{{short description|American businessman}} {{Infobox person | name = Daniel Harple | image = Daniel_Harple.jpg | image_size = frameless | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date and age text|July 23, 1959}} | birth_place = | alma_mater = University of Rhode Island, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | known_for = Real Time Streaming Protocol, VoIP, location-based social networking, blockchain technologies | occupation = CEO, Technology entrepreneur, investor, and engineer }} '''Daniel Harple''' (born July 23, 1959) is an American entrepreneur, investor, inventor, and engineer best known for his role in the creation of several Internet standards, among them, Real Time Streaming Protocol used in entertainment and communications systems such as YouTube, RealPlayer, QuickTime, Skype, and others. Harple has been called a visionary, an Internet pioneer, and a "serial entrepreneur", founding multiple technology start-ups and playing a key role in the development of technologies like collaborative groupware, Voice over IP, and interactive screen sharing whiteboards. Harple also holds a number of core technology patents for inventions in VoIP, media streaming, real time web communications, collaborative computing, and location-based social media.
He was co-founder, chairman and CEO of InSoft, Inc. which was merged with Netscape in 1996. He was also a co-founder of enterprise content integration technology provider, Context Media that was sold to Oracle Corporation in 2005. In 2007, he co-founded the location-based social network application provider, GeoSolutions, B.V. doing business as GyPSii.<ref name=Bloomberg>{{cite web|title=Executive Profile, Dan Harple|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=432652&privcapId=33018365&previousCapId=3569924&previousTitle=Slater%20Center%20for%20Interactive%20Technologies|work=Bloomberg Businessweek|publisher=Bloomberg.com|access-date=5 February 2012}}{{dead link|date=April 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref name=WSJ1>{{cite news|last=Geron|first=Tomio|title=Locating Latest Mobile Craze, Tweetsii Debuts At SXSW|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2010/03/16/locating-latest-mobile-craze-tweetsii-debuts-at-sxsw/|access-date=6 February 2012|work=Venture Capital Dispatch|publisher=The Wall Street Journal |date=March 16, 2010}}</ref> He is currently CEO and managing director of Amsterdam-based Shamrock Ventures BV.
==Education and early life== A Rhode Island native, Harple performed as a teenage guitarist in garage rock bands during the 1970s, admittedly fascinated by his band's various electronic equipment and the connections between it.<ref name="Petzinger1999" /><ref name=PatriotNews1>{{cite news|last=DeKok|first=David|title=Carving a global niche; Area firm OKs purchase by Netscape|access-date=11 February 2012|newspaper=Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA)|date=February 2, 1996|url=http://dlhsport.com/Archive_files/The-Patriot-News-Feb-2-1996.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020035743/http://dlhsport.com/Archive_files/The-Patriot-News-Feb-2-1996.pdf|archive-date=20 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> He studied Liberal Arts at Marlboro College from 1977 to 1981, and received Bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Mechanical engineering from the University of Rhode Island in 1982 and 1986, where he also completed graduate-level work.<ref name=Bloomberg /> He also holds the M.Sc degree from MIT. Focusing on computer networking, he worked with the U.S. Department of Defense at the Naval Underwater Systems Center in the early 1980s, and later at companies such as AMP Incorporated and Ingersoll-Rand, where he became interested in applying principles of ergonomics to computer communications technology user interfaces in order to make it easy and convenient for the user.<ref name="MODE Magazine" />
==Influence== As both the creator of technology that became the backbone of multimedia and real-time interactive communication, and founder a number of influential, venture-backed technology start-ups, Harple has been called a visionary, an Internet pioneer in real time interactive communications, and a "serial entrepreneur".<ref name=WSJ1 /><ref name="MODE Magazine" /><ref name=DHollywood>{{cite web|title=Digital Hollywood Events at CES|url=http://www.digitalhollywood.com/08CES/CES08-Sun15.html|work=2008|publisher=DigitalHollywood.com|access-date=8 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100817090832/http://www.digitalhollywood.com/08CES/CES08-Sun15.html|archive-date=17 August 2010}}</ref> According to co-founder of Vonage, Jeff Pulver, "If you use Skype, GoToMeeting or YouTube, among others, Harple's technology and its influence has touched your life."<ref name="AOL News">{{cite web|last=Epting|first=Chris|title=Todd Rundgren's Utopia Found: The Great Pyramid of Massachusetts|url=http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/07/todd-rundrens-utopia-found-the-great-pyramid-of-massachusetts/|work=Feb 7, 2011|publisher=AOL News|access-date=5 February 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121007233819/http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/07/todd-rundrens-utopia-found-the-great-pyramid-of-massachusetts/|archive-date=7 October 2012}}</ref>
Harple's founding of Context Media influenced Enterprise Content Integration. Context Media tackled the big data problem by building technologies to search, connect, and display content across large extended enterprises. The extensive of use of metadata was deployed in this effort, which also resulted in an invention and subsequent patent by Harple in this area of collaborative real-time computing. Context Media was seen as the leader in the segment and subsequently acquired by Oracle, while the company's main competitor, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Venetica was later acquired by IBM.<ref name=InformationWeek>{{cite web|last=Darrow|first=Barbara|title=Oracle To Buy Assets Of Context Media|url=http://www.informationweek.com/news/166404237|work=August 01, 2005|publisher=Information Week|access-date=11 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807212408/http://www.informationweek.com/news/166404237|archive-date=7 August 2011}}</ref><ref name="EContent">{{cite web |last1=McGarvey |first1=Robert |title=Getting Granular with Context Media |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299177110 |website=EContentmag.com |publisher=Information Today, Inc |access-date=19 December 2018 |pages=54–55 |date=November 2001}}</ref>
