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Limor Fried

Founder,

Adafruit IndustriesP A G E 6

S P E C I A L R E P O R T

StartupsA new generation of

IEEE members launchtheir own ventures

VOLUME 39 I SSUE 3 SEPTEMBER 2015 THEINST I TUTE. I EEE.ORG

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IEEE Day Is Just

a Month AwayM E M B E R S A R O U N D the worldare organizing special events in cel-ebration of IEEE Day on 6 October.Now in its sixth year, the day com-memorates the anniversary of the1884 meeting in Philadelphia wheremembers of the American Instituteof Electrical Engineers, one of IEEEspredecessor societies, gathered forthe first time to share technical ideas.

IEEE members from everyregion are planning events includ-ing technical and networkingmeetings, panel discussions, andsocial gatherings. Last year, a totalof 523 celebrations took place.

Visit http://www.ieeeday.org to seewhat other IEEE groups are planningand add your own event to a worldmap. You can also download this yearsIEEE Day logo and T-shirt design.

There are also contests for thebest photos and videos taken at IEEEDay celebrations. Cash prizes will beawarded to each IEEE organizationalunit that submits a winning photoor video. Winning entries will bedisplayed on the IEEE Day website.

To commemorate the event,IEEE is offering a US $30 discounton dues for new members who joinbetween 4 and 10 October. (The

offer does not apply to student orgraduate student memberships.)New members can simply enterthe promo code IEEEDAY15 athttp://www.ieee.org/join to receivethe discount. A.D.

1

REGION NORTHEASTERN

UNITED STATES Student branches at the

University of Massachusetts,Amherst,and Suffolk Univer-

sity, Boston, form IEEE Power & EnergySociety chapters.

Buffalo (N.Y.) Sectionforms IEEEConsultants Network affinity group.

Student branch formed at RogerWilliams University, Providence, R.I.

2

REGION EASTERN UNITED STATES

Dayton (Ohio) Sectionforms IEEE Women in Engineer-ing (WIE) and IEEE Young Pro-fessionals (YP) affinity groups.

5

REGION SOUTHWESTERN

UNITED STATES

Student branch at Univer-sity of Oklahoma, Norman,forms IEEE Microwave Theory

and Techniques Society chapter.

6

REGION WESTERN UNITED

STATES

Student branch formed atUniversity of Arizona, Tucson.

San Diego Sectionforms IEEE WIEaffinity group.

Student branch atUniversity ofSouthern California, Los Angeles, formsIEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, andFrequency Control Society chapter.

Student branch formed at Northwest

Nazarene University, in Boise, Idaho.

Seattle Sectionforms IEEE SignalProcessing Society chapter.

7

REGION CANADA

Student branch at SimonFraser University, Burnaby,British Columbia, forms IEEESystems, Man, and Cybernetics

Society chapter.

Winnipeg (Manitoba) Sectionformsjoint chapter of IEEE Aerospace andElectronic Systems and IEEE Geoscience

and Remote Sensing societies.

8

REGION EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST,

AND AFRICA

Student branch at EastSarajevo University, Bosniaand Herzegovina, forms IEEE

Industry Applications Society chapter.

Student branch at University ofSarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina,forms IEEE Computer Society chapter.

Bulgaria Sectionforms IEEE YPaffinity group.

Student branch formed atSohagUniversity, Eg ypt.

Student branch formed at University

of Limoges, France.

Kuwait Sectionforms joint chapterof IEEE Circuits and Systems, IEEECommunications, and IEEE Computersocieties.

Student branches formed inLebanon at Lebanese InternationalUniversity, Beirut, and University of

Balamand, Koura.

Student branch formed at InstitutNational des Postes et Tlecommunica-tions, Rabat, Morocco.

Nigeria Section forms IEEE WIEaffinity group.

Poland Section forms IEEE Dielectricsand Electrical Insulation Society chapter.

Student branch formed at King Saud

University, Riyadh, Saudi Ar abia.

Student branch at Miguel Hernandez

University of Elche, Spain,forms IEEEWIE affinity group.

Turkey Sectionforms IEEE Antennasand Propagation Society chapter.

9

REGION LATIN AMERICA

Student branch atPonti-

ficia Universidad Javeriana,Bogot, forms IEEE ElectronDevices Society chapter.

Student branch formed atUniversi-dad Tecnologica de Pereira, Colombia.

Student branch at University of El Sal-vador, San Salvador,forms IEEE Power &Energy Society chapter.

Monterrey (Mexico) Sectionforms

IEEE Robotics and Automation Societychapter and IEEE WIE affinity group.

Puebla (Mexico) Sectionforms IEEEInstrumentation and MeasurementSociety chapter.

Student branch formed atUniversidad San Ignacio d e Loyola,Lima, Peru.

10

REGION ASIA AND PACIFIC

Student branch at LaTrobe University, Mel-bourne, Australia, formsIEEE Computer Society

chapter and IEEE WIE affinity group.

Harbin (China) Sectionforms IEEESignal Processing Society chapter.

Bangalore (India) SectionformsIEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility

Society chapter.

Uttar Pradesh (India) Section formsIEEE Robotics and Automation Societychapter.

Indonesia Sectionforms IEEEPower & Energy Society chapter.

Seoul (Korea) Section forms IEEEIntelligent Transportation Systems

Society chapter. Malaysia Sectionforms chapters of

IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulationand IEEE Oceanic Engineering societies.

Student branch formed atSharifCollege of Engineering and Technol-ogy, Lahore, Pakistan.

Student branch at National Universityof Singaporeforms IEEE Industry Appli-cations Society chapter.

Student branch formed at NationalTaipei University of Technology,Taiwan.

1-6

7

8

9

10

THE INSTITUTE(ISSN 1050-1797) is published quarterly by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 3 Park Ave., 17th Floor, New York, NY 10016-5997; tel. +1 212 419 7900.

Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Canadian GST# 125634188. Annual subscription rate: US $26.95. Eight additional monthly issues are available

online. The editorial policies for IEEEs major publications are determined by the IEEE Board of Directors. Unless otherwise specified, IEEE neither endorses nor sanctions any positions or

actions espoused in THE INSTITUTE. Major IEEE boards review items within their purview prior to publication. When published in THE INSTITUTE, individual viewpoints of elected

IEEE officers are labeled as such. They are reviewed by the individuals to whom they are attributed, unless they are a matter of record. The editorial staff is responsible for selection of subject

matter and its placement within the issue. Copyright 2015 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. THE INSTITUTEis a registered trademark owned by The Institute

of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE INSTITUTE, IEEE Operations Center, Coding Department, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854.

IEEE prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying. For more information, visit http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/whatis/policies/p9-26.html.

REGION NEWS

SEND US YOUR NEWSWeannounce the formation of new

groups once theyve been approved by

IEEE Member and Geographic Activi-

ties. To send us local news of student

branch events and competitions, WIE

or preuniversity outreach efforts, or

other IEEE group activities, use the

form on th e Reg ion News page at

http://theinstitute.ieee.org/region-news.

BRIEFINGS

INSIDE

IEEE: A Home for Founders 4

Tips for Engineers Who Want

to Become Entrepreneurs 10

Bringing Electricity andJob Opportunities to Africa 16

ONLINEAvailable at theinstitute.ieee.org

TECH HISTORY Read aboutseveral IEEE entrepreneurswhose startups wen t on tobecome household names.

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IEEE-Eta KappaNu Celebrates Five-

Year AnniversaryI T S B E E N F I V E Y E A R S sinceEta Kappa Nu (HKN) merged withIEEE to become the organizationshonor society. Formed more than acentury ago to recognize exemplarycollege students, it is now knownas IEEE-HKN and continues to rec-ognize excellence in scholarship,leadership, and service. Induct-ees are chosen on the basis of theirtechnical, scientific, and leadershipachievements. Since the merger,they must also be IEEE members.

The merger expanded HKNsoperations and chapters wellbeyond North America. Since 2010,IEEE-HKN has grown from 125 to193 active chapters at universitiesaround the world.

