Three strong themes that emerged from The Indus Entrepreneurs 12th annual conference “Energizing the Global Entrepreneurial Spirit,” held in Santa Clara on May 13, and 14 were innovation, global business models and social entrepreneurship.

Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google Inc, kicked off the event with a keynote address. The two-day event had a slew of top-notch speakers including Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer winning author; Steven Ballmer, CEO Microsoft; Daniel Rosensweig, COO Yahoo! and Bruce Chizen, CEO, Adobe Systems Inc. While Friedman, explained why the World is Flat, Chizen dwelled into Adobe’s strategy for future and Rosenweig presented a road map for Yahoo! all focusing on innovation and a global outlook.

More than 2500 people registered for the event and over a 1000 in attendance, the conference featured special sessions such as VC’s in the house, where upstarts pitch their companies to VC’s one on one and get feedback; Emerging Stars panels featured promising companies from eight high technology sectors.

It is interesting to note that the Emerging Stars panel was chosen after elaborate requirements. The Emerging Stars should be private companies with at least $1 million in funding, or more than $10 million in revenues. Another list of objective measures used to identify Emerging Stars includes an evaluation of the management team, market, industry drivers, competitive advantage, market buzz, revenues and business model, and corporate development.

Vinod Khosla, general partner, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers; led the session on social entrepreneurship showcasing the success stories of Aravind Hospitals, Institute for One World Health and Share Microfinance. Aravind Hospitals provides eye care for the poor; the Institute for One World Health, a non-profit pharmaceutical company makes cheaper and affordable medication for rare diseases such as Kalaazar (a rare air-borne disease) and Share Microfinance, provides micro-loans to poor to enable them become entrepreneurs at a smaller level,
sustain growth and overcome poverty.

All echoed common themes for upstarts to focus on innovation and global business models in this much shrunken world. Participants at the conference include venture capitalists, leading law firms, entrepreneurs and industry professionals across the U.S., South Asia and Europe.

The dates for TiECon 2006 were also announced during the two-day event. TiECon 2006 will be held on May 12-13.

The annual TiECon is organized by The Indus Entrepreneurs, a not-for-profit organization with 42 chapters in nine countries that aims to address the needs of entrepreneurs and professionals across the globe.