[Editor’s Note: This post was co-authored with Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital]
1. The Rise of Celebrity Science
Nations, cultures, economies all get what they celebrate. Celebrate celebrities and we’ll have another generation of over-consumptive, over-indebted, overweight, underemployed citizenry. But celebrate scientists: thinkers, doers, achievers, explorers, inventors, creators and we stand a shot at restoring the very human capital that led to the rise of what made our nation great. The best way to predict the future is to invent it. So I founded the largest-ever celebration of science, the USA Science & Engineering Festival, to inspire and galvanize a force of young scientists keen to invent, explore, discover and create. 1 million participants is a good start, just 299 million to go.
2. The Rise of the IPO
Nearly a decade has passed without a blockbuster set of IPOs. Hints abound that the resurgence of an IPO market is upon us. The rise of secondary markets swapping shares of Facebook and other social-networking darlings prove there is pent-up demand and that capital is ready, willing, and able to once again fund high-flying companies that didn’t exist a few years ago and are the essential companies of tomorrow. Groupon, despite having 500 competitors and being founded only two years ago may be the fastest company in history to get to a billion dollars in revenue.
3. The Rise of the Tablet
The iPad was just the start. Samsung’s Galaxy and a slate of other touch tablets will continue seizing netbook and laptop share. When we get over the buzzword and just start calling the “cloud” the “Internet” again, people will also see that the prophecies of George Gilder and Sun’s Scott McNeely—that the network is the computer—were correct all along.
4. The Rise of Nuclear & EVs
My partners at Lux Capital always tell entrepreneurs to shave with Occam’s Razor: find the simplest solution. In energy it’s nuclear power, and the electrification of everything, including cars. Watch for just-out-of-stealth startups like Kurion that are solving
Author: Larry Bock
In Memoriam: Our friend and Xconomist Larry Bock passed away on July 6, 2016. We at Xconomy are deeply saddened by his loss.
Larry Bock is the founder and organizer of the USA Science & Engineering Festival, and a former founder of the San Diego Science Festival. Mr. Bock is a Special Limited Partner to Lux Capital, a $100M nanotechnology-focused venture capital fund. He is a member of the Board of Directors of FEI Corporation (NASDAQ: FEIC), the leading supplier of tools for nanotechnology research. He is a General Partner of CW Ventures, a $100M life sciences venture capital fund.
Mr. Bock was the founder and former executive chairman and initial CEO of Nanosys and the founder and initial CEO of Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ: NBIX), Pharmacopeia (NASDAQ: PCOP), GenPharm International, which was acquired by Medarex for $100 million; Caliper Technologies (NASDAQ: CALP); Illumina Technologies (NASDAQ: ILMN), among numerous other firms.
He was also a seed or early-stage investor in variety of firms, including Acceleron Pharma, Aurora Biosciences, Biosym Technologies, ekoVenture. Gen-Probe, Gensia Pharmaceuticals, Genocea Biosciences, IDEC Pharmaceuticals Magen Biosciences, Oclassen Pharmaceuticals Plexikon Pharmaceuticals, Poland Partners, Sequana Therapeutics, Sapphire Energy, Siluria, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Software Transformation, and Viagene.
Mr. Bock started his career as a researcher in the early days at Genentech, the field of infectious diseases, where he was on the team that received the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize for demonstrating the world’s first recombinant DNA vaccine. He was a Venture Capital Associate with Fairfield Ventures (now Oxford Bioventures).
Larry and his wife, Diane, established the Larry and Diane Bock Chair in Nanotechnology at the University of California, Berkeley. They also founded Community Cousins, a non-profit foundation focused on breaking down racial barriers, that was selected by former Vice President Al Gore as one of 10 outstanding grass root efforts nationally. Larry is organizing the San Diego Science Festival with BioBridge of UCSD. He works extensively with the Sudanese and Burmese refugee’s networks in San Diego and is a tutor in math and sciences for Sudanese refugee children in St. Lukes Sudanese Refugee Network and a Mentor for Burmese refugee families through Jewish Family Services. Larry received his B.A. in Biochemistry (summa cum laude) from Bowdoin College and his M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA.
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