the top 4 Cloud Providers on “Deploying a cloud strategies”
Advised one of the top 5 Investment Bank on “Due diligence on 4G Mobile Operators M&A”
Advised one of the top 3 Global Banks on “Tech Ecosystem Development in the Emerging World”
Advised four of the top 6 Strategy Consulting Firms on “Cloud, Data and DevOps Strategies”
Advised one of the top 5 Smart Cities on “End to End Internet of Things Ecosystem Design”
Advised one of the top 3 Mobile Operators on “Due diligence on IoT investments”
Advised three of the Top 4 Telecom Infrastructure Vendors on “Cloud Offering Strategies”
Advised two of the Top 10 Financial Stock Exchanges on “Designing a New Financial Exchange”
Advised one of the top 3 Internet Broadband Operators on “4G/5G infrastructure Deployment”
Advised one of the top 10 Commercial Banks on “Designing an IT/Data Transformation Strategy”
Advised three of the top 5 Data Center Operators on “Greenfield Data Center Services”
Advised one of the top 5 TMT Law Firms on “Strategic IPR for M&A positioning”
Advised two of the Top 4 Telecom Infrastructure Vendors on “Designing an AI Eco-System”
Advised 30+ startups worldwide on “cloud, IoT, security, AI, Space on technology strategies”
Advised 5+ Government and Telecom Regulators on their Internet Technology roadmaps.
Advised 5+ City Governments in 4 continents on their Smart City Strategies and Deployments
Advised one of the first private 5G enterprise wireless deployments (Fortune100) in the world
Advised one of the first commercial public 5G deployment in the world
Biography
Dr. Riad Hartani has spent the last two decades contributing to the development of Internet, Mobile and Artificial Intelligence technologies, mostly out of the Silicon Valley as a hub, building multiple leading technology startups, advising on strategic investments and rolling out innovative technologies all over the world. He led many industry firsts in the areas of Internet infrastructure design, cloud architectures, Space Internet Technologies and Artificial Intelligence. He is well versed in the technology startups, innovation and investment eco-systems globally. He has lived, worked and travelled in very diverse regions of the world, gaining a broad understanding of cross-cultural technology management and technology ecosystems development. He jumpstarted “Padovani Ventures”, a multi-disciplinary advanced technology venture. He co-founded a global technology and investments advisory firm, “Xona Partners” (Silicon Valley, Singapore, Vancouver, Tokyo, Hong Kong), with a novel startup incubation and spin-in model as a way to foster disruptive technology innovation. He co-founded “iValley.co”, a technology startup co-creation studio in the Silicon Valley with a Blockchain, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence (AI) focus. He has been in the executive team of various Silicon Valley technology startups, including: Wichorus, Inc. as head of Global Systems Engineering (acquired by Tellabs for over $165 Millions USD), Anagran, Inc. as Head of Technology (acquired by Saisei, raised over $50 Millions in venture capital) and Caspian, Inc. as Chief Architect (acquired by Sable Networks, raised over $300 Millions in venture capital). Focus has been on the development of Internet infrastructure, Web Scale cloud platforms and AI applications. He worked closely with Tier 1 Silicon Valley Venture Capital firms, contributing to raising over $400 Millions USD of venture capital funding, in the ventures he was involved with, leading to various successful exits/acquisitions. He lead and contributed to advanced research teams in prestigious R&D labs in the USA (University California at Berkeley), Canada (National Research Council), France (Scientific National Research Center), South Korea (Telecommunications Research Institute) and Japan (Hitachi Central Research Labs & AI Labs). He advised some of the top 10 technology companies on their business and investment strategies in the USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China, among others. He engineered many industry firsts, including: AI based autonomous subway control systems (France), AI based facial expressions recognition (Japan), ultra-low latency stock exchange data center design (Hong Kong) and 4G/5G mobile networks rollouts (USA). Riad’s Ph. D. thesis was one of the first Machine Learning dissertation combining Neural Networks (numerical AI) and Fuzzy Systems (symbolic AI) with successful industrial applications. He has been a founding member of various technology ventures, on the advisory board of various startups in over 15 countries, been on the judging committee of global investment and technology awards events over 20 times, published/presented over 250 research, industry and Internet standards papers, lectured at over 10 lead global universities and R&D labs, advised various government and regulators on technology matters, performed investment due diligence to some of the top 10 private equity firms and has been on the advisory boards of several startups accelerators around the globe. He is on the advisory board of various Smart Cities related initiatives (e.g. Omega, a NASA spin-off, Algiers, Barcelona, etc.), an Adjunct Professor and an Angel Investor (Member of the Angel Capital