Harple also championed a new dimension of the social media phenomenon: individually customizable, highly mobile, location-based experiences. "Rather than sitting indoors chatting to friends on an PC-based service - you can be out and about seeing who is nearby, what they are doing and where you could go - all in real time", he commented.<ref name=BBC3>{{cite news|title=Nokia aiming to banish paper maps|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7230686.stm|access-date=8 February 2012|newspaper=BBC News|date=11 February 2008}}</ref> An early developer, investor, and advocate of mobile social networking technology, he saw it growing faster outside of the US, telling ''The New York Times'' in 2008, "I moved to Europe because I thought the U.S. venture capital community -- which I was a part of -- was myopic," he said. "They can't see the global significance of what is happening."<ref name=NYT2>{{cite news|last=Shannon|first=Victoria|title=Social Networking Moves to the Cellphone|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/technology/06wireless.html?ex=1205470800&en=6c12e3ccaae315ab&ei=5070&emc=eta1|access-date=6 February 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 6, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311075305/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/technology/06wireless.html?ex=1205470800&en=6c12e3ccaae315ab&ei=5070&emc=eta1|archive-date=11 March 2008}}</ref>
==Career== ===InSoft=== {{Main|InSoft Inc.}} In 1992, Harple co-founded InSoft with partner Richard Pizzarro. The Grantham, Pennsylvania company was a provider of distributed digital video solutions, desktop conferencing and videoconferencing applications.<ref name="SunWorld">{{cite news|last=Hall|first=Martin, L.W.|title=The killer app? Groupware - does Insoft have the answer?|access-date=6 February 2012|newspaper=SunWorld Magazine|date=June 1992|url=http://dlhsport.com/Archive_files/killer-app-article-sm.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620191741/http://dlhsport.com/Archive_files/killer-app-article-sm.pdf|archive-date=20 June 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Inc1994A">{{cite book|author=IDG Network World Inc|title=Network World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA53|access-date=7 February 2012|date=31 October 1994|publisher=IDG Network World Inc|pages=53–|issn=0887-7661}}</ref><ref name="Inc1994B">{{cite book|author=IDG Network World Inc|title=Network World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gREEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA40|access-date=7 February 2012|date=24 January 1994|publisher=IDG Network World Inc|pages=40–|issn=0887-7661}}</ref><ref name="Inc1992">{{cite journal|author1=IDG Network World Inc|last2=Eckerson|first2=Wayne|title=Network World - Startup targets desktop Videoconferencing arena|journal=Network World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39|access-date=10 February 2012|date=21 September 1992|publisher=IDG Network World Inc|pages=39–|issn=0887-7661}}</ref> The Internet media streaming, telephony and collaborative applications originated by InSoft laid the foundation for development of the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) standard.<ref name=Bloomberg />
InSoft merged with Netscape in 1996, for a value of $161 million.<ref name="Petzinger1999" /><ref name=ProvidenceBusinessNews1>{{cite news|title=Venture capital spigot starting to flow in RI.|url=http://www.pbn.com/Venture-capital-spigot-starting-to-flow-in-RI,2172|access-date=6 February 2012|newspaper=Providence Business News|date=27 Mar 2000}}</ref> A chapter in former ''The Wall Street Journal'' columnist Tom Petzinger's book, "The New Pioneers: The Men and Women Who Are Transforming the Workplace and Marketplace," is devoted to the story of InSoft during the early days of the Internet.<ref name="Petzinger1999">{{cite book|author=Thomas Petzinger|title=The new pioneers: the men and women who are transforming the workplace and marketplace|url=https://archive.org/details/newpioneersmenwo00petz|url-access=registration|access-date=7 February 2012|date=31 March 1999|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-84636-1}} [http://dlhsport.com/Archive_files/petzinger-new-pioneers-III.pdf Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621011023/http://dlhsport.com/Archive_files/petzinger-new-pioneers-III.pdf |date=2015-06-21 }}</ref><ref name=WSJ2>{{cite news|last=Petzinger|first=Tom|title=Two Little Guys Wrestle With Giants Over Beloved Idea|url=http://www.pizzarro.com/archive/wsj.html|access-date=7 February 2012|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=2 June 1995|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131025084152/http://www.pizzarro.com/archive/wsj.html|archive-date=25 October 2013}}</ref>
===Netscape=== Following the merger of Insoft, Harple served as Senior Vice President at Netscape.<ref name=Netscape>{{cite web|title=NETSCAPE ANNOUNCES NEW REAL-TIME AUDIO AND VIDEO FRAMEWORK FOR INTERNET APPLICATIONS|url=https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/rtp/newsrelease81.html|work=Columbia University Archive|publisher=Netscape Communications Corporation, 1996|access-date=7 February 2012}}</ref> Harple's team used the collaborative computing and streaming media technologies created at InSoft as the basis for new Netscape products such as LiveAudio and LiveVideo. These efforts led to the creation of a number of internet standards, including Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP).<ref name="GEOSENTRIC OYJ" />
