European Tech Wire - May 4, 2005

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EUROPEAN TECH WIRE - May 4, 2005
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Sponsored By:
Popkomm Innovation in Music and Entertainment Awards
http://www.popkommawards.com

o EU Backs Plan to Counter Google Online-Library Project
o EU OKs 120-Million-Euro Tech-Aid Scheme in Germany
o Report: Number of European 1st-Qtr Buy-Outs Falls 32%
o France's Tagsys Secures 9.4 Million Euro in Fourth Round
o Report: VC Investment in Israeli Companies Levels Off
o U.K. Leads Europe in Radio Frequency Identity Trials
o Survey: HDTV Will Drive Europe's Switch to Digital TV
> 2nd Popkomm Innovation in Music and Entertainment Awards
o Briefly Noted: Rabobank-RaboDirect.ie, Austria's CenterPoint-
First Round Funding, "Mobile Only" Households in Ireland,
Materna Information & Communications-Digital Music Service,
Thales Information Systems-SGL Carbon IT Division
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o EU Backs Plan to Counter Google Online-Library Project

Brussels -- After receiving a motion signed by 19 national libraries, the
EU announced that it would support the launch of a European digital
library to rival a similar project run by U.S.-based Internet giant
Google. Last December, Google agreed to work with the University of
Michigan, Harvard, Stanford, the New York Public Library and the
University of Oxford to digitise millions of books and documents,
making them available free of charge online. A number of European
lawmakers and academics, however, criticised the project, claiming it
would apt to ignore works not written in English. France, Germany,
Hungary, Italy, Poland and Spain all signed the motion to create a
European library to meet the threat of what French National Library
President Jean-Noel Jeanneney recently described as "the risk of a
crushing American domination in the definition of how future
generations conceive the world".
http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/050503101705.s4kimgal
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o EU OKs 120-Million-Euro Tech-Aid Scheme in Germany

Brussels -- The European Commission approved an aid scheme in
Germany that will invest about 120 million euro a year in newly
created or technology-oriented small and medium-sized businesses
using technology centres, incubators and industrial centres. Although
the project will provide public support for the creation or development
of such centres, companies using their services will be the sole
beneficiaries of the aid, the Commission said. These facilities will
provide office rental, consultancy services, research accommodation,
networking with other companies and the possibility to cooperate with
universities and research institutes.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?R3A92220B
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o Report: Number of European 1st-Qtr Buy-Outs Falls 32%

London -- The latest report by Incisive Media Plc shows that buy-out
activity in Europe slowed in the first quarter of 2005, with the number
of deals dropping by 32% to 98, and their overall value falling by 14%
to approximately 19.3 billion (£13.2 billion). Year on year, the number
of deals fell by just 3%, while overall deal value in the first quarter
increased by 40% compared to the same quarter last year. "It is not
uncommon for the first quarter of the year to see a drop in deal
volumes, following the race for many investors to complete
transactions before the preceding year end," the company said. The
report predicted that the market would begin to recover over the
coming quarters on the basis of the size of some of the buy-outs in the
offing.
http://www.incisivemedia.com/
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o France-Based Tagsys Secures 9.4 Million Euro in Fourth Round

Paris -- Tagsys SA, a France-based provider of radio frequency
identification (RFID) tags and reading systems for product monitoring,
announced that it has secured more than 9.4 million euro in fourth-
round venture capital financing. Elliott Associates led the round, with
existing investors ENDEAVOUR, AXA Private Equity, Add Partners,
Joint Investment Fund for Young Enterprises (FCJE) and Saffron Hill
Ventures also participating. Tagsys said it would use the funds for
further expansion in the "burgeoning" U.S. market. "With an expected
market size of at least $5 billion in 2007, RFID is reshaping logistics
and distribution," said ENDEAVOUR Partner Bernard Vogel. "This
investment will accelerate the development of Tagsys and strengthen its
leading position in major RFID markets such as pharmaceuticals,
particularly in the United States."
http://www.tagsys.net/rfid_topic-3-2-1.html
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o Report: VC Investment in Israeli Companies Levels Off

Tel Aviv -- According to the latest quarterly survey by the IVC
Research Centre, the capital raised by Israel-based technology
companies levelled off in the first quarter of 2005. The survey,
conducted with the Israel Venture Association, found that 102 Israeli
technology companies raised 270 million euro ($350 million) from
both local and foreign venture investors in the first quarter -- a 4%
decrease from the 282 million euro raised by 113 companies in the
quarter previous, but an 8% increase year-on-year. "Israeli companies
raised an average of more than (270 million euro) per quarter since the
start of 2004," said IVC Research Director Efrat Zakai. "We are
projecting that (1.2 billion euro) will be raised by Israeli high-tech
firms in 2005."
http://www.ivc-online.com/
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o U.K. Leads Europe in Radio Frequency Identity Trials

London -- A new study by market analysis firm IDTechEX shows that
the U.K. is conducting more trials for radio frequency identity (RFID)
tags than any other country in Europe. In fact, the U.K., which accounts
for more than 10% of the overall European RFID market, is second
only to the U.S. when it comes to total number of trials. IDTechEX said
RFID had made particular inroads in the U.K. retail sector. "There is a
very competitive retail environment in the U.K.," said IDTechEX RFID
Specialist Peter Harrop. "Retailers are keen to use RFID for
competitive advantage because they have few own-branded products
compared with their counterparts in Europe, where managing the
supply chain is easier."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P4A82340B
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o Survey: HDTV Will Drive Europe's Switch to Digital TV

