Where Innovation Happens by Tim Rowe

For this episode of Where Innovation Happens, I spoke with Bartosz “Bartek” Lipnicki, Managing Director of Endeavor Poland, about Poland’s fast-growing innovation ecosystem and the role Endeavor is playing globally in helping ambitious founders scale.Poland has become one of Europe’s most interesting startup markets, building on one of the region’s most impressive long-term economic growth stories since its transition to a market economy. Today, that momentum is showing up in a new generation of globally ambitious companies, including ElevenLabs, the Polish-founded AI voice company that recently crossed the decacorn threshold with an $11 billion valuation.Bartek gives us a window into what is happening on the ground in Poland: the founders, the ecosystem, the opportunities, and the growing confidence that world-class technology companies can be built from Warsaw and beyond.He also introduces us to Endeavor, a remarkable global nonprofit and founder network that supports high-impact entrepreneurs around the world. Endeavor describes itself as a global network “of, by, and for entrepreneurs,” focused on helping founders dream bigger, scale faster, and multiply their impact. Its model is built around the idea that successful entrepreneurs can transform economies not only by building major companies, but also by creating jobs, mentoring others, investing in the next generation, and inspiring future founders.In our conversation, Bartek explains how Endeavor works with companies that have found product-market fit and are ready to scale internationally. He describes Endeavor’s founder-to-founder support model, its global selection process, and the “multiplier effect” that happens when successful entrepreneurs return value to the ecosystem around them.We also discuss Polish success stories including ElevenLabs, ICEYE, Docplanner, Booksy, and CampusAI, as well as the broader question of how entrepreneurial ecosystems develop outside the usual startup capitals.I feel an immediate warmth toward Endeavor’s mission. It shares a core philosophy that has shaped much of my own work at CIC and Venture Café: that innovation can help fix the world, and that with the right support, great entrepreneurs can thrive far beyond the usual centers of venture capital.This conversation is about Poland, Endeavor, and a bigger idea: how we build innovation ecosystems in places where talent is abundant, ambition is rising, and the next generation of world-changing companies may already be taking shape.Topics include:Poland’s startup ecosystemEndeavor’s global modelHigh-impact entrepreneurshipElevenLabs and Poland’s first decacornICEYE and Polish space technologyFounder-to-founder support networksProduct-market fit and global scalingThe multiplier effect in entrepreneurshipHow innovation ecosystems grow outside the usual startup capitals

In this episode of Where Innovation Happens, I sit down with Patrick Walsh, CEO of Dogpatch Labs, one of Ireland’s most important startup and innovation hubs, based in an historic building in Dublin’s Docklands.Dogpatch Labs sits at the heart of Dublin’s technology ecosystem, surrounded by the European headquarters and major offices of companies like Google, Meta, Stripe, HubSpot, OpenAI, and Anthropic. But as Patrick explains, Dublin’s innovation story is not only about big tech. It is increasingly about the founders, engineers, investors, and young builders who are emerging from that ecosystem to create the next generation of Irish startups.Patrick and I discuss how Ireland’s innovation economy has evolved, why Dublin has become one of Europe’s most concentrated centers of international tech talent, and what still needs to change for Ireland to reach its full entrepreneurial potential. We talk about startup policy, stock options, angel investment, pension fund capital, and the kinds of physical infrastructure — including wet labs, hardware labs, and larger startup campuses — that can help founders build more ambitious companies.We also explore how Dogpatch Labs is supporting founders at multiple stages, from teenagers in its Patch youth program to deep-tech and biotech startups such as Meta-Flux, a Dublin-based company using AI to model disease biology and improve drug development decisions.Along the way, we compare Dublin with other innovation ecosystems including Paris, Boston, Cambridge, and Silicon Valley, and discuss how AI is changing the path of entrepreneurship itself. Patrick offers thoughtful advice for people considering whether to become founders, including why grit, resilience, optimism, and a genuine need to solve a problem matter more than simply wanting a “cool” startup career.This conversation is about Dublin, but it is also about a larger question at the heart of this show: how do we build places where entrepreneurs can do their best work, take bigger risks, and solve problems that matter?Topics covered:Dogpatch Labs and Dublin’s startup ecosystemIreland’s big tech presence and its impact on foundersGoogle, Meta, Stripe, HubSpot, OpenAI, and Anthropic in DublinThe role of startup hubs in building innovation economiesWhat Ireland can learn from Paris, Station F, Boston, and CambridgeStartup policy, stock options, angel investment, and pension capitalWhy physical innovation infrastructure mattersWet labs, hardware labs, biotech, and deep tech in IrelandYouth entrepreneurship and Dogpatch’s Patch programAI-native startups and the changing founder journeyMeta-Flux and the intersection of AI and pharmaWhy entrepreneurs matter for solving global problemsFeatured guest:Patrick Walsh, CEO of Dogpatch LabsHost:Tim Rowe, Founder and Chair of CICWhere Innovation Happens explores the people, places, and ecosystems that help entrepreneurs thrive — from startup hubs and innovation districts to the communities that make ambitious new ideas possible.

