ICF Private Equity Colloquium: “Venture Capital and Technological Breakthroughs: Past and Future"

This past Tuesday, December 3, Professor of Finance and Entrepreneurship, Song Ma, sat down with Dr. William Janeway to explore the history and future of venture capital and technology.

Over the past few decades, venture capital has been the driving force behind some of the most transformative technological advancements in history. From the rise of Silicon Valley and the creation of groundbreaking companies to the global spread of tech entrepreneurship, venture capital has played a pivotal role in shaping the modern economy. This talk delved into how venture capital has fueled key innovations, spanning industries such as biotechnology, clean energy, artificial intelligence, and more.

The discussion also focused on the future of innovation, considering how emerging technologies like AI, quantum computing, and renewable energy systems could redefine industries and societies. What role will venture capital play in shaping these advancements, and how can investors and entrepreneurs navigate the opportunities and risks of a rapidly changing technological landscape?

William (Bill) Janeway is a Venture Capitalist with more the four decades of experience. He joined Warburg Pincus in 1988 and was responsible for building the information technology investment practice: leading investments included BEA Systems and VERITAS Software. Previously, he was executive vice president and director at Eberstadt Fleming. Dr. Janeway is a director O'Reilly Media. Dr. Janeway is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Social Science Research Council. He is founder of the Janeway Institute for Economics and of the Cambridge Endowment for Research in Finance (CERF) at the University of Cambridge. He was co-founder of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. He is the author of Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy: Reconfiguring the Three-Player Game between Markets, Speculators, and the State (2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2018).

Dr. Janeway received his doctorate in economics from Cambridge University where he was a Marshall Scholar. He was valedictorian of the class of 1965 at Princeton University.