Burton Lee
Lecturer, European Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Stanford School of Engineering
Based in Silicon Valley, Dr. Burton Lee lectures on European Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Stanford School of Engineering, where he has successfully developed partnerships with European national and regional governments and industry in Italy, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, France, Spain, Romania and Estonia. Dr. Lee also serves as Managing Director of Innovarium Ventures, a financial, technical and strategic advisory services firm based in Silicon Valley with technology startup, angel investor, investment fund, industry association, corporate and national and regional government clients in Europe, Latin America and the USA. During 2009‐2010, he served as the sole non‐Irish member of Ireland’s national Innovation Taskforce, appointed by Prime Minister Brian Cowen. He is a recognized global expert on innovation ecosystems, entrepreneurship, and new approaches to technology cluster development, and serves as an Expert Evaluator for FP7 research programs at the European Commission.
Burton’s professional history encompasses 15+ years entrepreneurial, investment and senior executive leadership and advisory experience in venture‐backed technology startup companies; venture capital and private equity funds; angel investor networks; global technology corporations (Daimler, HP and General Electric); federal S&T agencies (NSF, NIH and NASA); the European Commission; research universities, and national and regional governments. He is a researcher and frequent conference speaker, business plan judge and media commentator on the US and European entrepreneurship, innovation policy, regional economic development, venture finance, university commercialization, innovation ecosystems, social media and product design scenes.
Dr. Lee holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from Stanford, and an M.B.A. in Finance and Entrepreneurship (Cornell).
Recent Events and Presentations
Innovation Policy in the European Union—Issues and Challenges from Ireland and the European Commission
On Wednesday, April 6 from 12:30-1:30pm, ITIF will host Dr. Burton Lee for a brown bag lunch featuring a presentation on Innovation Policy in the European Union—Issues and Challenges from Ireland and the European Commission. Dr. Lee has recently worked closely with both Ireland and the European Union in their development of innovation policy, and he teaches a course on European Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Stanford University. Dr. Lee will discuss how innovation policy at the pan-European and national levels in Europe today is facing important challenges and decision points. The relative absence of commercialization of research outcomes remains a major issue across Europe, as does the need to put university-industry relations on a new footing. Of particular concern are the issues that are not being discussed in Europe with regards to the future health and vitality of the European innovation system, including university reform and the chronic under-performance of European industry in the application of new ICT technologies for strategic advantage and productivity improvements. In addition to providing a broad overview of the state of innovation policy in Europe today, Dr. Lee will explain where it appears to be heading over the next 2-3 years.