More than 100 years old, HKN

itself was founded in 1904 byMaurice L. Carr and a groupof nine other engineering stu-dents at the University of Illinois,Urbana-Champaign.

Although its original purpose wasto recognize academic excellence,

its goals expanded over time. NowIEEE-HKN alumni serve as men-tors to recent graduates, and manysociety members give back to theircommunities by tutoring preuni-versity students and organizing sci-ence fairs and exhibits. IEEE-HKNalso presents a number of awardseach year to outstanding students,teachers, practitioners, and leadersin the IEEE fields of interest.

The IEEE-HKN category ofEminent Member is bestowed on

individuals who, by their technicalattainment and contributions tosociety, have shown themselves tobe outstanding leaders in the field ofelectrical engineering and great bene-factors to society. Those honoredinclude Internet pioneer Vinton Cerf,2007 IEEE President Leah Jamieson,mobile phone inventor Martin Cooper,and Intel cofounder Gordon E. Moore.

To learn more about the honorsociety and find out how to start achapter at your school, visit http://

www.hkn.org.Amanda Davis

September31930

The Lackawanna

Railroad inaugurateselectric passenger train

travel in New Jersey,

between Hoboken

and Montclair.

51850

Birth date of Eugen

Goldstein, a German

physicist (born in Poland)

who would coin the

term cathode ray for

the stream of electrons

observed in vacuum tubes.

91926

The Radio Corporation

of America launches

the National

Broadcasting

Co. (NBC)

201954

Fortran, a high-level

programming language,

runs for the first time, on

an IBM 701 computer.

291901

Birth date of

Enrico Fermi [above],

recipient of the 1938

Nobel Prize in Physics

for his work on induced

radioactivity by

neutron bombardment

and the discovery oftransuranic elements.

October41854

Birth date of

Michael E. Pupin, who

served as president of

both of IEEEs predecessor

societies: the Institute of

Radio Engineers (in 1917)

and the American Insti-

tute of Electrical Engineers

(in 1925 and 1926).

81965

London opens its

Post Office Tower

(now the BT Tower), a

telecommunications

structure.

1011Region 8meeting in

Ljubljana, Slovenia.

2324Region 7

meeting in London,

Ont., Canada.

241960

Bulova begins selling

itsAccutron, the

first commercial

electronic wristwatch.

291971

Surgeons at the University

of Pennsylvania, in

Philadelphia, are the

first to successfully use

electric stimulation

to repair a patients

bone fracture.

November

71867

Birth date of MarieSklodowska-Curie, who

would win two Nobel

prizes, one for phyics and

the other for chemistry,

for her pioneering

research on radioactivity.

111973

The Ethernet, a family

of computer networking

technologies for local

and metropolitan

area networks, begins

functioning at the Xerox

Palo Alto Research

Center, in California.

131922

Birth date of IEEE Fellow

Ambros P. Speiser , a

Swiss pioneer of digital

computer design.

181963

Western Electric Co.

manufactures the firsttelephone in the United

States with push buttons

instead of a rotary dial.

1823IEEE Meeting

Series in New

Brunswick, N.J.

Calendar &IEEE Events

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: MONDADORI PORTFOLIO/GETTY IMAGES; CORBIS; SSPL/GETTY IMAGES; FOTOSEARCH/GETTY

IMAGES; NBCU PHOTO BANK/GETTY IMAGES

Historical events are provided by the IEEE History Center. For photo s and video s of theseengineering milestones, visit http://theinstitute.ieee.org/briefings/calendar.

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CENTER:ADAFRUITINDUSTRIE

S;CLOCKWISEFROM

TOPLEFT:JESSICAKLIMA;CAR

LOSSALAZAR/TRESALPHOTOGRAPHY;MILTONCHAN

G;IEEESMARTVILLAGE;APPHOTO;EMOTIV;FETCHROBOTICS;VENIAM

TO D A Y S entrepreneurshave different needs interms of fund-raising,product development,and social marketing.

Often, the startups are not justdeveloping new technologies butalso creating innovative softwarefor existing ones. Creative thinkers

enjoy going to networking eventswith l ike-minded individuals aswell as attending a cademic con-ferences. And they are likely tosubscribe to credible sources thatcurate content theyre interestedin, including research articles,videos, and other material relatedto their product ideas.

Those are just some of the find-ings from a years worth of analysis

conducted by the 2014 IEEE Ad HocCommittee on Entrepreneurship.The IEEE Board of Directors estab-lished the committee to recommendprograms, products, and servicesthat the organization shouldprovide to help encourage moreengagement with these individuals.

After all, record numbers of youngpeople are starting businesses

just the type of people IEEE wantsfor future members.

Its not that engineeringresearch isnt helpful, but todaysentrepreneurs are looking tonetwork with other talented andcreative people, investors, andentrepreneurs in order to developtheir companies, markets, andproducts, says IEEE Senior Mem-ber Ken Stauffer, the committeesvice chair. These unmet needs aresome of the reasons why its not

easy for entrepreneurs to find ahome within IEEE.

In 2003 Stauffer cofoundedTechnology Assurance Labs, anindependent laboratory in Orlando,Fla., that provides business-focusedsolutions and products.

Forty years ago people lookedat you cross-eyed if you came outof college and wanted to be anentrepreneur, he says. With theproliferation of software that allowspeople to develop apps, role mod-els like Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg,and easier accessibility to moneythrough venture capital and crowd-

funding, starting your own businessis much easier and more acceptablefor a young graduate. In fact, headds, in some areas of the worldentrepreneurism is a young gradsdefault occupation because of weakeconomies and a limited number ofcorporate positions.

Additionally, a growing numberof large tech companies regularlyinvest in purchasing and integrat-

ing startups, rather than creatingan internal R&D department, henotes. The world of technologybusiness is changing, and IEEE is

working to ensure we add value tothis changing model.

Stauffer chairs the 2015 Techni-cal Activities Ad Hoc Committeeon Entrepreneurship, which hasbeen asked by the IEEE Board tocarry out some of the recommen-dations the committee made last

year. Those include the creation ofa Web portal to IEEE services andprograms relevant to the startupcommunity; holding a global net-working event for entrepreneurs,investors, and others; and creatingan entrepreneurs section in IEEECollabratec, a suite of online tools

with which to netwo rk, collabo rate,and create.

The committee is composed of

volunteers who have experiencewith startups, plus a team of staffersled by Mary Ward-Callan, managingdirector of IEEE Technical Activi-ties, and Randi Sumner, director ofvolunteer engagement and strategy,both in Piscataway, N.J.

S P E C I A L R E P O R T

StartupsE N G I N E E R I N G A N D E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P

in many ways go hand in hand. T hey require imagi-

nation, know-how, and the ability to bring a concept

to reality. IEEE members have for decades been at the

forefront of turning their ideas into successful busi-

nesses. In this issue, we present IEEEs efforts to attract

more entrepreneurial ty pes to the organization and to

support members ventures through onl ine resources,

networking events, and more.

The IEEE Technical Activities Ad Hoc Committee on

Entrepreneurship, for example, is making it a priority tohelp members start or grow their ventures [this page]. You

can also read about IEEE members who launched startups

in the past decade. IEEE Member Limor Fried [p. 6]

found success with her do-it-yourself electronics com-

pany, Adafruit Industries. She turned a simple idea into a

US $33 million business selling electronic kits and parts

for hobbyists as well as tutorials for building smartphones,

wearables, handheld video games, and other gadgets.

Other members have launched ventures in connected

cars, robotics, and mind-controlled technology [p. 8]. An

IEEE Fellow who has taken two of his companies public andhas invested in six othersnone of which has failedoffers

advice to members on how they can do the same [p. 10].

Whether you already have a project in the works or are

just now toying with ideas, we hope this issue inspires you

to take the next step. Remember: You dont have to go it

alone. There are related conferences to attend [p. 14] and a

number of IEEE resources [p. 15] to help you. Dont forget

that Hewlett-Packard founders William Hewlett and David

Packard and Medtronic cofounder Earl Bakken started their

companies in garages [p. 18].

