MyStrands - Innovation and Spain

In Recommenders 2006 I had the opportunity to have a long talk with the people of MyStrands, one of the most innovative companies in Spain. Now they are opening an office in Bilbao and we confronted opinions about the support to innovation in Barcelona (Catalonia) and Euzkadi. Innovation is not about buildings and infrastructures but about creating and supporting a rich ecosystem beyond public subvention and not about public organizations trying to be safe and get successes or putting money on empty buildings … Certainly Catalonia has a long way to go and could learn something of how Innovation is manage in Euzkadi. However, politicians are probably to continue building empty buildings and trying to catch photos with big operations …. Instead of focusing on people, groups, startups, … Therefore … little hope !!

Recommenders 2006

A truly fantastic conference about Recommender systems held in Bilbao this week and organized by the people of MyStrands. Among the best things there, the presentation of John Riedl and his insights about open research questions in the field and, of course, the presentation of Chris Anderson (in the photo with Enrique Dans moderating) around his new book “The Long Tail”. As Chris explain so well, recommenders will play a major role in this new world where is the abundance or the offer and not its scarcity, the one who dominates.