EU to Hold Technology Venture-Capital Summit in London

Brussels -- The EU announced that the European Commission and the
U.K. Presidency are holding a conference in London (Oct. 5-6) to make
recommendations on how risk capital should support the "establishment
of Europe as a leader in innovation, growth and enterprise". One topic
of discussion at "Risk Capital Summit 2005: Investing for Growth and
Competitiveness in Europe" will be the European Technology Facility
(ETF), a start-up finance scheme that provides equity to venture-capital
funds investing in young SMEs with growth potential. Organisers cited
Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies SA as the perfect example of
how venture capital can lead to "spectacular technological and
commercial breakthroughs". Skype, whose Internet telephony service
allows people to talk to each other by linking their PCs, received an
EFT two years ago when it was still a fledgling company. Just two
weeks ago, online auctioneer eBay acquired the company for about 2.2
billion euro.
http://www.riskcap2005.com