Association). He is a member of XPRIZE Deep Tech brain trust team. He has been inducted into the "New Internet (IPv6)" Hall of Fame for his contributions to the deployment of the new generation Internet worldwide. He holds two Engineering degrees and a Master degree (applied mathematics, systems and computer engineering, from Ecole Polytechnique, Algeria and Ecole des Mines, France) with the highest distinctions. He earned a Doctorate in Computer Science (AI) with highest honors from the University of Paris, was a doctoral and post-doctoral fellow at University of California at Berkeley - all awarded by age 25. Later on, completed the Executive Education in Business at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Riad won various prestigious academic and industry awards, including the best Engineering and best Ph. D. thesis distinctions, along with various inventions/patents. Riad was born and grew up in Algiers. He lived and lead R&D teams in about 8 countries across North America, Europe, Middle East, North Africa, China, South East Asia and the Far East, conducted business and deployed technology solutions in well over 50 countries and travelled to over 100 countries/regions on 6 continents, gaining a valuable understanding of diversity across cultures and societies.
Recent Invited Talks and Workshops
Some of the recent keynotes include the following:
A Journey into the past, present
and future of disruptive tech This talk is
primarily about travel in time – into the past first and then into the future.
Its also a journey across technologies that are shaping our era, and that we
have been closely involved with: Artificial Intelligence, Wireless Internet, Blockchain,
Web Scale software, Quantum Computing, Space Internet, Sharing economy and select
others. We travel to the early 2000s and ask ourselves: what would be the most
significant technology innovations that would have the most significant impact
over the next couple of decades? We get back into the mid 2020s, and revisit
our predictions: significant surprises as far as what was predicted right and what
ended up being wrong. Predicting the future of technology is hard very indeed.
We then do a reverse trip, travel into the early 2030s, and observe which
technologies, from those emerging today, would be having the most significant
impact. We will likely not get this right as well, but it will certainly set
the stage for a debate, which we shall conduct together, as far as what is most
relevant today, where the priorities might be and how to address the
opportunities.
Making high risk technology investment
bets – insights and perspectives Venture Capital
investments in startups tend to track the latest technology development trends,
and in some cases, attempt to anticipate them. Nowadays, Artificial
Intelligence, Quantum Computing, Space Internet Tech and Cyber security are
considered to be some of the most promising technologies, with significant
upside potential. In this talk, we re-visit the most promising developments in
some of these areas, as far as developed technologies, business models, investment
considerations, and risk return equations. Specifically, we illustrate how
early stage high-risk technology investors approach the fundamental question of
which technologies and startup invest in and the underlying reasoning behind
such decision-making. Building from our own experiences going through early
stage startup fund raising and investing process, in the Silicon Valley and
various other tech hubs in the world, we synthesize our what worked and what
didn't, and some of the art and science around all of this. We conclude by
mapping this to our views on how some of these technologies, and venture
capital investments into them, are likely to evolve over time
The different lives of a Silicon
Valley tech startup – personal experiences Building successful
technology startups is a very hard challenge. Yet, as societies fully immerse
into the information age era, there is little hope for a sustained economic
development without mastering the art of nurturing technology ideas and growing
them into sustainable businesses. Achieving this lofty goal is the key question
we attempt to address. A number of fundamental conditions have to line up for a
thrilling startup ecosystem to emerge and develop. Building on our experience
working with a variety of technology startup ecosystems around the world, we
revisit the most critical ones, with a specific emphasis on the aspects that
relate to incubating, accelerating and funding the nascent high risk technology
ideas, all the way to engineering and business validation, and growth. A brief
retrospect of the lifetime of venture capital models, anchored in the Silicon
Valley hotbed first, then spreading to other regions of the world over time, is
presented. Its progressive evolution over time is synthesized. Insight into how
such models, and adaptations thereof, could potentially apply to the local
context is debated, as a way to bring in reflections and decisions on how to
best evolve the entrepreneurial startup environment. Finally, and taking our
learning into pragmatic actions, recent ongoing initiatives we are diligently
working on are introduced. Work in progress, yet, long road ahead.