Netscape integrated a number of products initially developed by InSoft, including the first streaming media system called Netscape Media Server, the first Internet telephony technology called Netscape Conference, and the first media developers' platform called Netscape LiveMedia, as well as Netscape CoolTalk which was built on an early version of InSoft's shared whiteboard application.<ref name="GlobeNewswire">{{cite press release|title=BENEFON ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC INITIATIVES|url=https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2007/06/28/92847/0/en/BENEFON-ANNOUNCES-STRATEGIC-INITIATIVES.html|website=globenewswire.com|date=28 June 2007 |publisher=NASDAQ Globe Newswire|access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref>
===Context Media=== Harple founded Context Media in 1999, and described the company's goal to "create a fundamentally different way to matrix and share content between sites, and enable a new form of content commerce -- one where sites can become their own hubs of syndication and create content relationships based on context."<ref name=ProvidenceBusinessNews1 /> The company won numerous industry awards.<ref name="GEOSENTRIC OYJ" /> Products like Interchange Suite 3.0 allowed distributed and disparate digital asset and content repositories to remain distributed, while giving users a single, unified way to access the content the repositories contained.<ref name=ITBN>{{cite web|last=Kawamoto|first=Wayne|title=Context Media Introduces Interchange Suite 3.0|url=http://www.serverwatch.com/news/article.php/1474151/Context-Media-Introduces-Interchange-Suite-30.htm|work=Server Watch|publisher=IT Business Edge|access-date=8 February 2012|archive-date=16 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016010137/http://www.serverwatch.com/news/article.php/1474151/Context-Media-Introduces-Interchange-Suite-30.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> During this period computer scientist Andries van Dam served as Chairman of the company's Technical Advisory Board, working with Harple to develop standards-based protocols that would give Interchange Suite users the ability to seamlessly interact with and manipulate content stored in differing locations by differing applications.<ref name=PRNewswire>{{cite web|title=Context Media Introduces First Web Services Software Client To Provide Universal Access to Enterprise Content|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/context-media-introduces-first-web-services-software-client-to-provide-universal-access-to-enterprise-content-76615097.html|publisher=PR Newswire, United Business Media|access-date=8 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235049/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/context-media-introduces-first-web-services-software-client-to-provide-universal-access-to-enterprise-content-76615097.html|archive-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref><ref name=Bloomberg3>{{cite web|title=Executive Profile; Andries Van Dam Ph.D.|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=20878468&privcapId=2705191&previousCapId=124190&previousTitle=ipCapital%20Group,%20Inc.|publisher=Bloomberg Business Week|access-date=8 February 2012}}{{dead link|date=April 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
Harple served as President and CEO of Context Media until the company was sold to Oracle Corporation in 2005. Context Media's content-integration software formed the basis of Oracle's collaborative search middleware product ''Fusion'', that added content-management capabilities to application product lines.<ref name=CNET1>{{cite web|last=LaMonica|first=Martin|title=Oracle acquires content-management tools|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/oracle-acquires-content-management-tools/|work=CBS Interactive|publisher=CNET News|access-date=5 February 2012}}</ref>
===Context Labs=== In the mid-1990s, Harple became friends with songwriter and record producer Todd Rundgren, with whom he co-founded Context Labs, a media research company focused on exploring and developing new technologies intended to enhance and converge traditional media delivery systems for audio, video and music with the web. The company's name echoed Rundgren's and Harple's vision of "recontextualizing" the Internet by developing tools and products that helped process the vast amount of knowledge contained in it, "putting it into a context that derives the most meaning to each of us as individuals."<ref name="MODE Magazine">{{cite news|last=Matkovich|first=Beth Ann|title=Visionary Creates New Meaning for Internet|url=http://www.modeweekly.com/1998/0398/Visionary0398.htm|access-date=7 February 2012|newspaper=MODEweekly.com, MODE Magazine|year=1996|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221110813/http://modeweekly.com/1998/0398/Visionary0398.htm|archive-date=21 December 2010}}</ref>
Harple worked with Rundgren on many projects. Patronet embodied Harple's goal of a more personalized Internet experience where users could combine different parts of an artist or band's web presence, such as video clips, band news or songs, to create an individualized context meaningful to them.<ref name="MODE Magazine" /><ref name="AOL News" /><ref name=PatriotNews2>{{cite news|last=DeKok|first=David|title=VIRTUAL VENTURE // UNLIKELY PARTNERS AIM TO TAME THE INTERNET|access-date=11 February 2012|newspaper=Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA)|date=June 1, 1997|url=http://dlhsport.com/Archive_files/The-Patriot-News-June-1-1997.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620192314/http://dlhsport.com/Archive_files/The-Patriot-News-June-1-1997.pdf|archive-date=20 June 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Harple's research and experience with Patronet and Context Labs led him to subsequently found Context Media.<ref name="GEOSENTRIC OYJ" /> Some time later in 2004, Harple acquired the pyramid stage set from Rundgren's 1976 Ra (Utopia album) tour and installed it as a sculpture in a natural setting in coastal Massachusetts.<ref name="AOL News" />
