Cleantech Collective member Shai Agassi was in New York this past week for the Clinton Global Initiative. As many of you know, since he left SAP earlier this year he has been hard at work developing a business whose goal is nothing less than a solution to both Mideast peace and global climate change. What I can't talk about is the solution itself. What I can say is that's he's been busy and his plan just might succeed - it is without a doubt the boldest, most complete, most innovative proposal to address both enormous issues in one fell swoop - think Camp David meets the Model T meets the iPhone. (That's about as much as I can say without someone having to shoot me.)
On other fronts, we talked about the SDN/BPX networks, which he still follows, and of which he is still, you can tell, proud. He knew, for example, that the number of members is skirting 1,000,000 and that his former bosses, Hasso Plattner and Hening Kagermann, have referenced their success as examples of SAP's innovation. He also followed the Business By Design announcement last week, which he belives long term would change the market dynamics, and is still cheering for SAP's success.
He is also still enthusiastic about wired networks, and anticipates that they will continue to be part of the new business he is launching, particularly in bringing together suppliers from disparate locations and industries.