Grooming tech innovation
ecosystems – Recollection of experiences As societies
fully immerse into the information age era, there is little hope for a
sustained economic development without mastering the art of nurturing
technology startup ideas and growing them into sustainable businesses. Ways of
achieving this lofty goal is the key question we attempt to address. A number
of fundamental pre-requisites have to line up for a thrilling startup ecosystem
to emerge, develop and thrive. Building on our experience working with a
variety of technology startup ecosystems around the world, we revisit the most
critical ones, with a specific emphasis on the aspects that relate to
incubating, accelerating and funding the nascent high risk technology ideas,
all the way to engineering and business validation, and growth. A brief retrospect
of technology innovation models, including the venture capital dimension,
anchored in the Silicon Valley hotbed first, then spreading to other cities of
the world over time, including Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Singapore,
Shenzhen, Paris and few select others, is presented. Insight into how such models, and
adaptations thereof, could potentially apply to the local context is debated,
as a way to bring in reflections and decisions on how to best evolve the
entrepreneurial startup environment. Finally, and taking our learning into
pragmatic actions, recent ongoing initiatives we are diligently working on are
introduced. Work in progress, yet, long road ahead.
Smart Cities as a catalyst for tech
hubs development – Means to an End A survey of smart city activities
around the world shows that there is a clear lag in the deployment of
technologies and services in smart city applications, versus what state of the
art technologies enable. Our aim in this talk is to develop a bottom up approach
in understanding the fundamental reasons for such lag. We call this the
cascading technology trap. Based on our hands-on involvement in the design and
rollout of over half a dozen leading smart cities around the world, the
cascading technology trap emerged as a common thread: technologies are evolving
at a significantly faster pace than the ability of cities to adopt, implement
and deploy. We illustrate how the rapid pace of technology evolution is an
impediment to the adoption of smart city applications and how different cities
around the world have tackled this challenge, and progressing their roadmaps
accordingly. This is not to diminish the importance of the other challenges
facing smart cities, such as the financing deployments, the establishment of
optimal public private partnerships, the handling of organizational structures
within smart cities in a way that is consistent with governance models and a
number of other challenges. However, for cities determined on implementing
smart city applications, the cascading technology trap proved to be the primary
and most complex challenge to overcome after having resolved other challenges.
To illustrate our thesis, we focus on one specific technology area - that of
the city’s data flow information systems, including data generation,
transmission and management for simplicity, although similar challenges are
present in other layers of the technology stack. We also summarize possible
strategies on how to approach such challenges - some of them in early stages of
implementation by select smart cities. We concluded by describing our own
approach in laying out a Smart City deployment blueprint and executing on a
rollout of Smart City services, taking best advantage of state of the art
information and Internet technologies, with optimal underlying business models.
Foundational Internet technologies ahead of us – How to approach them Foundational technologies come in
rarely, and when they do, they tend to carry with them a lot of promise, but
also a lot of hype. Some do achieve their potential while others fade away.
Blockchain, Space Internet and Quantum Computing, are the three key technologies
we are focused on in our talk. They have all the ingredients of foundational
technologies. Still, their industrial applications, technology, business and
regulatory challenges to overcome are all work in progress. We revisit the
tumultuous life of some of these technologies, their most significant
developments and their most promising applications. We draw a brief parallel
with some others foundational technologies we have had a chance to be very
intimately involved in developing over the last 2 decades, and which have had
a very significant impact on our everyday lives. Namely, the Internet and
Artificial Intelligence. The way they have evolved, overcome challenges and
transformed the way businesses run, provides a glimpse on what these nascent
technologies’ journey may end up being. In fact, these evolving technologies
sit at the confluence of a multitude of technologies that merges web scale
databases, highly distributed systems, high performance computing and advanced
cryptography. They span a vast array of business verticals from logistics to
finance to communications and energy, among others. Yet, a lot is still
unknown. Some see them as a threat, others as an opportunity. Some regulators
are racing to be more friendly and fast track their deployment, others to
aggressively regulate them. We go on an around the world tour, highlighting the
most impactful initiatives, the most influential communities, the global
investment landscape, the most disruptive technological developments and
emerging regulatory developments. We stop short from crafting a roadmap on
where things are heading, and instead, map out our own views on where leverage
opportunities may reside and the overall technology leapfrog potential.