===GeoSolutions BV===
In 2006, Harple moved to the Netherlands where he co-founded GeoSolutions, B.V. (doing business as GyPSii), an Amsterdam-based company whose location-based social networking technology gained adoption through telecom companies in Asia, Europe and Latin America. GyPSii was designed so that carriers could choose to either install a GyPSii app on mobile devices or use GyPSii technology to build customized applications. Harple and co-founder Sam Critchley are credited with the initial creation of GyPSii.<ref name=IDG3>{{cite web|last=Ricknäs|first=Mikael|title=Mobile Social Network Connects to Facebook, Twitter|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/164499/mobile_social_network_connects_to_facebook_twitter.html|work=May 7, 2009|publisher=IDG News Service|access-date=6 June 2012|archive-date=26 February 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226214147/http://www.pcworld.com/article/164499/mobile_social_network_connects_to_facebook_twitter.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The resulting startup was acquired and merged by GeoSentric OYJ, a NASDAQ-listed company in Finland, where Harple subsequently assumed the role of Executive Chairman and Group CEO. In September 2010, Harple resigned from this role to pursue personal and professional activities with Shamrock Ventures, B.V. He continues as a major shareholder and lead inventor/patent-holder to GeoSentric and its technologies.<ref name=WSJ1 /><ref name=EuroInvestor>{{cite web|title=CHANGES IN GEOSENTRIC OYJ'S MANAGEMENT|url=http://www.euroinvestor.co.uk/news/story.aspx?id=11301033|work=September 22, 2010|publisher=EuroInvestor.co.uk|access-date=5 February 2012}}</ref><ref name="Business Wire">{{cite press release|title=Genasys and GyPSii Sign Strategic Agreement to Offer Location-Based Social Media Solution to Telefonica's Latin American Mobile Subscribers|url=http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100212005206/en|work=February 12, 2010|publisher=Business Wire (Berkshire Hathaway)|access-date=6 February 2012}}</ref>
====GyPSii====
{{Main|GyPSii}} Launched by Harple in 2008, GyPSii's "social, local, mobile" application utilizes GPS to allow mobile device users to search and identify contacts locally or internationally and add a real time, location-based element to social networking. By May, 2010 GyPSii reported it reached over two million users in its first year.<ref name=WSJ1 /><ref name=gypsii.com>{{cite web|title=GyPSii Tops Two Million Users|url=http://blog.gypsii.com/general/gypsii-tops-two-million-users/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328061702/http://blog.gypsii.com/general/gypsii-tops-two-million-users/|archive-date=2012-03-28|work=May 19th, 2010|publisher=GyPSii.com|access-date=11 February 2012}}</ref><ref name="TechCrunch">{{cite web|last1=Byrne|first1=Ciara|title=GyPSii launches Android app to create page-rank for places|url=https://techcrunch.com/2009/09/15/gypsii-launches-android-application-and-plan-for-world-domination/|website=Techcrunch.com|date=15 September 2009 |publisher=Techcrunch|access-date=15 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="AFP News1">{{cite news|title='Friend locator' could become next craze for social networkers|url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hR38me_khE76nfhzBfLpdv1U76ow|access-date=5 February 2012|newspaper=AFP News|date=Feb 12, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080221124142/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hR38me_khE76nfhzBfLpdv1U76ow|archive-date=21 February 2008}}</ref> GyPSii allows mobile phone users to create user-generated content in real time.<ref name=BBC1>{{cite news|last=Cieslak|first=Marc|title=Rise and rise of the GPS mobile|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7282999.stm|work=Click, the BBC's flagship technology programme, Friday, 7 March 2008|date=7 March 2008 |publisher=BBC|access-date=7 February 2012}}</ref><ref name=MobileGroove>{{cite web|last=Salz|first=Peggy Anne|title=One Mobile Search To Rule Them All? GyPSii CEO Dan Harple Talks Location Services, Open APIs & Cool New Ways To Record/Search The Real World On The Move|url=http://www.mobilegroove.com/podcast-one-mobile-search-to-rule-them-all-gypsii-ceo-dan-harple-talks-location-services-open-apis-cool-new-ways-to-recordsearch-the-real-world-on-the-move/|work=May 25, 2009|date=25 May 2009 |publisher=MobileGroove|access-date=5 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001145/http://mobilegroove.com/podcast-one-mobile-search-to-rule-them-all-gypsii-ceo-dan-harple-talks-location-services-open-apis-cool-new-ways-to-recordsearch-the-real-world-on-the-move/|archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref><ref name=Reuters>{{cite news|last=Mika|first=Niclas|title=Telcos battle as Net brands go mobile|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mobile-fair-operators-idUSL1391637720080213?sp=true|access-date=7 February 2012|newspaper=Reuters|date=Feb 13, 2008}}</ref> In March 2010, GyPSii launched Tweetsii, a real time app for the iPhone, Android and BlackBerry platforms.<ref name="TechCrunch2">{{cite web|last1=Marinando|title=GyPSii launches Tweetsii for Android|url=https://techcrunch.com/2010/05/05/gypsii-launches-tweetsii-real-time-content-relevant-client-for-androi/|website=Techcrunch.com|date=5 May 2010 |publisher=TechCrunch|access-date=15 June 2016}}</ref>
Prior to Harple's departure, GyPSii oversaw a joint venture with China's Sina.com to embed GyPSii technology at a platform level in its Twitter-like microblog, Weibo. China Unicom also partnered with GyPSii, using its technology to bundle GyPSii on all iPhones in China and launch a China-based social networking application for the iPhone called Unispace.<ref name=WSJ1 />
====Shamrock Ventures BV====