Wed like to hear about your venture or if you have advicefor aspiring entrepreneurs. Write to us at [email protected].

Monica Rozenfeld, associate editor

Pictured above: Center: Limor Fried. Clockwise from top left: Jessica Colao, DevonRyan, Milton Chang, Mou Riiny, Earl Bakken, Tan Le, Melonee Wise, and Joo Barros.

Making IEEEa Home for Founders

A new committee is focused on attractingentrepreneurs B Y K A T H Y P R E T Z

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If you think about all the piecesthat comprise IEEEs mission ofadvancing technology for thebenefit of humanity, we certainlyhave to engage the entrepreneurialcommunity, Ward-Callan says.

Theyre an exciting group of peopleto work with because theyrealways moving technology forwardand pushing ahead with new ideas.

IEEE has been dipping its toes in

the startup stream for several years,but getting involved is now a priority.

GEARING UP

The ad hoc committee has beentaking inventory of all the entre-preneurial activities scattered

among IEEE societies, sections,chapters, and other groups. Theactivities will be posted on a newwebsite (http://entrepreneurship.ieee.org) along with news andinformation about resources ofvalue to the star tup community.

Entrepreneurs communities willbe formed in IEEE Collabratec, too,Stauffer says, adding that this vir-tual way to collaborate will allow the

communities to organize globally.The first IEEE-wide global

entrepreneurship event, IEEE N3XT(http://ieee-n3xt.org), is scheduledfor 14 November, in Toronto [p. 14].

According to Sumner, its threetracks will focus on startup tools,

inspiring stories of successfulbeginnings, and intrapreneurship,

which incorpo rates startuplikeinnovative approaches and prod-uct development within an exist-ing company.

STARTUP FORAYS

For the past four years, IEEE hasheld networking events and sessionson emerging technologies for the

South by Southwest (SXSW) Inter-active Festival. The annual event, apopular venue for introducing newapplications of technology, attractsthousands of entrepreneurs.

Our engagement in SXSW got usinvolved with its community, Ward-

Callan says. Most who attend arenot setting up traditional compa-nies; theyre launching application-oriented businesses. They care lessabout the invention of technologyand more about a creative use ofthat technology.

IEEE has learned several thingsthanks to its involvement withSXSW. In particular, Ward-Callansays, it has learned which topics

interest creative thinkers and howto present research on emergingareas, like the Internet of Things.

IEEE has also partnered withhigh-tech companies to inspireinnovation and startup activitiesby sponsoring competitions andawarding prizes, Sumner says,including the Little Box Challenge,sponsored by Google and the IEEEPower Electronics Society. The

contest sought innovators whocould shrink the size of a powerinverter by at least 90 percent andin January will award the winnerUS $1 million to see the designthrough to production. Invertersconvert energy from DC sources,such as batteries, solar cells, and

wind, to AC.And the IEEE Engineering in

Medicine and Biology Societyhas been helping to promote thefirst Qualcomm Tricorder XPrize,a contest to develop a wo rkinghandheld gadget that can monitorand diagnose health conditions.The top three teams will share a$10 million prize, which is also tobe awarded in January.

Last October, the Torontochapter of the IEEE Young Profes-sionals group held the TechnicalEntrepreneurship Mini-Conference,

during which entrepreneurs andtechnologists educated studentsand early-career professionalsabout how they can help grow thecitys entrepreneurial ecosystem.The upcoming IEEE N3XT includeson its host committee severalof the young professionals whohelped jump-start last years Mini-Conference. IEEE N3XT will be alarger and far more diverse event,

Sumner predicts, drawing on someof the momentum and experienceof the Toronto volunteers.

We are learning how to work andplay in the startup space, Ward-Callan says, and it is certainly anexciting place for IEEE to be. RO

BERTNEUBECKER

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ME E T I E E E M E M B E R

Limor Fried. Her do-it-yourself electronicscompany for hobby-ists has carved out a

category all its own and is worthmillions. Through the new IEEEentrepreneur initiative, the organi-zation hopes to attract more mem-bers like Fried who are developingengineer-inspired ventures.

Frieds company, Adafruit Indus-tries, makes hundreds of differentkits, including ones for electronicsexperimentation built around anopen-source prototyping platformto make gadgets such as smart-phones, handheld video games, anda wearable for GPS-enabled cloth-ing so youll never get lost again.The most popular is the US $19

MintyBoost, a charger for an iPhoneor iPad. Its circuit and two AA bat-teries can fit in an Altoids mint tin.

The company sells more than2,600 electronic parts, including wireand cable, conductive threadfor wearables, multimeters, andbreadboards and sockets. It alsooffers some 800 free tutorials. Forthe projects, youll need a solderingiron and a diagonal metal cutter,

which are sold separately. Adafruitsmission: to make electronicsaccessible and understandable toeveryone. The company, named inhonor of English mathematician

Ada Lovelace, is a wonderland ofelectronics, Fried says.

As an electrical engineering gradstudent at MIT in 2005, Fried, now 35,often built her own gadgets, includ-ing the smartphone she uses today.Investing $10,000 she had saved upfor her tuition into her company and

without ever taking a loan or venture

capital funding Fried has grown herbusiness, which earned revenues

of $33 million last year. It now has83 employees at its 930-square-meter facility in New York City.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Adafruit got its start after Friedposted her own DIY projects on her

website. People contacted herabout how they could buildtheir own gadgets. It wassomething for me to kill time

with until I got a real job inindustry, she says.

Soon she found herselfflooded with orders and mak-ing daily trips to the post officebetween classes to mail thekits. She finally felt she hadno choice but to read up onthe nuts and bolts of run-ning a company, especiallythe financial parts. The ideaof crunching numbers didntscare me. Im an engineer, sherecalls. I thought, accountingis so easy compared to differen-tial calculus.

For Fried, it was about

learning one aspect of thebusiness at a time. When shehired her first employee, shelearned to process a payroll.

When it came time to file taxes,she determined which formsshe needed.

Fried says she wouldnt havebeen so successful, however, ifshe didnt offer well-designedgoods. When you have poor-quality

products, you need to deal with a lotof technical support, returns, andrepairs, she says.

In fact, she tests every productthe company sells. If I dont thinka product is good enough, shesays, then I dont put it in on our

website. And her attention todetail shows. Inc.magazine last yearranked Adafruit 11th among thefastest-growing manufacturers inthe United States and the top one in

the New York City metropolitan areafrom 2011 to 2014.Fried was also the first woman

engineer to be on the cover of Wiredmagazine, and she has been nameda top entrepreneur by several lead-ing business publications.

TheDo-It-Yourself

EntrepreneurThis IEEE member launched a successful electronicscompany from her dorm room B Y M O N I C A R O Z E N F E L D

Posting DIY

projects on my

website used

to be a way

for me to killtime until I

got a real job

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Adafruit offers open-source codeto help people design their projects.

Customers are encouraged to hackinto our products to make them theirown, Fried says. They could, for

example, use the open-source codeon GitHub, a platform that lets usersaccessand, if they wish, collaborateoncoding projects in order to addfunctions to their devices.

Fried has been influential in theopen-source hardware community.

She participated in the first OpenSource Hardware Summit and thedrafting of the definition of open-source hardware.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Fried doesnt rely on typical marketresearch to learn what her custom-ers want. Instead, she gives awayproducts in exchange for feedback.

Let customers teach you aboutwhat youre making, she advises.

Adafruit hosts a weekly showand tell Google Hangout session inwhich members of the DIY elec-tronics community showcase theprojects theyre working on. That

provides the company with insightinto not only how people use itsproducts but also what they might

want in new ones.Fried has also made STEM edu-

cation part of the companys mission.To help teachers instruct preuniver-

sity students about electronics andprogramming, she created a DIY kitfor building a smartphone.

And Adafruit produces theYouTube series Circuit Playground,

meant for children. Each episodecovers an electrical engineeringconcept. For example, one episodeis titled F Is for Frequency. Friedsays she wants electronics to b e

just as enjoyable for kids as watch-ing their favorite movies. AD

AFRUITINDUSTRIES

Limor Fried, founder ofAdafruit Industries, in

New York City, standswith a pick-and-place

machine for assembling

custom circuit boards.

