Silicon Valley Open Doors (SVOD) is a technology investment conference which takes place annually in Silicon Valley (California, USA).
The goals of the conference are to demonstrate investment and business development opportunities available in Russia, Ukraine, and other CIS countries to US/European investors and corporate leaders; to assist Russian companies, technology parks, incubators, research institutes, as well as individual entrepreneurs in the creation of successful high technology products and their expansion into international markets; and to help Russian and CIS investors identify partners among US/European venture capital firms.[1]
The inaugural SVOD-2005 was held on November 14-16, 2005 at Stanford University. The conference attracted over 250 attendees from innovative technology companies from the Former Soviet Union; major Silicon Valley VC firms (i.e., Sequoia Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Asset Management Company, Bessemer Venture Partners, Alloy Ventures); top US technology companies (i.e., Amgen, Adobe, Cisco, Oracle Corporation, Genentech, PayPal, Sun Microsystems, and Google) and leading technology and business media.[2]
The second conference, SVOD-2006, was held on November 16-17, 2006 at Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA). The conference had over 300 participants from innovative technology companies from the Former Soviet Union and Israel[3]; prominent Silicon Valley VC firms; leading technology and business media; and top US technology companies. The event was organized by the American Business Association of Russian-Speaking Professionals (AmBAR) in equal partnership with Russian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (RVCA) and Ukrainian Center for Innovation Development (CID).
The third conference, SVOD-2007, took place at Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) on November 8-9, 2007.
The fourth conference, SVOD-2008, took place at Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) on November 20-21, 2008.
The fifth conference, SVOD-2009, took place at Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) on December 8-9, 2009.
SVOD 2010 was postponed because of the organizational transition within AmBAR.
SVOD 2011 has been announced for November 29-30, 2011. The information about SVOD 2011 preparation, its topics, participants and the lineup of speakers is updated at the SVOD webpage of the AmBAR website.