Harple is currently CEO and managing director of Shamrock Ventures BV in Amsterdam, offering strategic guidance to entrepreneurs to structure, start, and navigate companies from inception to liquidity events.<ref name=EuroInvestor />
====Context Labs, BV====
{{Main|Context Labs}} In 2013, Harple established Context Labs, BV (CXL) based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. According to the company, it offers enterprise grade platform solutions that assist in the development of new market channels and reducing channel friction, while retaining and growing direct customer relationships. Based in part on Harple's work at MIT Sloan and the MIT Media Lab concentrating on "innovation dynamics" that resulted in a platform called InnovationScope, which functions to identify and describe innovation and its contributing components,<ref name="Dspace" /> the company's offerings are focused on the integration of secure distributed and shared ledgers (Blockchain), network graph analytics and visualizations, data interoperability, trusted identity management, and micro-payment enablement. The company's platform product line includes Chainplate Foundation, Snapshackle Interoperability, and VUEGraph Analytics.<ref name="CXL1">{{cite web|title=About Context Labs|url=https://www.contextlabs.com/about/|website=ContextLabs.com|publisher=Context Labs|access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="Street" />
Partnering with architectural design firm Rogers Partners in 2014, the company utilized innovation dynamics methods to collaborate on design for the Connect Kendall Square project.<ref name="Rogers">{{cite web|title=Rogers Partners shortlisted for Connect Kendall Square Competition|url=http://www.rogersarchitects.com/category/news/page/7/|website=RogersArchitects.com|publisher=Rogers Partners|access-date=20 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810232721/http://www.rogersarchitects.com/category/news/page/7/|archive-date=August 10, 2016}}</ref> In 2016, R. R. Donnelley & Sons announced it would partner with the company to develop blockchain-enabled technology solutions for its publishing customers.
===Innovation for Jobs (i4j)=== Harple is co-chair of the Analytics Special Interest Group for i4j, a think tank founded by internet pioneer Vint Cerf and David Nordfors focused on potential strategies to transform the future of work in the internet economy. He has been an invited speaker at i4J Innovation for Jobs Summits in Mountain View, California, Paris, France,<ref name="IGF">{{cite web|title=Disrupting Unemployment, The Innovation for Jobs Economy|url=https://www.intgovforum.org/cms/wks2015/uploads/proposal_background_paper/IGF2014PanelProposal.compressed_1.pdf|website=Internet Governance Forum|publisher=United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs|access-date=27 June 2016}}</ref> and authored a chapter of the group's 2016 book, ''Disrupting Unemployment: Reflection on a Sustainable, Middle Class Economic Recovery''.<ref name="I4J2" />
==Blockchain technologies== Harple sees blockchain technology as "a component tool that when integrated with other key enabling technologies, has the potential to create a simple, private, and direct relationship between those who offer value for sale, and those who purchase it".<ref name="CXLintroducing">{{cite web|last1=Harple|first1=Dan|title=Announcing Context Labs|url=https://www.contextlabs.com/2016/02/context-labs-2-4/|website=ContextLabs.com|date=14 February 2016 |publisher=Context Labs|access-date=17 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918212601/https://www.contextlabs.com/2016/02/context-labs-2-4/|archive-date=September 18, 2016}}</ref>
As acting managing director for the Institute for Data Drive Design (ID3), a nonprofit research group founded out of MIT Media Lab, Harple led efforts to organize and frame work in digital currencies, identity solutions, trust frameworks, and big data integration, resulting in an industry announcement in the bitcoin segment: the ID3 Windhover Principles, a set of principles for identity, trust, and data to be implemented on an open source platform. Harple described the new digital framework, written collaboratively by digital currency industry stakeholders, as "an inclusive platform to transform how we, as collective Internet users, can take back our personal data, and share it in a trusted and secure way — not only for Bitcoin and digital currency transactions, but for other data and media types as well". The Windhover principles were subsequently endorsed by 21 of the leading Bitcoin and digital currency companies.<ref name="MCI">{{cite web|last1=Nicolson|first1=Michelle|title=Framework Introduced to Give Consumers Control of Their Digital Identity|url=http://www.mobilecommerceinsider.com/topics/mobilecommerceinsider/articles/391891-framework-introduced-give-consumers-control-their-digital-identity.htm|website=MobileCommerceInsider.com|publisher=Mobile Commerce Insider|access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="MIT Kerberos">{{cite web|title=Visualization of Information in the Supply Chains of Identity, Trust & Data|url=https://kit.mit.edu/sites/default/files/documents/2014-MIT-KIT-Conf-Sept18Agenda-Descrip-v10PDF.pdf|website=2014 MIT Kerberos & Internet Trust Conference 18–19 September 2014|publisher=MIT Media Lab|access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="AB">{{cite web|last1=Todd|first1=Sarah|title=Manifesto Vows to Give Consumers Control of Digital Identities|url=http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/179_202/manifesto-vows-to-give-consumers-control-of-digital-identities-1070633-1.html|website=americanbanker.com|date=20 October 2014 |publisher=American Banker|access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref>