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MIND CONTROL

If you attended the Consumer Elec-tronics Show in January in Las Vegasand stopped at the IEEE booth, youmay have noticed people movingrace cars just by thinking about it.

Wearing electroencephalography(EEG) headsets like the one above

and concentrating on the task, twopeople at a time would propel toyrace cars down parallel tracks, dragracestyle.

The brain behind the headsetsis IEEE Member Tan Le. She iscofounder of Emotiv, the companythat developed Epoc, the EEG head-set. It has five sensors that detectbrain waves and transmit data

wirelessly to a PC. The headset canbe used not just to move objects butalso to track the wearers brain activ-ity. It can measure levels of attention,

focus, excitement, stress, and relax-ation. Over time, patterns in the datacould help doctors detect the onset of

dementia and similar disorders. Theheadset has been sold for US $399 inmore than 90 countries.

Le told National Geographicmagazine she wants to keep the pricedown so the headset is accessible toresearchers everywhere: I want toleverage the creativity of researchersin mathematics, statistics, data min-ing, computer science, biology, andmedicine, as well as the general pub-lic, she says, adding, The brain is thecornerstone of virtually every facet ofour lives. I wish we knew more.

READYTO

LAUNCHMEET FIVEOF IEEES

ENTREPRENEURSB Y A M A N D A D A V I S

I E E E M E M B E R S

are at the forefront of

many emerging areas

of new technology,

including robotics,

the Internet of Things,and devices for

neurological research.

Some members have

already turned

their ideas into

successful companies.

Tan LeCompany: Emotiv

Location: San Francisco

Year founded: 2003

Jessica ColaoCompany: iHub

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Year founded: 2010

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NURTURING NEW IDEAS

It takes much more than a good ideato create a successful startup. Youneed the right people: not just busi-ness partners but mentors and inves-tors willing to take a risk on yourproduct. And, of course, you need aphysical space to start your business.

IEEE Member Jessica Colao iswell aware of entrepreneurs needs.Shes the director of partnershipsat iHub, a workspace in Nairobi,Kenya, that technologists, investors,

young entrepreneurs, designers,market researchers, and program-mers can use to develop what theyhave in mind. The company pro-vides budding entrepreneurs withInternet access and matches them

with local businesses and mentors.

It can also help connect them withventure capitalists.

Colao courts investors to fundiHub members tech ideas and com-panies at the concept stage, beforea product even materializes. Shesays iHub is well placed: Nairobi isbecoming a major technological hubin East Africa. Young Africans aregetting trained there to acquire theskills they need to compete globally.

GO FETCH

Ordering items online and gettingthem delivered to your door the nextday is a luxury that many of us enjoy.But those items often have been sit-ting in huge warehousessome, like

Amazons, take up more than 90,000square meters. There, logistics work-ers, or pickers, have the exhaustingjob of running around the building toretrieve items that have been ordered.It can be difficult to keep up.

Enter Fetch Robotics, cofoundedby IEEE Member Melonee Wise. Itspair of robots, Fetch and Freight,

work in tandem to navigate ware-houses and fulfill orders. Fetch, aone-armed, wheeled, autonomousrobot, finds items on the shelfand loads them onto Freight, anautonomous delivery cart.

With an extendable s pine,Fetch can reach shelvesup to 2 meters high.Freight moves the pickeditems to another part of the

warehouse, where humanworkers pack them for ship-ment. The company hasalso developed Follow Pick,a mobile app for workersto track orders and locateor control any robot oreven a fleet of robots, if thecompany has several.

Fetch Roboticslaunched in February and

began shipping its prod-ucts in June. It started witha dozen employees, but

Wise told IEEE Spectrumshe expects the staff todouble by this month. Ifthere are developers and

9

ing a fleet of some 400 passengerbuses, with NetRider, providingInternet access to more than

90,000 commuters each month.The company is installing vehicularnetworks in Barcelona and Singaporeand hopes to deploy NetRider in theUnited States this year, Barros says.

He urges entrepreneurs to usetheir time wisely. Every single deci-sion about how you spend your timecan determine whether your venturesucceeds or fails, he says.

TIME TO UNWINEYou dont need to be a wine con-noisseur to enjoy a glass at theend of the day. Thats the ideabehind unWine, a mobile app thateducates users about wines andencourages them to post reviewsof ones theyve tasted. The app wasdeveloped by IEEE members DevonRyan and Fabio Gomez. In 2013they cofounded the software devel-opment company Lion Mobile.

Ryan says the app is geared towardyoung people who want to learnmore about wine or simply have fun

without beingintimidated byexperts or sophis-ticated lingo.Gomez and Ryanmet in a program-ming class atthe University of

Texas, San Anto-nio, where theygraduated with

bachelors degrees in engineering in2012 and 2013, respectively.

Ryan represents the IEEE YoungProfessionals group on the IEEE-USA Board of Directors. He says thestruggles associated with being hisown boss have brought out his cre-ativity. Its such a huge challenge

starting something from nothingthat it will force you to reach deepinside and bring out your bestideas, he tells The Institute. Evenif your company doesnt turn aprofit right away, you benefit fromthe challenge alone. CL

OCKWISEFROM

TOPLEFT

:EMOTIV;FETCHROBOTICS;VENIAM;CARLOSSALAZAR/TRESALPHOTOGRAPHY(HAIRSTYLIST:JULIRISTAU

);JESSICAKLIMA

Melonee WiseCompany: Fetch

Robotics

Location: San Jose, Calif.

Year founded: 2015

Joo BarrosCompany: Veniam

Location: Porto, Portugal

Year founded: 2012

roboticists out there looking forfunemployment with robots, I wel-come them to apply, she says.

CONNECTED VEHICLES

Youve heard of the Internet ofThingsa network of items, eachembedded with sensors, that is con-

nected to the Internet. But whatabout the Internet of Moving Things?

IEEE Senior Member Joo Barrosis behind the idea, in which vehiclesconnected wirelessly to the Internetact as a network of moving sensors.His company, Veniam, developedNetRider, a device installed in avehicle that transmits its location,traffic information, and other dataabout its surroundings to the cloud.It also offers passengers a Wi-Ficonnection while they travelinessence, a mobile hot spot.

In Porto, Portugal, Veniam hasequipped more than600 vehicles, includ-

Devon RyanCompany: Lion Mobile

Location: Austin, Texas

Year founded: 2013

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MILTONCHANG

AF T E R T A K I N G T W O

high-tech startups pub-lic and helping to incu-bate nearly a dozen more,IEEE Life Fellow Milton

Chang is now an angel investor inLos Altos Hills, Calif. He welcomesnew investment opportunities inexchange for equity in the company,

of course, but he says most peoplewho come through his door arentready to start their own ventures.

Business is not a game, Changsays. Most business plans I see focuson technology but lack detail on howto move the company forward andgrow. They are based on assumptionsinstead of verified data.

Chang should know what hestalking about. The first startup he

was involved in, Newport Corp.,became a leader in photonicstechnology. Other startups hehas invested inincluding JDSUniphase, an optical communica-tions company, and CyberOptics, aleader in 3-D sensors and scanninghave also gone public. He now runsIncubic, an investment firm focusedon biotech and photonics compa-nies, where he is currently working

with five new ventures.

Six of the companies he person-ally invested in have gone public,and the rest have been acquired.None has failedan impressive featconsidering that more than 90 per-cent of startups go out of business.

His self-published book,TowardEntrepreneurship: Establishing aSuccessful Technology Businessavailable at MiltonChang.comisused as a textbook in business

classrooms at several universities.He writes a monthly business andmanagement column for LaserFocus Worldmagazine and mentorsaspiring entrepreneurs. Last year, hereceived the IEEE-USA Entrepre-neur Achievement Award for Lead-

ership in EntrepreneurialSpirit, which recognizesan individual who hasbeen instrumental in fur-thering entrepreneurialgrowth and enthusiasm inthe United States.

