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  <abstract>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. Come along to the fifth Beers &amp; Innovation night to explore aggregation and disruption, hear from practitioners and anaylsts in the field and have your say on the issues...</abstract>
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  <content>&lt;b&gt;NB:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;i&gt;Payment for this event is by Switch/Maestro or
Credit Card ONLY. Please select this payment method on the
booking form. Thank you.&lt;/i&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;b&gt;Something is brewing...&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 The UK&amp;#39;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.... &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 Like in &lt;a
href="http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2005/07/where_are_all_the_uk_startups.shtml"
 target="blank"&gt;this post&lt;/a&gt;, from Tom Coates on
Plasticbag.org, which elicited an avalanche of comments and was
echoed around the blogosphere: 

&lt;blockquote&gt;
  &amp;quot;...our industry seems dominated by a few moribund and
  clumsy giants leading a culture that&amp;#39;s inarticulate,
  unadventurous and profoundly constrained. There&amp;#39;s
  something very wrong here.&lt;br /&gt;
  &lt;br /&gt;
   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 &lt;a href="http://www.blogger.com/start"
  target="blank"&gt;Blogger&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/"
  target="blank"&gt;Flickr&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.odeo.com/"
  target="blank"&gt;Odeo&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.sixapart.com/"
  target="blank"&gt;Six Apart&lt;/a&gt; of the UK? What aspect of this
  country is it that confounds these aspirations? And I know
  that &lt;a href="http://www.last.fm/"
  target="blank"&gt;Audioscrobbler&lt;/a&gt; is wonderful. I really love
  it. But eventually you have to ask - is that really all we can
  do?&lt;br /&gt;
  &lt;br /&gt;
   So is it a lack of money or a poverty of ambition?&amp;quot;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
Beers &amp;amp; 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...&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;b&gt;Aggregators &amp;amp; Upsetters&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 I once thought of calling this event &amp;#39;Here Come The
Aggregators&amp;#39; (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 &lt;a
href="http://mashable.com/2006/02/27/here-come-the-edge-aggregators/"
 target="blank"&gt;Here Come The Edge Aggregators&lt;/a&gt; Pete
explained that: 

&lt;blockquote&gt;
  &amp;quot;an edge aggregator is a service that aggregates content
  from blogs and RSS feeds - Edgeio aggregates classified
  listings from blog posts, for instance.&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
  &lt;br /&gt;
   &amp;quot;But it isn&#8217;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&#8217;s to stop a
  barrage of newcomers aggregating exactly the same
  content?&amp;quot;&lt;br /&gt;
  &lt;br /&gt;
   ...the edge is a real source of value creation, but can any
  of these startups harness that value for themselves?&amp;quot;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
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 &lt;a href="http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/"
target="blank"&gt;Skype&lt;/a&gt; to &lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/"
target="blank"&gt;YouTube&lt;/a&gt;, from &lt;a
href="http://www.zopa.com/ZopaWeb/" target="blank"&gt;Zopa&lt;/a&gt; to
&lt;a href="http://digg.com/" target="blank"&gt;Digg&lt;/a&gt;. 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.&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;b&gt;SPEAKERS:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;b&gt;Chair: Mike Butcher - &lt;a href="http://www.mbites.com"
target="blank"&gt;mbites&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
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.&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;b&gt;Richard Anson - CEO of &lt;a href="http://www.reevoo.com/"
target="blank"&gt;Reevoo&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
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 &amp;pound;5 million at 3i. He has a
PhD and MBA from the Cranfield School of Management.&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;b&gt;Paul Pod - Co-Founder, &lt;a href="http://tioti.com"
target="blank"&gt;TIOTI&lt;/a&gt; : Tape It Off The Internet&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
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.&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;b&gt;Umair Haque - Principal, &lt;a
href="http://www.bubblegeneration.com/"
target="blank"&gt;Bubblegeneration&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
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.&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;b&gt;Who should attend:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
Anyone who&amp;#39;s ever had a good idea and never did anything
with it. Anyone who did. Anyone else who cares about these
things.&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
To be kept posted on all future B&amp;amp;I nights, sign up for the
fortnightly &lt;b&gt;NMK Newsletter&lt;/b&gt; (just drop your email address
into the third box down on the right hand side of this
page).&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 See the &lt;b&gt;&lt;a
href="http://www.nmk.co.uk/event/2006/02/09/beers-and-innovation"
 target="blank"&gt;Beers &amp;amp; Innovation 1: UK Start-up
Culture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; outline&lt;br /&gt;
 See the &lt;b&gt;&lt;a
href="http://www.nmk.co.uk/event/2006/03/30/beers-innovation-ugc"&gt;
Beers &amp;amp; Innovation 2: User-Generated Content&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
outline&lt;br /&gt;
See the &lt;b&gt;&lt;a
href="http://www.nmk.co.uk/event/2006/04/27/beers-innovation-mashup"&gt;
Beers &amp;amp; Innovation 3: Web Services &amp;amp; Mash-ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
outline.&lt;br /&gt;
See the &lt;b&gt;&lt;a
href="http://www.nmk.co.uk/event/2006/09/14/beers-innovation-rss"
 target="blank"&gt;Beers &amp;amp; Innovation 4: RSS Frontiers&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
overview &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 Read the &lt;b&gt;&lt;a
href="http://www.nmk.co.uk/article/2006/08/17/beers-innovation-startups"&gt;
Beers &amp;amp; Innovation 1: UK Start-Up Culture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
report&lt;br /&gt;
Read the &lt;b&gt;&lt;a
href="http://www.nmk.co.uk/article/2006/08/29/beers-innovation-ugc"
 target="blank"&gt;Beers &amp;amp; Innovation 2: User Generated
Content&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; report&lt;br /&gt;
Read the &lt;b&gt;&lt;a
href="http://www.nmk.co.uk/article/2006/09/13/beers-innovation-mashups"
 target="blank"&gt;Beers &amp;amp; Innovation 3: Web Services &amp;amp;
Mash-Ups&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; report&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 Check out the &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href="http://innovationeye.wordpress.com/"
target="blank"&gt;Beers &amp;amp; Innovation blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;i&gt;About Beers &amp;amp; Innovation:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
This is the fifth in an ongoing series NMK are producing, with
each Beers &amp;amp; Innovation focusing on a particular key issue
for / sector of the UK&amp;#39;s innovation and technology scene.
The next one will be announced soon. Regular updates and
relevant discussions can be found on the &lt;a
href="http://innovationeye.wordpress.com"
target="blank"&gt;blog&lt;/a&gt;. For enquries about this or future
B&amp;amp;I nights, email deirdre.molloy (AT) nmk.co.uk - we welcome
all your comments, ideas and feedback!&lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;br /&gt;
 &lt;b&gt;NB:&lt;/b&gt; &lt;i&gt;Payment for this event is by Switch/Maestro or
Credit Card ONLY. Please select this payment method on the
booking form. Thank you.&lt;/i&gt;
</content>
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  <title>Beers &amp; Innovation 5: Aggregators &amp; Upsetters (NMK)</title>
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