In March 2016, R. R. Donnelley & Sons teamed with Harple's Context Labs to pursue blockchain-enabled technology for its global publishing customers. The stated intent is to deliver platform solutions that "enable publishers to reach consumers with less friction, reduce their channel costs, and provide better direct one-on-one customer relationships". Harple commented that "blockchain technology has been evolving for several years and is now becoming integrated into work flows in supply chains and financial tech. We are delighted with RR Donnelley's decision to pursue these technologies for the publishing sector to enhance the role of publishers with the end consumers, at global scale."<ref name="Street">{{cite web|title=RR Donnelley (RRD) Teams with Context Labs to Pursue Blockchain-Enabled Capabilities|url=http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/RR+Donnelley+(RRD)+Teams+with+Context+Labs+to+Pursue+Blockchain-Enabled+Capabilities/11415345.html|website=StreetInsider.com|access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="EconoTimes">{{cite web|title=RR Donnelley to Pursue New Blockchain-Enabled Capabilities for Publishing Industry|url=http://www.econotimes.com/RR-Donnelley-to-Pursue-New-Blockchain-Enabled-Capabilities-for-Publishing-Industry-177855|website=EconoTimes|date=14 March 2016 |access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref>
In June 2016, Harple announced that blockchain-enabled platforms developed by Context Labs would provide contributions to the Open Music Initiative (OMI) with the intention of "accelerating a reference platform for OMI's goals for music". The initiative co-founded by Harple focuses on the development of an interoperable digital rights framework for the music industry.<ref name="CXL-OMI">{{cite web|last1=Harple|first1=Dan|title=Open Music Initiative- A New Paradigm for Music|url=https://www.contextlabs.com/posts/2016/06/open-music-initiative-new-paradigm-music|website=ContextLabs.com|publisher=Context Labs|access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="MusicBusinessWorldwide" />
==Pentalytics== In 2013, Harple devised an innovation ecosystem stakeholder model called the Penta Helix (aka Pentalytics), to describe innovative flow in ecosystems and drive systemic innovation.<ref name="Dspace">{{cite thesis|last1=Harple|first1=Dan|title=Toward a network graph-based innovation cluster density index|url=https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/81076|website=Dspace@MIT|year=2013 |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|hdl=1721.1/81076|access-date=15 June 2016|type=Thesis }}</ref> Pentalytics was derived from the research thesis Harple developed at MIT Sloan and was influenced by his founding of the Regional Entrepreneurial Acceleration Lab (REAL) and his term as Entrepreneur-in-Residence. It was subsequently used to develop an Innovation Dynamics platform called Innovation Scope, a real-time tool intended to provide insight into and navigation of innovation clusters.<ref name="Medium" />
According to Harple, the Pentalytics method uses advanced network graph analysis, and defines five key ecosystem attributes to make up a Pentalytic System, called the Penta Helix: Industry, Academia, Government, People, and Funding.<ref name="Medium">{{cite web |last1=Howard |first1=George |title=Dan Harple's Pentalytic Framework Guides The OMI |url=https://medium.com/the-open-music-initiative/dan-harples-pentalytic-framework-guides-the-omi-4eb727ae7d40 |website=medium.com |date=2 September 2016 |publisher=Medium Corporation |access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref> As core variables used in modeling, the Penta Helix enables "big data methods and algorithmic tools on the Internet to interrogate large distributed economic global datasets, query and extract the relevant pre-defined cluster attribute data, filter and process it to present a deeper analytically comparative lens of innovation clusters". According to Harple's research, the resulting solution could be variously used as an "economic cluster modeling and tracking tool, an innovation lens on a given sector or geography, and as a tool for urban innovation mapping". Harple also describes Pentalytics potential as a predictive tool for network performance, and to navigate and assist decision-making related to resource allocations, partnership and contractual targets, angel and venture funding strategies, and the growth and linking of innovation clusters.<ref name="Dspace" />
=== Use in industry === *The Open Music Initiative (OMI) represented the intersection of the Pentalytics framework for multi-stakeholder inclusion, designed to bring together disparate and competitive forces in a large market, focused on a common at-scale problem, and bringing that ecosystem together for a joint scalable solution. <ref name="Medium" /> Based on the Pentalytics model, the OMI initiative's Penta Helix elements or five "pivot points" are Entrepreneurs, Risk Capital, Corporations, Governments, and Universities.<ref name="MBJ1">{{cite web |last1=Lahr |first1=John |title=Berklee's Open Music Initiative |url=http://www.thembj.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2016/08/mbj_september_2016.pdf |website=mbj.org |publisher=Music Business Journal |access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref> According to Harple, the Pentalytics approach to OMI was intended to be "different by design", and combined network graph theory with Innovation Dynamics to understand how "disparate nodes in a graph develop and foster edges (connections)" to build a stronger network and provide "a deeper understanding of our ecosystem's connectivity".<ref name="Berklee">{{cite web |last1=Harple |first1=Dan |title=A Call to Action |url=http://open-music.org/blog/omi-is-a-call-to-action |website=OpenMusic.org |date=13 June 2016 |publisher=Berklee College of Music |access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref><ref name="Medium" /> *MOBI (Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative) used Pentalytics as a framework to design and structure the global transport/automotive industry's MOBI initiative. MOBI is a nonprofit organization working with forward thinking companies, governments, and NGOs to make mobility services more efficient, affordable, greener, safer, and less congested by promoting standards and accelerating adoption of blockchain, distributed ledger, and related technologies.