How has Chang beenable to help startups

succeed when so manyothers have failed? Withan engineering approach,he says.

BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR

Coming up with a good businessidea is not about jumping on thebandwagon of a hot technol-ogy, Chang says. Trendy ideas mightseem like great opportunities at first,but they often cool quickly. Suchstartups might also face better-equipped competition.

Instead, Chang suggests usingyour experience as an engineer toidentify an untapped market that

youand perhaps only youknowhow to fill. Thats how Chang madehis mark. He launched his firststartup, in Irvine, Calif., after he didresearch in lasers and holography,

which was what he studied as a Ph.D.

student at the California Institute ofTechnology, in Pasadena.

At first, Newport Corp. pro-duced just a few laser and opticalcomponents, which Chang knewwere needed by research labs. Thecompany expanded slowly until ithad an entire catalog of products.

All the while, Chang maintainedclose ties with those in the field,which allowed him to get feedback

and understand their needs. He waselected president of both the LaserInstitute of America and the IEEEPhotonics Society.

If you use your engineeringexpertise to identify a need, and itsin a niche market that you know

well, then youre not taking a hugerisk, he explains. Serving a rela-tively small market also means youneed less capital to start. And youcan take time to hone your businessand management skills instead ofgetting overwhelmed with demandsand making hasty decisions.

Once you have identified anopportunity to serve a specific mar-ket, do your homework. Verify who

your customers will be and theirspecific needs, as well as the marketsize, Chang says. Walk throughevery detail of how customers makea buying decision; make sure youknow what is required to make yourventure a success.

He calls this his businessprototype. Similar to productprototyping, which allows engi-neers to work out kinks beforemoving into volume production,business prototyping lets startupsverify that their products or servicesfill a real need by attracting theirfirst sales before investing heavilyto build out the business. It makesit a lot easier to attract the invest-

ment capital you need at that stage,Chang says.

CAPITALIZING ON YOUR IDEA

Raising capital for a new business isnot easy, Chang notes, adding thatcontrary to popular belief, venture

capitalists are not risk takers forrisks own sake. Theyre smart inves-tors who can quantify risk anddetermine whether the risk justifiesthe reward. They dont invest onspeculation, he adds. They make aninvestment only if theyre confidentthat a company is likely to succeed.

Chang and his cofounders atNewport received financial helpfrom family members. He and histeam worked long hours filling mul-

tiple roles for small salaries whilethe company established itself.

Most startups, he says, shouldtry to attract at least some financialassistance early on. Having finan-cial backing can sometimes be moreimportant than technical merits,he says. Every business makes mis-takes along the way; youll be able torecover from them only if you havethe money to keep moving forward.

NEVER STOP LEARNING

Entrepreneurs should always beready to learn something new, hesays, adding, The secret to successis knowing what you dont know.

You need to stay humble evenafter you enjoy some measure ofsuccess. Arrogance makes you think

you are better than you really are,he says. Thats when youre going tomake mistakes.

Chang suggests that technolo-gists learn the whys and whereforesof business practices long beforethey start their own ventures. Hedid so before launching his firstcompany by taking classes, attend-ing seminars, and reading as manybusiness articles and books as hecould find. He suggests enrolling inbusiness and management coursesat a college or online and taking

on entrepreneurial challenges thatturn up in your current job before

you set out on your own.Learn from people in your com-

pany, including those in financeand marketing, and understandhow products are commercial-ized. That way, he says, when

you launch your startup, you willalready know many of the aspectsof how to run a business.

To be successful, Chang advises,you must be practical, understandthe market, and fulfill a customersneed. This approach is proven andempirically verified, he says. This isthe formula for starting up your ownventure and having it succeed.

CAREERS

Getting Schooledon StartupsMilton Chang gives advice on whatit takes for engineers to becomeentrepreneurs B Y J O H N R . P L A T T

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12 T H E I N S T I T U T E S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 512

In June, The Institutedescribed whats neededto make wearablefitness trackers accu-rate, secure, betterequipped to monitorvital signs, and moreenjoyable to use. Theconversation contin-

ued on our website.

ASK THE EXPERTS

Answering readers questionsabout wearables wereElizabeth Churchill, aspecialist in user experience

with a background inexperimental psychology;

M.C. Schraefel,professor of computerscience and humanperformance atthe University ofSouthampton, inEngland;Jesse Jur,

assistant professorof textile engineering,chemistry, and scienceat North Carolina StateUniversity, Raleigh; andKevin Curran, assistantprofessor of computer

science at Ulster University,in Northern Ireland.

Q:Users dont seem wor-ried or even aware of theneed for data privacy andcontrol over their personaldata, even when related totheir health. How can we

make them more commit-ted to protecting their data?

Churchill and Schraefel:Research suggests thatpeople do worry about theirdata but take little action

until there is a breach thatforces them to think aboutits security. There are severalreasons for their inaction. Forexample, service agreementsare written in language thatmakes little sense to us; mostdevices, websites, and appli-cations are not transparentabout what data they collectand how they use it; andsuch services dont make iteasy for people to access andmanage their own data.

We will see an evengreater need for securelogging and sharing when

wearables become part ofour clothing and accessories,collecting data about us allthe time. A call for transpar-ency can help change howusers manage their data.

Q:What are designers ofwearables doing to makeproducts user-friendly andmore accurate?

Jur:A primary issue forwearables is the perceptionthat theyre a hassle to use.These concerns include shortbattery life and their formfactor, involving, say, havingto clip them somewhere onthe body or wear them on a

wrist. Strategies for reducingpower consumption are rap-idly developing in low-powercommunications, whichincludes Bluetooth, sensors,and data algorithms.

The ASSIST centerat North Carolina StateUniversity is working on thenext big step: self-powereddevices that use body heat

and motion to providepower for the wearable sothat the user never needs to

worry about a battery.

Q:At what point willwearables become synony-mous with clothing and notbe seen as gadgets?

Curran:As the technology

grows smaller, more con-nected, and more integratedwith our environment, it willeventually disappear into oursurroundings so that onlythe user interface is visible.Integrated with our clothing,

wearables will communicatevia the interfaces in oursmartphones. The marketfor wearable devices isgrowing and will ultimatelylead to a revolution in oureveryday garments.

MEDICAL DATA ACCESS

We asked readers whetherpatients should have theright to access their elec-tronic medical records or ifit is better to leave them in

the hands of their doctors.

The federal governmentof Australia has set up acountrywide electronichealth record system in

which both doctors andpatients can enter informa-tion. Not enough patientsand doctors are using it

yet, but the current opt-in

system will soon become anopt-out system, meaningeveryone living in Australiawill have an e-health record.However, several problemsremain, including securityconcerns and doctors strug-gling to find the time duringthe day to upload data.

Helen Robertson

Patients go to doctors to

have their data interpreted;however, the data unques-tionably belongs to thepatient. On a personal note,the hospital that I frequentrecently updated its medicalrecords system and endedup losing all my medical his-tory. Because I had no copyand my physician had leftthe practice, I had to explain

my case from scratch.Sarah Z.

The bottom line is that anypersonal health informa-tion is owned by the patient.For physicians to state thatpatients cannot compre-hend the meaning of theinformation is quite preten-tious. It implies that the

medical community is think-ing about liability but hidingbehind some higher power.Transparency is good andexposes bad behavior, so justhand over the records.

Gregory Gogates

Sparking Conversation

ISTOCKPHOTO

T H E I N S T I T U T E . I E E E . O R G

Steven Kotler: Is

Silicon Valley Ageistor Just Smart?The Forbescontributor writes that although people doget wiser with age, they lose an essential skill at the coreof entrepreneurship: risk taking. Facebook and othercompanies have been criticized for hiring mostly young

employees, but Kotler suggests that this might be a smartstrategy, helping an organization innovate quickly andtake more chances.

CHIME INTell us what you think by commenting online athttp://theinstitute.ieee.org/opinions/question.

