The Enterprise Committee has the purpose of encouraging entrepreneurship and business innovation initiatives related to the objectives of the company.
The purpose of the Enterprise Committee is to encourage entrepreneurship and business innovation initiatives related to the objectives of i4is. The committee is currently chaired by Stefan Zeidler. Other members of the committee include Bill Cress and Sam Harrison, all of which have run many non-profit or for-profit companies of their own.
The inspiration for this committee derives from the exemplary efforts of Frederick Terman whilst in Stanford in the 1940s, where he encouraged students to form their own companies and personally invested in many of them, resulting in firms such as Litton Industries, Varian Associates and Hewlett-Packard, which helped to kick-start Silicon Valley. We intend to adopt a similar model and to invest in anyone that has a good idea, and the enthusiasm and work ethic to make it successful, and where that product relates to the mission of i4is. We aim to become an incubator of new startups.
The committee is still in the foundation stages, subject to putting itself in a position where it can initiate either internal or external business activities which benefit the mission of i4is, to emerge a starship capable society. We anticipate beginning initial seed funding of various ventures in the autumn of 2015, although several discussions are already underway. If you are interested in having a business discussion with members of the i4is team, contact us at info@i4is.org. We would be very happy to talk to you. This also includes members of the external business community that would like to work with i4is in a mutually beneficial capacity.
Members of the Enterprise Committee
Stefan Zeidler
Stefan Zeidler received his Master’s degree in Business studies at University of St. Gallen (HSG) in Switzerland having studied Computer Science at Technische Univerisität München, Business Studies at Ludwig-Maximilian-Universitaet Muenchen, Corporate Finance at London School of Economics (LSE) and Innovation Management at University of British Columbia (UBC) before. He has been working as a Senior Consultant, Project Manager and technical Product Manager on large technology projects since.
Main experiences include business case calculations, cost estimations and budget planning, requirements analysis and shaping, recruiting and setting up of teams, tracking of delivery and large-scale multi-stage testing and roll-outs. Project management skills include both classic waterfall project methodologies and agile development methodologies.
Sam Harrison
Sam graduated from Bournemouth University in 2016 with a degree in Business Studies. His interest in space then led him to study for a master’s degree in Space Studies at the International Space University, ISU.
During his time at the ISU, he has been involved with the founding and running of several for-profit enterprises including most recently a high altitude stratospheric balloon company called Nebula Sciences, all while furthering i4is’s goals through his role as researcher and board member.
As part of his MSc degree at ISU, Sam worked in the astrophysics department at NASA for four months where he was responsible for designing and building a new type of lower wavefront sensor to help increase the stability in on sky telescope observations.
Sam has also given talks in a wide range of settings including TEDx, ISU and Singularity University, as well as teaching courses for the i4is and students at the University of Oxford.
Currently, Sam works as a business analyst at ASTROCAST, a startup based in Switzerland building a network of nanosatellites to provide communications in the context of the Internet of Things.