<ref name="IOB">{{cite web |last1=Middleton |first1=Chris |title=Connected transport: MOBI blockchain consortium expands with WEF, new standards groups |url=https://internetofbusiness.com/transport-mobi-blockchain-consortium-expands-with-wef-new-working-groups/ |website=internetofbusiness.com |date=24 September 2018 |publisher=Internet of Business |access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref> Harple's Context Labs was a co-founder of the initiative and he serves on its advisory board. He described his collaboration with Chris Ballinger and MOBIs founding team as integrating "key structural and governance elements" from the Pentalytics modeling deployed in the co-founding of the Open Music Initiative, and that MOBIs model "further offers great potential for accelerated market adoption of transformative blockchain-enabled technologies".<ref name="GlobeMail">{{cite web |title=Major Automakers, Startups, Technology Companies and Others Launch Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI) |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/stocks/GM/pressreleases/2950412/ |website=theglobeandmail.com |publisher=The Globe and Mail |access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref>
==Academic affiliations==
===Boards=== Harple has served on the following Academic Boards: *The International School of Amsterdam, The Netherlands *Tabor Academy, Marion, Massachusetts *Harrisburg Academy, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania *Marlboro College Graduate Center, Marlboro, Vermont *Friends Academy, Dartmouth, Massachusetts
===Massachusetts Institute of Technology=== Harple was a 2012-2013 Sloan Fellow at MIT Sloan School of Management,<ref name=CF>{{cite web|title=Directory of Fellows|url=http://cambridgefellows.com/fellows-directory/|publisher=CambridgeFellows.com|access-date=19 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130215005345/http://cambridgefellows.com/fellows-directory/directory-of-mit-fellows/|archive-date=15 February 2013}}</ref> where he founded the Regional Entrepreneurial Acceleration Lab (REAL) in 2012, and served as an entrepreneur in residence (EIR).
Harple has also collaborated on several MIT Media Lab courses and workshops, such as ''Beyond Smart Cities'' (2013), ''Changing Cities: How to Prototype New Urban Systems'' (2014),<ref name="MITworkshops">{{cite web|title=City Science: CHANGING CITIES: How to Prototype New Urban Systems|url=https://architecture.mit.edu/subject/fall-2014-4557|website=mit.edu|publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology|access-date=20 June 2016|archive-date=29 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129051658/https://architecture.mit.edu/subject/fall-2014-4557|url-status=dead}}</ref> and ''Measuring Urban Innovation''.<ref name="MITmedialabProjects">{{cite web|title=Changing Places|url=https://www.media.mit.edu/research/groups/changing-places|website=media.mit.edu|publisher=MIT Media Lab|access-date=20 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605124800/https://www.media.mit.edu/research/groups/changing-places|archive-date=June 5, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Berklee.edu">{{cite web|title=Dan Harple Berklee Trustee;|url=https://www.berklee.edu/people/dan-harple|website=berklee.edu|publisher=Berklee College of Music|access-date=15 June 2016|archive-date=10 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810202814/https://www.berklee.edu/people/dan-harple|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="i4j">{{cite web|title=Dan Harple|url=http://i4j.info/encyclopedia/dan-harple/|website=i4j Innovation for Jobs Ecosystem|publisher=i4j.info|access-date=15 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807035557/http://i4j.info/encyclopedia/dan-harple/|archive-date=August 7, 2016}}</ref>
Harple has delivered numerous presentations at events such as the 2014 Kerberos & Internet Trust Conference.<ref name="MIT Kerberos" />
===Berklee College of Music=== Harple is a member of the Board of Trustees of Berklee College of Music.<ref name="Berklee.edu" /> In June 2016, Harple co-founded the Open Music Initiative in conjunction with the school's Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship and the MIT Media Lab Digital Currency Initiative. The OMI working group includes researchers from University College London and the backing of major music labels such as Universal, Sony, and Warner, plus platforms such as Spotify, Pandora and YouTube. OMI "aims to establish a global, open sourced platform, providing technology for a shared ledger of music creators and rights owners". Harple's Context Labs will provide operational, strategic, and technical guidance for OMI.<ref name="MusicBusinessWorldwide">{{cite web|title=Universal, Sony, Warner vow to create a working Global Rights Database|url=http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/universal-sony-warner-vow-create-working-global-rights-database/|website=Music Business Worldwide|date=14 June 2016 }}</ref><ref name="BerkleeOMI">{{cite web|title=Music Industry and Technology Leaders Join Leading Academic Institutions to Launch Open Music Initiative to Resolve Longstanding Media Rights Issues|url=https://www.berklee.edu/news/music-industry-players-form-open-music-initiative|website=Berklee.edu|publisher=Berklee College of Music|access-date=15 June 2016}}</ref>
