Global Bridge: Equipping Global Entrepreneurs

Governments and regional economies partner with Larta to build the competitiveness of their innovation infrastructure and enterprise development initiatives. Global Bridge programs inform and equip innovators, policy-makers, investors, universities and research institutes that spin out new ventures. Our international projects include work with government organizations from Canada, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Israel, Sweden, Russia, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan, Finland, and Hong Kong.

Our Global Bridge program extends Larta Institute's commercialization and innovation development expertise to the rest of the world. Global Bridge helps foreign government agencies and non-governmental organizations develop their economies by preparing companies to successfully compete in regional, U.S. and international markets.

Global Bridge helps regions cultivate valuable partnerships by connecting companies, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations to relevant industry and investment professionals from the United States and other countries. The program is designed to foster scientific, technological and economic cooperation between foreign regions and the United States by facilitating relationships among innovative businesses, scientists, investors, and economic development professionals.

Benefits for Foreign Governments and Organizations

Technology businesses produce significant revenues with relatively little impact on regional infrastructures or demands for government services. Regional governments can significantly benefit through an increase in corporate and individual tax revenues. Unlike manufacturing, technology businesses produce relatively little pollution. Unlike tourism and other service-based businesses, technology companies attract significant foreign investment, and help foster a "knowledge economy" that produces high-paying jobs, enhances and utilizes scientific research at regional universities, and draws highly educated and skilled professionals to the area, which in turn benefits real estate development as well as restaurants and other service-based businesses.

Global Bridge program complements the efforts of foreign business development and technology transfer support organizations. Larta Institute works side-by-side with foreign government and non-governmental organizations and policy makers. Our program is custom-designed to enhance and extend existing development efforts.

Benefits For Foreign Entrepreneurs and Innovators

Global Bridge promotes concrete transactional relationships between foreign companies and the U.S. investment and corporate communities. The program entails much more than a training process. Larta Institute helps prepare companies to understand the U.S. market, assists companies to identify the right contacts, and provides the means for those companies to form relationships with potential investors and partners.

Global Bridge helps foreign companies develop effective management strategies and practices through a comprehensive and intensive entrepreneurial training and incubation program. Topics include: Intellectual Property Management, Market Opportunity Research, Management and Board Development, Global Strategic Alliances, Business Model Development, Marketing and Selling, Pitching and Presenting, and Financing.

Australia

Canberra-California Bridge Program was created to develop better channels for Australia Capital Territory (ACT) companies to enter the U.S. market. The Canberra-California Bridge Program was designed to help improve the success of U.S. and ACT exporters, and enhance business connections between Los Angeles and Canberra through small and medium enterprises.  

Brazil

ABDI (The Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development) retained Larta to develop and execute a unique 3-phase mentorship, showcase and partnering program designed for emerging entrepreneurs from Brazil interested in engaging the U.S. market.

Canada

The Canada - U.S. Bridge program is a product of a long lasting cooperation between the Canadian Consulate General in Los Angeles and Larta Institute. This program is designed to introduce promising Canadian life science companies to United States investment and research communities.

Larta Institute and partner, Canada’s Investment, Science, & Technology Branch (IIT), delivered remote training to several select companies, a group of which were invited to Los Angeles where they received further training through live mentoring, networking opportunities and attendance at a final presentation event at the Venture Forum. In addition, the Canada-U.S. Tech Transfer Bridge program showcased selected technologies spinning out of Canadian universities at Larta’s Project T2 (technology transfer) Conference to generate interest in Canadian tech transfer efforts from U.S. corporate venturing arms.

Hong Kong

Larta Institute produced "Hong Kong, Your Risk Manager to China", an invitation-only luncheon for Invest HK. The Assistant Director of Invest HK presented information about the region and its business and technology climate to about 80 high-level attendees. The project's goal was to connect the Invest HK office with executives from technology companies interested in exploring business opportunities in Hong Kong and China, and to showcase the advantages of entering the Chinese Market using Hong Kong as a platform.

Hong Kong’s Innovation and Technology Commission has also partnered with Larta Institute to “help spearhead Hong Kong’s drive to become a world-class, knowledge-based economy.” Larta Institute offered remote training to selected companies, six of their most promising of these companies were invited to Los Angeles where they received live mentoring, networking opportunities and attendance at a final presentation even at the 2006 Venture Forum in San Jose.