OPINIONS

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S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 T H E I N S T I T U T E 13

I N 1 8 7 7 ,

EdwardWestonfounded the

Weston DynamoMachine Co. toexplore possibili-ties within the

expanding field of dynamomachines. He would later move onto establish the Weston ElectricalInstrument Co. in 1888.

In 1878, Thomas Edisonfounded the Edison Electric LightCo. In 1879, Elihu Thomson andEdwin Houston founded theThomson-Houston Electric Co.,which later merged with Edisonscompany to form the General

Electric Co.

ENREPRENEURIAL ROOTS

Those four giants, together with afew other leaders in their respec-tive fields, in 1884 started onemore organization of note: the

American Institute of ElectricalEngineers, one of IEEEs predeces-sor societies.

Think about that for a moment:Todays IEEE is the second-

generation creation of a startup,founded by entrepreneurs. Actu-ally, both of IEEEs parent orga-nizations were startups; the 1912creation of the Institute of RadioEngineers was the direct resultof Robert H. Marriotts desire tocreate a unified association tosupport technical professionals inthe burgeoning field of radio and

wireless communications.

Technology giants of themodern eraTexas Instruments,Qualcomm, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard (see p. 18), among manyotherswere started by entrepre-neurial AIEE, IRE, and IEEE mem-bers. Those companies began

with an idea and some solidthinking about how to turn thatidea into a commercial enterprise.

When we think about todaysentrepreneurs, we think aboutgarages, dorm rooms on collegecampuses, or any one of count-less locationswhere individualsand groups have pursued theirpassions, chased their dreams,and changed our world.

But we also need to think ofthe peoplebehind each invention.Behind every new invention

you will find one person with anidea or a small cluster of people

working to find a solution to aproblem or create a tool we didnt

have before. Regardless of howan entrepreneurial idea starts, itneeds a community within whichto growand thats somethingthat IEEE has been providing formore than 130 years.

Diverse communities, ones that

allow technical professionals topursue their ideas in any direction,are the cornerstones of innova-tion. They are so critical that thecurrent IEEE Board of Directorsand the IEEE in 2030 Ad Hoc Com-mittee have made the fosteringof such communities one of fourkey strategic areas of focus in thecoming years.

Providing the right conditions

for forming startups isnt just agood thing to doits critical. Welive in an era in which techni-cal progress is measured by the

year and month; in the comingdecade, its likely that progress

will be measured by the monthand week. If IEEE neglects toencourage the growth of commu-nities that seek entrepreneurialoutlets for their efforts, it does soat its own peril.

THE NEXT 130 YEARS

During recent industry outreachefforts by the IEEE Board of Direc-tors, we met with industry leadersin Shenzhen, China. Years ago,

these leaders were entrepreneurs,armed with ideas, sound thinking,and a desire to bring somethingnew to the global marketplace.

And they did. In 1990, Shenzhenhad a population of less than900,000; today, it boasts more

than 10 million people.This exponential growth in just

25 years was made possible by acommitment to fostering a com-munity that values innovation andentrepreneurship. Today the city isone of the fastest-growing technol-ogy centers in the world, with apopulation that averages 30 yearsof age and is engaged in a dizzyingarray of entrepreneurial endeavors.

This is the cohort where Itruly believe that IEEE will see ablossoming of entrepreneursespecially within the ranks of ourStudent and Young Professionalscommunities. Its in these twogroups that we find countlessengineers working together to solveproblems or to invent the next

must have product or applica-tion. In the next few years, I believe

we will see these efforts ratchet

upward at an incredible pace.Im not going to close this article

by asking for your ideas about thestartup youre working on. I suspectmy in-box would be flooded withtens of thousands of great ideas, allin various stages of exploration. No,asking you what youre working onis a little too easy.

I prefer to offer a challengeinstead: Send me your thoughts

regarding what role you believetechnical professional organiza-tions like IEEE can play in creatingthe conditions in which startupscan not only form but also flour-ish. It can be a reimagining ofsomething thats already in placeor a wholly new construct nevertried before, but its something youbelieve holds great promise.

Reach out to me at [email protected]. Your input is vital as

we look toward IEEEs future. Asan organization, weve been aseedbed for startups our entireexistence. Let us together developthose efforts and accomplish evengreater things.

IEEE: A 131-Year-Old StartupEntrepreneurs founded the organizations predecessor societiesH O W A R D E . M I C H E L I E E E P R E S I D E N T A N D C E O

No matter how

an idea starts,it needs a

community in

order to grow

theinstituteE D I T O R I N C H I E F

Kathy Pretz, [email protected]

A S S O C I A T E E D I T O R

Monica Rozenfeld, [email protected]

S E N I O R E D I T O R I A L A S S I S T A N T

Amanda Davis, [email protected]

E D I T O R I A L C O N S U L T A N T

Alfred Rosenblatt

C O P Y E D I T O R S

Joseph N. Levine, Michele Kogon,

Mark Yawdoszyn, Peter Borten

S E N I O R A R T D I R E C T O R

Mark Montgomery

A R T D I R E C T O R

Bonnie Nani

P H O T O G R A P H Y D I R E C T O R

Randi Klett

D I R E C T O R O F P E R I O D I C A L

P R O D U C T I O N S E R V I C E S

Peter Tuohy

ED I T O R I A L & W EB

P R O D UCT I O N M A N A G ER

Roy Carubia

W E B P R O D U C T I O N C O O R D I N A T O R

Jacqueline L. Parker

M U L T I M E D I A P R O D U C T I O N

S P E C I A L I S T

Michael Spector

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Web: theinstitute.ieee.org

E D I T O R I A LA D V I S O R Y B O A R D

Alexei Botchkarev, Hi erold Christofer,

Anthony Durniak (Staff Executive, IEEEPublications), Matthew Genovese, Susan

Hassler (Editor in Chief, IEEE Spectrum),

Sheila Hemami (Vice President, IEEE

Publication Services and Products),

Terrance Malkinson, Cecilia Metra,

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James ONeal, Krishnan Parameswaran,

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I E E E M E D I A

P U B L I S H E R

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A D V E R T I S I N G S A L E S C O O R D I N A T O R

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B U S I N E S S M A N A G E R

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T H E I N S T I T U T E . I E E E . O R G

DARREN

CARROLL

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IEEE Women inEngineering SummitUSA EastPHILADELPHIA; 68 NOVEMBER

TOPICS: Mentoring the nextgeneration of female businessleaders; leadership developmentin education, industry, andgovernment; boosting writtencommunication and public-speaking skills; and maintaininga work-life balance.SPONSORS: IEEE Regions 1and 2, IEEE-USA, and IEEE

Women in EngineeringVISIT: http://sites.ieee.org/wie-summit-usa-east

IEEE N3XTTORONTO; 14 NOVEMBER

TOPICS: Technical andentrepreneurial skills,business development,innovating within acompany, transformingideas into inventions, andsuccessful startup models.SPONSORS: IEEE Toronto

Sections Young Professionalsaffinity group and IEEE Technical

Activities Ad Hoc Committeeon EntrepreneurshipVISIT: http://ieee-n3xt.org

The eChallengese-2015 Conference

VI LN IU S, LI TH UA NI A;

2527 NOVEMBER

TOPICS: Entrepreneurshipand innovation in information

and computer technology,smart cities, the smart grid,cloud computing, mobileapplications, security andidentity management, e-health,e-learning, digital libraries, andsocial implications of technology.SPONSORS: IEEE Society onSocial Implications of Technology,IEEE Lithuania Section, andthe European Commission

VISIT: http://www.echallenges.org/E2015

World Conferenceon Futuristic Trends inResearch and Innovationfor Social WelfareCOIMBATORE, INDIA;

29 FEBRUARY1 MARCH 2016

TOPICS: Health careentrepreneurship, information

and communication technology,food security, economicdevelopment, agriculture,education, infrastructureand telecommunications,and renewable energy.SPONSORS: IEEE Roboticsand Automation Society, IEEEMadras (India) Section, andKarpagam College of EngineeringVISIT: http://startupconclave.

org.in/2016

InternationalConference onTeaching and Learningin EducationKUALA LUMPUR, MAL AYSIA;

12 MARCH 2016

TOPICS: Entrepreneurshipwithin higher educationinstitutions; e-learning;quality assurance and learning;and educational resources.SPONSORS: IEEE Education Societyand IEEE Malaysia SectionVISIT: http://www.uniten.edu.my/ictle2016


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ISTOCKPHOTO

Conferencesfor BuddingEntrepreneursUpcoming events cover innovatingwithin a company and crowdfunding

Rock Stars of Tech StartupsSAN FRANCISCO; 10 NOVEMBER

TOPICS: Business strategy, digitalmarketing, crowdfunding, risk management,cybersecurity, product design, talentacquisition, venture capital funding, scalinga startup, and mergers and acquisitions.

