MOBIP 2012 Pan European Partnership and Investment for Mobile Services On the 31st of May & 1st of June, 2012, Thessaloniki, Greece, became a meeting point between SMEs, professional experts, corporate partners and venture capital investors interested in knowledge-sharing on strategic information, market opportunities and new business trends in the Mobile Value-Added Services industry. Despite the economic crisis, Greece is a wordwide hub in mobile sevices, and especially mobile advertising. Some of the Greek companies of the sector are distinguished as world leaders in the mobile services market, provide services to the largest telecom operators globally, are listed on NASDAQ and London LSE/AIM Stock Markets and achieve substantial growth both at national and international level. In 2011 Greek companies raised more than $300m from the US and UK stock exchanges, and in the last 18 months are buying out companies in Europe and USA. The aim of the Partnership and Investment Forum was to foster the competitiveness of high-growth ventures in the mobile services sector and to strengthen their opportunities for market access both within Europe and in wider international markets. The partnership responsible for the MOBIP event consisted of enterprises with an exceptional record of innovation support activities, which focuses on support in investment readiness, access to finance, internationalization and business-to-business collaboration. The MOBIP event aimed to become, once again, the meeting point of all market players: operators, manufacturers, developers, platforms, investors, marketing agencies, smartphone and accessories makers, media, marketing- sales executives, consultants, etc. Throughout this intensive two-day event, the focus was on facilitating communication between investors and high-growth potential SME’s, exploiting the prospective of business-to-business cooperation and improving access to large mobile corporations, venture capitalists and industry players as sources of partnering and investment. In order to achieve this, the most promising technology companies from the mobile services sector were selected to share their fresh perspective on the future of the industry. In return these businesses were provided free access to the forum and a chance to present their company and product or service to an audience of experienced industry players and investors. A focused programme with partnering workshops/presentations allowed SMEs to present their services and products before the audience of potential partners. The sessions were structured in a way to foster discussion and feedback to SMEs. In turn, corporate partners were able to share their market expertise with SMEs presenting their activities, further their reputation as a market leader and at the same time, increase their knowledge of new innovative research and trends for prospective commercialisation. Potentially high-growth SMEs were allowed to pitch their investment-ready business proposals before an experienced group of Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors as well as industry experts. Highly interactive, the goal is to foster deal flow among Mobile Value-Added Services SMEs and financiers. |