Based in Silicon Valley, Dr. Burton Lee lectures on European Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Stanford School of Engineering, where he is considered one of Silicon Valley’s leading experts on the European innovation ecosystem, startup and venture finance, corporate and university innovation, and government innovation policy scenes. While at Stanford, over the past five years he has successfully developed and executed partnerships with European national and regional governments, venture finance organizations and industry in Sweden, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy, Finland, Norway, Ireland, France, Spain, Romania and Estonia.
Dr. Lee concurrently serves as Managing Director of Innovarium Ventures, a financial, technical and strategic advisory services firm with technology startup, angel investor, venture capital fund, university, corporate and national and regional government clients in Europe, Latin America and the USA. Current/recent engagements include Sophia Tech Park (Bulgaria), the Gdansk Metropolitan Authority (Poland), the German Silicon Valley Accelerator, Ireland’s University of Galway (NUI Galway), Denmark’s Midt Jutland Region and Aalborg University, the Universidad de los Andes Engineering School (Bogota), as well as the TIVIT ICT Industry Association (Finland), the CETICS ICT Industry Association (Colombia), and the CAPATEC Chamber of Commerce of Technology Companies (Panama).
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 (serving as an FP7 expert evaluator); research universities, and national and regional governments. He is a researcher and frequent conference speaker and media commentator on the US and European entrepreneurship, innovation ecosystems, university reform, regional economic development, venture finance, university commercialization, social media and product design scenes.
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 and policy, technology startup companies, venture finance, university- based innovation models, the role of product design and design thinking in building innovation regions, and new approaches to technology cluster development.
Dr. Lee holds a PhD in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from Stanford, and an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Cornell University.