SPONSOR: IEEE Computer SocietyVISIT: http://www.computer.org/web/rock-stars/tech-startups

BENEFITS

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T H E I N S T I T U T E . I E E E . O R G S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 T H E I N S T I T U T E

ROBERTNEUBECKER

15

EM B A R K I N G O N A N E W

business venture can beintimidating, but IEEEprovides a host of toolsthat can help entrepre-

neurs launch their companies.

TIME TO NETWORK

Its important for new entrepre-neurs to forge connections with like-

minded people, and IEEEs countlessnetworking events around the worldare, of course, an integral part ofmany of its conferences. In particular,IEEE has groups to help memberslaunch and grow their ventures.

The IEEE Cyprus EntrepreneursNetwork, formed in Januar y 2013,helps members in Region 8. Thegroup offers workshops on ma nyentrepreneurial topics, includ-ing financing a business, pro-tecting intellectual property, andleadership styles. It also matchesmembers with potential angelinvestors as well as mentors whocan help them evaluate theirbusiness plans.

On the other side of theglobe is the IEEE Boston Entrepre-neurs Network. Founded in 1991,the group organizes more than15 events each year. Topics haveincluded why startups fail and low-or no-cost ways to promote a busi-ness. The group holds open micnights so members can pitch theirstartup ideas to experts a nd peers

to get their feedback. And like theCyprus group, it holds sessions

where angel investor s, CEOs, a ndother entrepreneurs share theiradvice and experience.

IEEE Young Professionals hasmade it its mission this year tofocus on entrepreneurship. Thegroup is holding sessions on star t-ing a company, in conjunction withIEEE conferences its members maybe attending. Find the Young Pro-fessionals latest events and webi-nars on its Facebook page at http://

ww w.facebook.com/ieeey p.Throughout the year,

IEEE holds events to encour-age members to take steps

toward entrepreneurship. IEEEStandards, for example, offeredtwo startup events, includingone at this Januar ys ConsumerElectronics Show, in Las Vegas. Itfocused on helping budding com-panies develop products and ser-vices for the Internet of Thi ngs.

BOOK SMARTS

IEEE-USA has published fiveStarting Your Start-Up e-books,which cover developing a businessplan, market size and strategy, com-petitive analysis, pricing strategies,and launching a business. It has alsopublished four e-books in a series

on Doing Innovation: Creating Eco-nomic Value. Those titles, whichexplore what it takes to be an inno-vator and how to develop a prod-uct or service, are available at http://ieeeusa.org/communications.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

The IEEE-USA website offers ser-vices for entrepreneurs in theUnited States or those compa-

nies that already do business inthe country. The website providesa form to submit questions to theU.S. Small Business Administra-tion on topics such as registeringa new company, getting a busi-ness loan, hiring employees, andfiling taxes. IEEE-USAs salary ser-vice can help businesses calcu-late pay and determine benefits fortheir employees based on the fieldtheyre in, years of work experience,

and geographic location.A page on the site dedicated to

career management offers a listof workshops and webinars onsuch topics as business ethics and

setting career goals. The page alsohas a section for consultants thathelps them with landing clientsand tips on working fo r themselves.The site also offers a TechMatchservice IEEE members can use tosubmit their business plans forreview at no charge by seasonedentrepreneurs.

INNOVATING IN INDIA

The IEEE Kerala Section is help-ing women and young engineersstart their own companies. ItsIEEE Women in Engineering affin-ity group launched an initiative in2013 to encourage women in India

to create tech companies and pro-vides mentorship and access toseed funding. The section is alsoinvolved in Indias Startup V illage,a business incubator that hopes tolaunch 1,000 tech startups in thenext 10 years. The villages ameni-ties include office space for newbusinesses and access to the Inter-net, legal services, and fundingsources. Find out more by visiting

http://www.ieeekerala.org.

SPEAKING OF STARTUPS

The IEEE Communications Societyhosted a Startup Speaker event inDecember. Built around panel dis-cussions, it covered such topics asdetermining whether starting yourown company is right for you, howto measure a markets potential, andbest practices when it comes to devel-oping products. Visit the societys

website at http://www.comsoc.orgfor upcoming startup events.

BENEFITS FOR THE SELF-EMPLOYED

Recognizing that entrepreneursneed support in many other ways,IEEE offers discount programs tohelp offset the cost of health, life,and auto insurance, and it supplieslow-interest credit cards plus spe-cial prices on travel and comput-

ers. The offers are available on theIEEE Member Discounts website,http://www.ieee.org/discounts.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO

IEEE-USA gives an annual IEEE-USA Entrepreneur Achievement

Award for Leadership in Entrepre-neurial Spirit. The award recognizesan individual who has been instru-mental in furthering the growthof entrepreneurship in the UnitedStates. Last years winner was IEEEFellow Milton Chang [p. 10].

For the most up-to-date resources on

startups, view this article online at http://

www.theinstitute.ieee.org/startups0915.

Kick-start YourBusiness With

IEEE ResourcesB Y M O N I C A R O Z E N F E L D

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IEEESMARTVILLAGE

OF T H E 20 countries

with the shortest sup-plies of electricity inthe world, 19 are insub-Saharan Africa,

where on average fewer than onein three people have electricity.Instead, for light they use candlesas well as kerosene lamps, which

are harmful to health.And once the wax or fuelruns out, they sit in dark-ness. According to a 2014report from the Inter-national Energy Agency,growing the energy sectorin that region would be thekey to its prosperity.

The IEEE Smart Villageprogram, formerly the IEEECommunity Solutions Initia-

tive, has some bold ideas onhow to bring electricity tomillions while also providingjobs to their communities.The IEEE Foundation hasmade it one of its signatureprograms, whose goals areto provide funds for projectsthat can yield an immediateand broad impact and arealso sustainable over the

long term.Smart Village volunteers

work with local entrepre-neurs in several countriesto help them set up localelectricity businesses usingrenewable energy technol-ogy like solar panels to powernearby homes, businesses, andschools. Depending on resources,they could serve dozens of custom-ers or up to tens of thousands, charg-ing them monthly fees comparableto the cost of kerosene or candles.

IEEE grants the initial invest-ment for buying the equipment as

well as providing mentoring andtraining. So far, since development

of the microutilities began in 2011,the program has supplied electric-ity to some 15,000 people.

Our goal is to provide electricityfor 50 million people in 10 years,and thats conservative, says IEEEFellow Robin Podmore, cofounderof IEEE Smart Village. Podmorebelieves its doable because the right

entrepreneurs and partners are outthere. He adds that in the last few

years, philanthropists and investorshave realized that helping locals formtheir own businesses is the key tolifting them from poverty and is farmore sustainable and effective thandonations alone.

Recently, a number of com-panies and organizations have

shown support for Smart Villageand its mission. In April, it wasnamed a finalist for the BloombergEnergy Finance Summits Financefor Resilience initiative, whichrecognizes powerful ideas andactionable interventions for cleanand sustainable energy. And Alstom,an international electricity genera-tion company with headquarters inParis, awarded a US $28,000 grantto Kilowatts for Humanity, an initia-tive supported by IEEE Smart Village.

A SUSTAINABLE MODEL

The earthquake that struck Haiti in2010 was the genesis for what was

then IEEEs Community SolutionsInitiative. IEEE volunteers workedto develop a reliable source of low-cost electricity there. They cameup with the SunBlazer communitycharging stations.