==Publications== * ''Disrupting Unemployment: Reflection on a Sustainable, Middle Class Economic Recovery''. Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (February 4, 2016). Chapter on "Analytics Based on Big Data and Network Graph Science — Implications for Innovation for Jobs (i4j) Initiatives".<ref name="I4J2">{{cite web|last1=Nordfors|first1=David|title=i4j Book: Disrupting Unemployment|url=http://i4j.info/2016/03/i4j-book-disrupting-unemployment/|website=i4j.info|publisher=I4J|access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="NordforsCerf2016">{{cite book|author1=David Nordfors|author2=Vint Cerf|title=Disrupting Unemployment|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301233086|date=19 December 2018|publisher= Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation |isbn=978-1-5238-4583-5}}</ref> * ''The Big Analytics''. Analytics Week. Chapter on "Big Data and Innovation".<ref name="AnalyticsWeek">{{cite book|title=The Big Analytics|url=https://www.academia.edu/21660765|via=academia.edu|access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Joshi |first1=Deeksha |last2=Kumar |first2=Vishal |title=The Big Analytics Leaders Collaborative Book Project For, Of, and By the Data Analytics Leaders and Influencers |date=2017 |publisher=AnalyticsWeek LLC |url=http://customerintelligence.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TheBigDataAnalytics_v1.0.pdf}}</ref>
==Awards== Harple has received a number of honors, including Inc. Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year, the Red Herring Watch Award, the Upside Hot Startup Award, the NEA Presidents Award, the University of Rhode Island's Alumni Excellence Award for Contributions to Science and Technology and also its 2000 Engineering Entrepreneur Award.<ref name="GEOSENTRIC OYJ">{{cite web|title=GEOSENTRIC OYJ Bulletin|url=http://geosentric.com/docs/Bulletin_BoD_%20Composition_080502.pdf|work=May 2, 2008|publisher=GEOSENTRIC OYJ|access-date=7 February 2012}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=URI>{{cite web|title=Engineering hall of fame|url=http://advance.uri.edu/pacer/december2000/story24.htm|work=The University Pacer|publisher=University of Rhode Island|access-date=7 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822122856/http://advance.uri.edu/pacer/december2000/story24.htm|archive-date=August 22, 2016}}</ref><ref name=URI2>{{cite web|title=URI to honor 13 alumni during ceremonies June 2|url=http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/html/01-0501-02.htm|publisher=University of Rhode Island|access-date=7 February 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091005162015/http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/html/01-0501-02.htm|archive-date=5 October 2009}}</ref> He has delivered presentations and keynote speeches at major computer industry events such as COMDEX, Networld/Interop, Internet World, and others as well as commencement addresses at universities such as Marlboro College and the University of Rhode Island.<ref name="GEOSENTRIC OYJ" />
==Non profits== Harple has been active with a variety of non-profits such as the Slater Center for Interactive Technologies, and the Buzzards Bay Coalition.<ref name=Bloomberg /><ref name=BuzzardsBayFilm>{{cite web|title=Advisory Panel|url=http://www.buzzardsbayfilmfestival.org/advisory.php|work=Buzzards Bay Coalition|publisher=Buzzard's Bay Film Festival|access-date=6 February 2012}}</ref>
In 2013, Harple founded a Dutch non-profit for the purpose of advancing innovative capacity in the Netherlands via a multi-stakeholder process with academia, government, industry, entrepreneurs, and early-stage capital. The effort, shaped by the Pentalytics modeling used in Innovation Dynamics, influenced the decision process for the City of Amsterdam's desire to establish a new Technical Institute in the city.<ref name="HetFinancieele">{{cite web|title=Amsterdam more vibrant start up scene than Silicon Valley|url=https://issuu.com/coworking020/docs/amsterdamstartupscene|website=Het Financieele Dagblad|date=27 January 2013 |access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref>
==Personal life== Harple is the father of five children. His wife is Caren Brown Harple.<ref name=DLHSport.com>{{cite web|last=Harple|first=Dan|title=Harple Family|url=http://www.dlhsport.com/Personal.html|access-date=12 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110116034813/http://dlhsport.com/Personal.html|archive-date=16 January 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *Thomas Petzinger. ''The New Pioneers: The Men and Women Who Are Transforming the Workplace and Marketplace.'' Simon & Schuster, 1999. {{ISBN|0-684-84636-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-684-84636-1}} * ''Raising Can-Do Kids: Giving Children the Tools to Thrive in a Fast-Changing World'' authors Richard Rende and Jen Prosek discuss Harple's views on raising children in a digital world.<ref name="PhDProsek2015">{{cite book|author1=Richard Rende PhD|author2=Jen Prosek|title=Raising Can-Do Kids: Giving Children the Tools to Thrive in a Fast-Changing World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeaoBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT10|date=4 August 2015|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-698-15303-5|pages=10–}}</ref>
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120728032049/http://www.amsterdaminc.tv/2008/11/05/mobiele-netwerk-applicatie Archived page] of Amsterdam Inc. interview with Dan Harple *[https://player.fm/series/smallbizpod-the-small-business-podcast/smallbizpod-66-dan-harple-entrepreneurship-and-the-mobile-web SmallBizPod interview] with Dan Harple *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150620190115/http://dlhsport.com/Archive_files/Het_Parool001.pdf Archived Profile] of GyPSii and Dan Harple by Amsterdam-based daily newspaper, Het Parool *[http://www.dlhsport.com DLHSport] Dan Harple's website *[http://shamrock-ventures.com/Welcome.html Shamrock Ventures BV] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20140706082416/http://www.gypsii.com/ Gypsii]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harple, Daniel}} Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American inventors Category:21st-century American inventors Category:American businesspeople in the computer industry Category:University of Rhode Island alumni Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Category:American chief executives in technology Category:American company founders Category:Internet pioneers