GVL was founded by three unique professors on three continents: Prof. Dhrubes Biswas (Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur), Prof. Marko Seppä (University of Jyväskylä), Prof. Ikhlaq Sidhu (University of California, Berkeley).

Founders of Global Venture Lab

	PROF. MARKO SEPPÄ (FINLAND) Dr. Econ., Prof. of Growth Venturing, Head of Programs, Chair of GVL Marko was apprenticed venture capitalist in the 1980s, ran a pioneering VC operation in Russia in the 1990s, and an e-business research center in 2001-2005. He is passionate about co-creation and turning great ideas into investment-ready businesses. MaE 123, Tel. 014 - 260 3332  E-mail: marko.seppa(at)econ.jyu.fi Marko Seppä's full bio
	PROF. DHRUBES BISWAS (INDIA) Dr. Dhrubes Biswas is a renowned Professor of Electronics and Communication Engineering, as well as in Management & Entrepreneurship at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He is internationally recognized expert in radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC) and in technology ventures in Wireless Electronics, Cellular Phone Systems, communication related RFICs. He is permanently based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, while currently operating out of Kolkata, India. See what's going on at IIT Kharagpur's GVL Dhurbes Biswas full bio
	PROF. IKHLAQ SIDHU (UNITED STATES) Ikhlaq Sidhu is a professor in the Industrial Engineering & Operations Research Department at U.C. Berkeley and an authority in the technology management, with a prolific background as an inventor and executive in the telecommunications and networking industry. He is the founding director of U.C. Berkeley's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology, Co‐chair U.C. Berkeley's Management of Technology Program. Professor Sidhu has also developed the Global Venture Lab and mentoring network at U.C. Berkeley which has spun‐out over $100M of value in new technology firms in its first 3 years. See what's going on at Berkeley's GVL Ikhlaq Sidhu full bio

 In 2001, to kick off the new millennium, the city of Tampere launched “eTampere”, a local pilot of EU’s eEurope Program, boldly aimed at making Finland’s number two city region the world’s leading local knowledge society. One of the key vehicles created for the job, was e-Business Research Center eBRC, a university joint venture (between Tampere University of Technology (TUT) and University of Tampere (UTA)), the mental predecessor of GVL. During its predetermined life (2001-2005), eBRC reached all main goals, among other things, created a portfolio of over 70 projects representing a total volume of 17 million euros.

In December 2005, while preparing for “eBRC 2.0”, eBRC’s founding director Marko Seppä met Ikhlaq Sidhu, founding director of Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (CET) at UC Berkeley, in California. The fruits of this meeting of minds where harvested following Marko Seppä’s invitation as professor of growth venturing, for a five-year-term (2007-2011), at JYU, in Finland.

In September 2007, upon his visit at JYU, Ikhlaq Sidhu introduced Marko Seppä to Dhrubes Biswas, the founding director of Entrepreneurship and Incubation Programs at IIT Kharagpur, in India. By the year end, also Dhrubes Biswas had visited JYU and, in December 2007, the three took a joint conference stage at UC Berkeley, discussing their emerging joint vision of what was to become Global Venture Lab (GVL).
In 2008, the GVL team in Finland was granted the Entrepreneurial Act of the Year Award in Higher Education by local Chambers of Commerce. In addition, GVL was chosen by University Alliance Finland as one its the founding research clusters of excellence.