London -- According to a new survey by market analysis firm Jupiter
Research, the move to digital TV in Europe will be driven by high-
definition TV (HDTV) -- as opposed to services such as video-on-
demand and digital video recorders. About 24% of the survey's
respondents ranked HDTV's picture quality as the most important
factor in their decision to switch from analogue to digital. To many
analysts' surprise, only 10% of the respondents cited services like
video-on-demand as the chief reason behind their decision. "The
flexible viewing options enabled by DVR and video-on-demand are
less exciting for consumers than many in the industry believe," said
Jupiter analyst Ian Fogg. "Quality television is critical to drive digital
TV growth, but today European digital television delivers just a
standard definition picture, and is the poor sibling of world television."
http://www.jupiterresearch.com/bin/item.pl/home
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> 2nd Annual Popkomm Innovation in Music and Entertainment
Awards (IMEA)

Popkomm is one of Europe's leading Music & Entertainment - Industry
tradeshows and conferences. IMEA is chaired by Music Futurist Gerd
Leonhard (ThinkAndLink). IMEA's mission is to find, select and
present the best new business ideas, the brightest entrepreneurs and
startups in the music-, media - and entertainment-technology sectors,
worldwide, and provide a new platform for their discovery. Apply now
(it's free)
Contact: http://www.popkommawards.com  or gleonhard@gmail.com

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o Briefly Noted:

(Dublin) RaboDirect, a subsidiary of the Dutch online bank Rabobank,
announced that it has launched Ireland's first completely online bank.
Rabobank, which entered the Irish market in 1994 and acquired ACC
Bank in 2002, said it would target Irish consumers with a purely
Internet bank called RaboDirect.ie. Initially, the site will offer a no-fee,
no-charge deposit account with interest rates of 3%, nearly 10 times the
standard rate. The bank said it would also offer investments in the
managed funds market with accounts with Robeco and Merrill Lynch
that can be opened with around 100 euro.
http://www.rabobank.nl/info/execute/node?node_id=263624

(Vienna) CenterPoint, an Austria-based specialist for IMS (Integrated
Manufacturing Solutions) and production process optimisation,
announced that it has raised 2 million euro in first-round funding. The
company said the investment would strengthen its position in
Advanced Process Control systems and accelerate its international
expansion. gcp gamma capital partners and Grunderfonds led the
round, with Connective Software Engineering GmbH, AWS, KWF and
a private investor also participating.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?S2C93220B 

(Dublin) According to a new study commissioned by Irish watchdog
ComReg, approximately 24% of Irish homes are now "mobile only".
The report, conducted by Amarach Consulting, showed that mobile
subscription levels continue to exceed household fixed-line penetration
in the residential market. The report also found that younger
demographic age groups, lower income groups and singles were most
likely to live in "mobile only" households, or those without fixed-line
subscriptions.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?G1976540B

(Dortmund, Germany) German telecommunications firm Materna
Information & Communications announced that it plans to launch a
digital music distribution service for both PCs and mobile phones. The
service will sell downloadable full tracks on both platforms, supported
by various digital rights management technologies, and also offer
music news and tour dates, as well as ringtones and wallpapers for
mobile phones.
http://www.materna.com 

(Frankfurt) Thales Information Systems, a France-based IT services
provider, announced that it has acquired the IT department of SGL
Carbon, a Germany-based manufacturing company. Financial details
were not disclosed, but SGL did say that the outsourcing deal would
save the company as much as 10 million euro over the course of the
five-year contract. Thales Information Systems is a unit of French
defence contractor Thales Group.
http://www.thalesgroup.com/press/press_releases/
http://www.sglcarbon.com/

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> 2nd Annual Popkomm Innovation in Music and Entertainment
Awards (IMEA)

Popkomm is one of Europe's leading Music & Entertainment - Industry
tradeshows and conferences. IMEA is chaired by Music Futurist Gerd
Leonhard (ThinkAndLink). IMEA's mission is to find, select and
present the best new business ideas, the brightest entrepreneurs and
startups in the music-, media - and entertainment-technology sectors,
worldwide, and provide a new platform for their discovery. Apply now
(it's free)
Contact: http://www.popkommawards.com  or gleonhard@gmail.com
_____________________________________________

> IDEAlliance's XTech 2005 and The Gilbane Conference on Content
Mgmt.

Slated for 24-27 May in Amsterdam, XTech 2005 is the premier
European conference for developers and managers working with XML
and Web technologies, bringing together the worlds of web
development, open source, semantic web and open standards. The
Gilbane Conference is for IT managers, system architects, technical
business and project managers. Topics include: enterprise and web
content management, knowledge management, collaboration, enterprise
search, and document management. For more info visit
http://www.xtech.org  or http://www.lighthouseseminars.com
_____________________________________________

> AeA Micro Cap Financial Conf. For Public Tech Companies
May 15-17

Meet executives from 120 high-tech companies, gather information and
network with peers at the AeA Micro Cap Financial Conference held in
Monterey, CA from May 15-17. If you are an investor interested in
growing public technology companies with up to $200 million market
cap or revenues, then this is the conference to attend. For more
information, visit http://www.aeanet.org/MC05  or call 408.987.4236.
_____________________________________________

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