Italy

The Italian Trade Commission partnered with Larta Institute to help promote trade, business opportunities, and industrial cooperation between Italy and U.S. companies. Larta Institute provided remote training to a select group of Italian innovators and selected the two most promising companies to receive further training in Los Angeles. These companies gained access, networking opportunities and live mentoring, along with a chance to give their final presentation to an audience of investors, industry and partners at the 2006 Venture Forum in San Jose.

Israel

Israel-U.S. Venture Bridge Program provided executive training and incubation services to venture-ready Israeli life science companies. The program was designed to prepare the companies to receive potential U.S. investment. The Israel-U.S. Venture Bridge Program was underwritten by a grant from the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Foundation (USISTF). 17 executives received training and mentoring in the first two years of the program. The two most promising companies from the first year of the program received live mentoring in Los Angeles and later presented before corporate leaders and investors at a final venture salon. The three most promising companies from the second year received further mentoring in Los Angeles and presented at the Venture Forum.

Japan

JETRO Bridge Program was funded through the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The program's purpose was to provide business training and investment opportunities to Japanese start-ups. Larta Institute developed workshops and internships to familiarized Japanese businesspeople with American business practices, arranged mentorships and site tours for the visiting executives, and hosted an event where the Japanese corporate representatives presented their companies to leading U.S. business executives and investors. 12 Japanese entrepreneurs were brought to Los Angeles to receive live, customized training and mentoring for 14 weeks. The Japanese entrepreneurs were placed with Los Angeles-based companies for three-month internships. The participants presented their business plans at a final venture salon.

Korea

TechnoValue/Business Network & Systems Development International (bnsD), in collaboration with Larta Institute, created a comprehensive educational program and study tour for technology transfer managers of various regional technology transfer centers (RTTCs ) from Korea. The program was conducted in Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego from November 13 to November 20, 2007. Participants learned first-hand about the technology transfer processes and practices in California's universities and research institutions and heard about the challenges and opportunities in creating and nurturing an ecosystem to support the transfer of technology from research institutions.

The program featured seminars providing perspectives from investors, figures from industry and service providers, discussions between participants and their U.S. counterparts, and site visits to area institutions.

New Zealand

The Foundation for Research, Science & Technology (FRST), in collaboration with Larta Institute, developed a 3-phase mentorship, showcase and partnering program designed for emerging entrepreneurs from New Zealand interested in engaging the U.S. market.  The purpose of the program was provide participants with valuable mentorship and preparation for U.S. market penetration and the opportunity to showcase their innovations at the most well-recognized showcase of innovation and entrepreneurship across the globe, The Venture Forum.

Russia

The United States Industry Coalition (USIC) and the Foundation for Russian American Economic Cooperation (FRAEC), in collaboration with the Larta Institute, launched a unique 3-phase mentorship, showcase and partnering program designed for emerging entrepreneurs from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) interested in engaging the U.S. market. Innovators for this program were sourced from various technology institutes and companies funded by the Global Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention Program (GIPP) of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

Sweden & Finland

Larta Institute created a program to encourage information exchange and the development of strategic alliances, joint ventures and cooperative agreements between American companies and companies in Sweden and Finland. The project was funded by the Swedish Office of Science & Technology (ITPS) and The National Technology Agency of Finland (Tekes). Larta produced two final conferences, "How Swede IT is" and "Scandinavia Goes Digital", which featured presentations from participating companies.

Taiwan

In 2006 and 2007, the Institute for Information Industry (III) partnered with Larta Institute in their mission to grow and strengthen Taiwan's information industry development. Larta Institute provided remote training to selected companies from which five of the most promising companies were invited to Los Angeles to receive world-class live mentoring and networking opportunities. These companies were also given the opportunity to present at the 2006 and 2007 Venture Forums in San Jose and San Francisco to an audience of investors, industry and partners.

The first U.S. Bridge to Taiwan was an exclusive event held in 2004 to inform selected U.S. companies of the potential for building relationships with Taiwanese companies and organizations in the areas of information technology and biotechnology. The invitation-only event provided U.S. businesses with the insider information necessary to access partners, strategic alliances, and clients in the Taiwanese technology industry. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) funded the program.