Using six silicon photovoltaic250-watt solar panels, the trailercan collect more than 4 kilowatt-hours of energy per day, or enoughto charge 80 portable battery packs.

These packs can then be used topower LED lightbulbs in homesand are equipped with USB portsto charge cellphoneswhich manyin remote regions now depend onfor exchanging money as well asfor education and health services.Locals pay $6.50 a month forunlimited charging. Since 2010,community charging stations have

been set up not only in Haiti but alsoin Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, andSouth Sudan.

IEEE volunteers help trainoperators to install the technologyand mentor them on how to runa profitable business, includingmanaging payments from their cus-tomers. IEEE Smart Village awardeda $150,000 grant to the Torchbear-ers Foundation to establish threemicroutilities that will provide elec-tricity for thousands in Cameroon.

IEEE Smart Village is also sup-porting efforts in South Sudan withIEEE Member Mou Riiny, a formerrefugee from that war-torn country

(see photo). Riiny was brought to theUnited States as a child and raisedby foster families. He earned an elec-trical engineering degree from theUniversity of San Diego. He recentlyreturned to his village, Thiou, wherehe is installing 13 community charg-ing stations powered by solar panels.Each station will serve 100 portablebattery kits, which will be up andrunning this year.

THE NEXT ROUND

Local entrepreneurs canapply to get funding throughthe IEEE Smart Village web-site (http://ieee-smart-village.org) later this year. Applicantsmust submit a detailed busi-ness plan that includes howthey will make their utilitiessustainable after IEEEs initialcontribution. They must also

describe how their profits willbe reinvested to create jobsin their local communities.

Providing electricity canhelp others in the commu-nity to form businesses andallow existing ones to stayopen longer, which will helpshopkeepers and farmerssell goods into the evening,Podmore says. By creat-

ing jobs, were preventingpeople from having to leavetheir families and villages tomake money.

The tide is turning, headds. Instead of leaving,people are now moving toremote regions in Africa to

start businesses, particularly in thepower and energy sector. There isjust far less competition and a lot ofopportunity, he says.

This article originally appeared online

in our February report on global

development, which highlighted IEEEs

efforts in using technology to help advance

developing and underserved regions.

Powering Africa:

It Takes aSmart VillageAn IEEE Foundation program helpsentrepreneurs bring renewable energyto their communities

B Y M O N I C A R O Z E N F E L D

Entrepreneur Mou Riiny, a former refugee from war-torn South Sudan, returned to his village, Thiou,

where he is installing 13 community charging stations powered by photovoltaic panels.

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IEEE can focus you on whats next.

Learn Moreinnovate.ieee.org

IEEE Xplorecan power your research

and help develop new ideas faster with

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William Hewlett

David Packard

Hewlett-Packard

M O S T C O N S U M E R S A R E F A M I L I A R W I T H

Hewlett-Packards printers, computers, and ink,but many dont know that the company wasformed by two engineers in a garage workshop on

Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif. IEEE FellowsWilliam Hewlett and David Packard launchedtheir business in 1939 in Packards two-car garage,

which is now a U.S. National Historic Landmark.According to the Engineering and Technology

History Wiki (ETHW), which contains contentfrom the IEEE History Center as well as articlesfrom six other technical societies, Hewlett andPackard were old friends and classmates fromStanford. Hewlett, a bachelor, was living in aback room of the hous e where Packard and his

wife lived when the two decided to follow theirdream of starting a company.

Its first productbuilt by Hewlettwas a

resistance-capacitance audio oscillator, aninstrument that generates a pure tone, or fre-quency. The two par tners initial capital for theircompany was US $538, though by the end of1939 they had sales of more than $5,000, with aprofit of more than $1,500 (greater than $25,600in todays dollars). HP is now one of the worldsmost valuable brands. The company earnedsome $109 billion in revenue last year.

HP oscillators were used to design, manu-facture, and maintain telephones, radios, and

audio equipment. Hewlett and Packard calledtheir first oscillator the Model 200A to give theimpression that it was the latest offering of anestablished company, rather than the first froma startup. Sales took off after the Walt DisneyCo. paid $71.50 (equivalent to $1,214.50 today)for eight modified versions200Bsfor itsproduction of Fantasia. Disney engineers usedthe oscillators to test audio channels, recordingequipment, and speaker systems in the dozenspecially equipped theaters that showed themovie in 1940 and 1941.

The order of names in the original partnershipwas determined by a coin toss. Hewlett was a quiet,self-effacing man; Packard was more outgoing.Packard concentrated on the nuts and bolts ofproduction, while Hewlett was more proficient intechnical innovation. AP

PHOTO

IEEE Fellows David Packard [left] and William Hewlett stand in front of Hewlett-Packards original

headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. In 1939 the two started what would become a multibillion dollar

company out of Packards garage. The photo was taken in 1989.

PEOPLE

From the Garage toA pair of billion-dollar companies started by IEEE members had humble beginnings B Y K A T H Y P R E T Z

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human patient. It was producedcommercially as the Medtronic 5800.

Today, Medtronic remains a lead-ing developer of medical technology.Its productsincluding catheters,coronary stents, and heart valvesare used to treat nearly 40 medicalconditions. Its revenue last year was

$17 billion.

T H E I N S T I T U T E . I E E E . O R G S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 T H E I N S T I T U T E 19

TOP:ALVISUPITIS/GETTYIM

AGES;BOTTOM:MEDTRONIC

The two received the 1973 IEEE

Founders Medal for leadership inthe development of electronic instru-ments, for creative management ofan industrial activity, and for theirunselfish public service.

Packard died in 1996, Hewlettin 2001.

Earl Bakken

Medtronic

I T W A S W H I L E R E P A I R I N Gelectronic medical equipment inhis Minneapolis garage for theUniversity of Minnesota Hospital(where his wife worked) that IEEELife Fellow Earl Bakken [right] gotthe idea for his startup, accordingto the ETHW. Bakken was fasci-nated by electricity from an earlyage, figuring out how the wiringin his house worked and building

electrical devices, including a robotthat could smoke cigarettes and

wield knives.At the time, there were no

companies in the city that designedor repaired specialized medicalequipment. Seeing a need, he andhis brother-in-law started Medtronicin 1949, just a year after he receiveda bachelors degree in electricalengineering from the University of

Minnesota. They struggled untilOctober 1957. Thats when open-heart surgeon C. Walton Lillehei,

who was familiar with Bakkenthrough his work at the hospital,approached him about making abetter pacemaker than those beingused. Lillehei, a professor in thedepartment of surgery at the Uni-versity of Minnesota, had pioneeredopen-heart surgery.

Within four weeks, Bakkenproduced a small, self-contained,transistorized, battery-poweredpacemaker that could be taped to apatients chest.Insulated electrodessutured to the heart passed throughthe patients chest wall. When pac-

ing was no longer needed, doctors

could withdraw the wires withouthaving to reopen the patients chest.The pacemaker liberated patientsfrom their power-cord tethersand was a significant step in theevolution to fully implantable units.Bakkens device was honored withan IEEE Milestone in 1999.

Bakken described the process inthis excerpt from his autobiography,

which is published on the ETHW:Back at the garage, I dug

out a back issue of PopularElectronicsmagazine, in whichI recalled seeing a circuit for anelectronic, transistorized met-ronome [a device that producesregular, metrical ticks such as beatsand clicks]. The circuit transmittedclicks through a loudspeaker; therate of the clicks could be adjustedto fit the music. I simply modifiedthat circuit and placed it, without

the loudspeaker, in a 4-inch-square,

inch-thick metal box with termi-nals and switches on the outside.

And that , as they say, was that.Bakken successfully used a pace-

maker on a dog at the universitysanimal lab. He intended that proto-type to be used only experimentallyon laboratory animals, but shortly

afterward Lillehei implanted it in a

IEEE Life Fellow Earl Bakken [above] was repairing electronics in his

Minneapolis garage when he was inspired to found Medtronicnow a leading

developer of pacemakers, catheters, and other medical equipment.

the Fortune 500

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