This is the core episode in my entire podcast. It is a deeper (~40 minute) version of the ~10 minute Episode 1 that I launched this show with.I share the entire sweep of my work, starting with the foundations of CIC to the work I am focused on now, and how we see innovation hubs evolving in the future. In this episode I introduce for the first time the concept of "innovation meccas": the ideal type of innovation hub. Please share this video with anyone interested in innovation hubs, and please leave your thoughts, questions and comments!

In this bonus episode, I share a panel discussion from WebSummit Qatar this year entitled "From Hubs to High Growth". I was pleased to appear on stage alongside Mohammed Al Emadi, the head of Investment and Incubation at Qatar Development Bank, and Burak Dağlıoğlu, the President of the Investment Office of the Presidency of Türkiye. We explored what is happening in the gulf, and around the world in terms of national innovation policy. Mohammed is a key player in Qatar's national innovation strategy. He drives Qatar's entrepreneurial ecosystem by overseeing venture capital investments, startup incubators, and specialized hubs. He manages a $100M+ VC fund, leads the Startup Qatar Investment Program, and manages incubators like QBIC and Qatar FinTech Hub, supporting over 450-600 startups.Burak leads national efforts to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to Turkey. He focuses on high-value, sustainable sectors, including technology, energy, and e-mobility, while serving on the Board of the Türkiye Wealth Fund. We were fortunate to have Hamoud Almahmoud, Editor in Chief, Harvard Business Review Arabia, as our moderator.We framed the topic of the panel as follows: "Innovation no longer happens in isolation. Today’s most successful startups emerge from connected ecosystems where founders, investors, innovation hubs, corporates, and policymakers interact deliberately and at scale. This session brings together seasoned leaders from across the startup and investment landscape to explore how entrepreneurial ecosystems are evolving, where capital is moving, and what truly enables startups to grow and scale in an increasingly complex global environment."

This episode is a conversation recorded live in Tokyo with two of the world's most vibrant innovation driving organizations: France's Station F and UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA).Station F is the world's largest accelerator program, supporting over 1,000 companies per year. Its striking physical facility is a converted railway freight station. It comprises over 34,000 square meters of innovation space, making it the physically largest innovation facility in Europe. Since its opening in 2017, Station F has set the standard for what a national innovation hub should be, and it has inspired many heads of state to consider building similar facilities. In the interview, we hear from Station F's International Partnerships Lead, Joanna Gruau. ARIA stands for the Advanced Research and Invention Agency. It is the UK's so-called "moonshot agency". ARIA is actively deploying roughly 2 billion British pounds to advanced frame-breaking, over the horizon, innovation across 14 "opportunity areas". Its goal is to make all of our lives better, while strengthening the UK economy. ARIA is one of the most daring and exciting national innovation efforts anywhere in the world. Representing ARIA is Muji Ahmedi, who leads ARIA's Product Operations.

In this episode of Where Innovation Happens, I speak with my new friend, the mononymous Kavikrut, CEO of T-Hub. Located in Hyderabad, India. T-Hub is the largest single-building startup innovation space I am aware of anywhere the world, and is one of the "big four" largest innovation "campuses" (including multiple affiliated buildings) I know of worldwide. The others for reference are Station F, in Paris, LaunchPad in Singapore, and CIC's affiliated collection of facilities in Boston/Cambridge USA. Each legitimately lay claim to being "the biggest" innovation hub on some dimension (number of companies, funds invested, etc). What is important is the great things each does. I plan to cover each of them in depth, as well as many other great hubs around the world, in future episodes.In this episode I introduce both Kavikrut and the space of T-Hub itself (sharing some images of it), we learn about its origins and goals, and then Kavikrut and I speak broadly about what's changing, and what's important, for founder's in today's fast-changing world.

For the past 27 years, I’ve been building and operating places where innovation happens: hubs housing hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of startups at the heart of their cities’ innovation ecosystems. On this channel, I will share what I’ve learned and introduce the people shaping startup ecosystems around the world.I’m the founder of Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), and I also co-founded LabCentral and MassRobotics. Each is the largest of its kind in the world. Over the years, I’ve worked on major innovation hub projects in the United States, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, and beyond — and I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about what makes startup communities thrive.On Where Innovation Happens, I share what I’ve learned and introduce you to some of the extraordinary people building innovation ecosystems around the world. You’ll see inside leading innovation hubs, hear from the people who run them, and explore ideas about startups, cities, real estate, research, community, and the environments that help innovation grow.This first episode, Session 1, is a solo introduction: who I am, why I’m starting this show, and some of my core thinking about innovation hubs. This episode is just an intro to my work, and is a little over 10 minutes. My fourth episode, called "Innovation Meccas", comes in at just under 40 minutes. You can think of it as an expanded version of this intro. It goes into all of these topics more deeply.If you care about entrepreneurship, startup ecosystems, or how to build stronger places for innovators in your city or country, I think you’ll enjoy it.