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Something is brewing...

The UK's quirky innovation culture - at once dynamic and loveable, while at the same time maddeningly inadequate - has been taxing the minds of a lot of people recently....

Like in this post, from Tom Coates on Plasticbag.org, which elicited an avalanche of comments and was echoed around the blogosphere:

"...our industry seems dominated by a few moribund and clumsy giants leading a culture that's inarticulate, unadventurous and profoundly constrained. There's something very wrong here.

My main question is this: Where are all the bloody start-ups? Where are the small passionate groups of creative technologists (people with clue) getting together to build web applications and public-facing products that push things forward? Where is the Blogger or Flickr or Odeo or Six Apart of the UK? What aspect of this country is it that confounds these aspirations? And I know that Audioscrobbler is wonderful. I really love it. But eventually you have to ask - is that really all we can do?

So is it a lack of money or a poverty of ambition?"

Beers & Innovation was founded on the premise that an open debate on these issues is needed, and with the hope that together we can start untangling some of them...

Aggregators & Upsetters

I once thought of calling this event 'Here Come The Aggregators' (any excuse to slip in an oblique James Joyce reference you see...). But I did some research and found that Mr Mashable (aka Pete Cashmore) had beat me to it, with an extra dimension to his thinking of course. In Here Come The Edge Aggregators Pete explained that:

"an edge aggregator is a service that aggregates content from blogs and RSS feeds - Edgeio aggregates classified listings from blog posts, for instance."

"But it isn�t going to be plain sailing for the edge aggregators. The low barrier to entry means that all these services will face defensibility issues - what�s to stop a barrage of newcomers aggregating exactly the same content?"

...the edge is a real source of value creation, but can any of these startups harness that value for themselves?"

Aggregation is also part of the larger picture of disruptive innovation that is threateneing and dismantling patterns of media production, distribution and consumption, amongst other things, from Skype to YouTube, from Zopa to Digg. But if the issues for aggregators are many, what are the issues, opportunities and markers emerging around disruptive business models? And is the internet now, as home to the upsetters, finally reshaping business and markets more generally? Come along, hear from practicioners and experts in the field and have your say.

SPEAKERS:

Chair: Mike Butcher - mbites
In 1994 Mike started writing about the business of web sites for Newspaper Focus magazine. In 1996 he joined New Media Age, then a newsletter, and in 1998 took over as editor, re-launching it from a 14 page title into a full-blown magazine. In 2000 Mike helped launch the US-owned Industry Standard magazine in London. In the media slump of 2001 he went freelance. Mike has since written for The Financial Times, The Times, The Irish Times, The Guardian, Broadcast, Marketing Week, New Media Age and Media Week among others. He even produced a documentary about broadband in Asia. He has also launched or relaunched web sites for Media Week, UK Press Gazette, NMA, and (most recently) Netimperative and consulted on others. Current projects include journalism and professional blogging, speaking at events about digital and mobile media, podcasting and working with media companies.

Richard Anson - CEO of Reevoo
Reevoo aggregates and publishes real-world reviews across the web - they current work with big UK on-line players like Orange, Comet, Dixons and Misco and serve more than 60 million reviews and ratings a year. Richard is passionate about the power of real-world reviews. Prior to founding Reevoo, Richard was a Senior Manager at KPMG, was previously interim Head of Group Planning at Orange, covering 22 countries, and was on the small deals team managing investments up to £5 million at 3i. He has a PhD and MBA from the Cranfield School of Management.

Paul Pod - Co-Founder, TIOTI : Tape It Off The Internet
Paul has over 10 years experience in visual design, information architecture and design strategy. His passion for exploring the the future of TV and media is clear from a portfolio including Aggregator.tv, Nokia, the BBC, Orange and Vodafone. Prior to his work as Neuromantics, Paul held design positions at Poke, Razorfish, BT Research Labs and Xerox. Paul lives and works in central London where he consults on design and strategy for Web2.0 and IPTV businesses. His current project is TIOTI, a social media TV aggregator.

Umair Haque - Principal, Bubblegeneration
Bubblegeneration is a strategy lab which helps discover strategic innovation. It studies the economics of the future: the impact new technologies, management innovation, and shifting consumer preferences will have tomorrow on the industries and markets of today. Umair did an MBA and econ/strategy research with Gary Hamel at London Business School in 2003, and began working towards a PhD in strategy and innovation at Oxford in 2004. Umair has spent time working in finance/economics, at a KP startup, and as a strategy consultant. Recently, he put his postgraduate work on hold to pursue Bubblegen full time.

Who should attend:
Anyone who's ever had a good idea and never did anything with it. Anyone who did. Anyone else who cares about these things.

To be kept posted on all future B&I nights, sign up for the fortnightly NMK Newsletter (just drop your email address into the third box down on the right hand side of this page).

See the Beers & Innovation 1: UK Start-up Culture outline
See the Beers & Innovation 2: User-Generated Content outline
See the Beers & Innovation 3: Web Services & Mash-ups outline.
See the Beers & Innovation 4: RSS Frontiers overview

Read the Beers & Innovation 1: UK Start-Up Culture report
Read the Beers & Innovation 2: User Generated Content report
Read the Beers & Innovation 3: Web Services & Mash-Ups report

Check out the Beers & Innovation blog

About Beers & Innovation:
This is the fifth in an ongoing series NMK are producing, with each Beers & Innovation focusing on a particular key issue for / sector of the UK's innovation and technology scene. The next one will be announced soon. Regular updates and relevant discussions can be found on the blog. For enquries about this or future B&I nights, email deirdre.molloy (AT) nmk.co.uk - we welcome all your comments, ideas and feedback!

NB: Payment for this event is by Switch/Maestro or Credit Card ONLY. Please select this payment method on the booking form. Thank you.