The quest to find the European Technology Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008

Geneva – July 9th, 2008 – World-renowned luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet & Cie, in partnership with Schroder & Co Banque SA and the European Tech Tour Association (ETT), is celebrating the “AP Changing Times Award” to name the European Technology Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008. This is the third time that the prize will be awarded after a successful inauguration of the award in 2006.

The prestigious award will be presented to the European Technology Entrepreneur whose company has had the biggest impact, on the largest number of people, in the least amount of time. The names of the finalist companies will be announced in November.

“The two first editions of the AP Changing Times Award have been very successful. It has been the opportunity to meet the most talented and promising European entrepreneurs and to spend quality time with them and our guests. Networking at such level is very valuable”, said Georges-Henri Meylan, President & CEO of Audemars Piguet. “In 2006, we have named MySQL as the winner. This choice has been confirmed afterwards by its sale to Sun Microsystems for 1 billion of US$ on January 16th 2008. We look forward to this year’s edition.”

The Award Ceremony will feature a well-known industry keynote speaker and will take place at a Gala Dinner on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at the Dinemec Recording Studios in Gland, Switzerland.

An international selection committee comprised of Luc Denis from Schroders, Philippe Collombel from Partech International in France, Fred Destin from Atlas Ventures in the UK, Sven Lingjaerde of Geneva-based venture capital fund, Endeavour Vision, as well as Bart Markus from Wellington Partners in Germany, Fergal Mullen of the US venture capital firm, Highland Capital Partners, Rodolfo Lara from the World Economic Forum and Tellef Thorleifsson of the Nordics VC firm, Northzone Ventures will select the winning entrepreneur from a pre-established list of candidates.

Audemars Piguet created the award to inspire daring entrepreneurship and to reward entrepreneurs whose vision, drive and success mirror the company’s values of precision, high-end technology and performance. In 2007 the winner was SWsoft renamed Parallel. The NextGem award was given to Innovative Silicon and vente-privee.com was rewarded with a special Jury Prize.
In 2008 apart from the winner and the NextGem the Selection Committee will reward a company in the medical technologies sector.

As a non-profit organization, the ETT will provide industry insight and recommendations on potential candidates as it regularly identifies unique and innovative projects that have the potential to impact the European technology landscape, introducing select companies to key global investors, corporations and advisors in high-tech world. Approximately four tours are organized per year in different European countries or emerging regions where ETT identifies and finds innovative young high-tech companies with global market potential.

Audemars Piguet
Founded in 1875 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet in the Swiss village of Le Brassus, Audemars Piguet is one of the world’s oldest watchmakers. Often referred to as the master watchmaker, Audemars Piguet is still independently owned by its founding families. Based in the Vallée de Joux, the company’s skilled craftsmen transfer their unique expertise and know-how to the exclusive range of products that consist of carefully crafted high-precision watches and several jewellery collections. At each milestone in its history, Audemars Piguet has always adopted innovative and forward-looking techniques, an approach which has earned the company an unparalleled number of world firsts in the field of “Haute Horlogerie”
http://www.audemarspiguet.com

Schroders
Schroders, a global investment-management company, was established in 1804 and the Schroder family still controls 47% of the voting shares. Schroders Plc, one of Britain’s major listed private companies, has been present in Switzerland since 1967. Its offices in Zurich and Geneva (since 1984) look after local and international private and institutional investors. Schroder & Co Banque SA offers a wide range of asset-management (CHF 320 billions, group) and credit services. As part of a leading international asset-management organisation, the company combines a well- established local presence with the international resources and global perspective of the Schroder Group.
http://www.schroders.com

The European Tech Tour Association (ETT)
The European Tech Tour Association (ETT), an independent organization composed of key contributors to the high-technology industry, was founded in Geneva in 1998 in response to growing interest to visit emerging technology companies in various European regions. ETT aims to provide a platform that allows interactions between the three main groups, entrepreneurs, insiders and visitors eventually leading to facilitating or funding local high technology companies looking to expand internationally.
Find out more at www.techtour.com