. 24/7 Space News .
SPACE TRAVEL
Israeli high-tech looks to future -- whoever wins vote
By Mike Smith
Tel Aviv (AFP) Sept 10, 2019

Inside a sleek, gleaming building with views over the Mediterranean, the co-founder of the navigation app Waze appears on a life-sized screen with words of advice on his red T-shirt.

"Fall in love with the problem not the solution," Uri Levine's shirt says in the exhibit at Tel Aviv's Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, which serves in part as a shrine to Israel's long list of technological accomplishments.

With all due respect to Levine, his native Israel has done both when it comes to high-tech.

The success of Israel's high-tech industry is one of the few subjects not up for debate ahead of September 17 elections, and those involved are looking at ways to build on the achievements of the "start-up nation" no matter who wins.

With the world's most start-ups per capita, Israel has carved a niche.

It has served as an incubator for brands like Waze -- now owned by Google -- web-publishing firm Wix and Mobileye, an autonomous driving company bought by Intel in 2017.

Giants such as Intel, Facebook and Google also have operations in the country, helping form its "Silicon Wadi", or valley.

But with those feats behind it, the industry is looking towards new challenges: increasing employment in the sector, having more firms grow in Israel rather than being acquired abroad, and maintaining an edge as competition increases.

"As a small country, you have to work extra hard to be on the radar screen," said Eugene Kandel, a professor at Jerusalem's Hebrew University and CEO of Start-Up Nation Central, a non-profit that promotes Israeli innovation.

"In some sense, we have no luxury of staying on a plateau, which a much bigger country could afford."

- 'We try to survive' -

Beyond economic effects, the sector and innovation more generally have served as a calling card.

It has allowed Israel to incorporate offers of technological cooperation to countries with which it is seeking to build relations.

That technology has often come in the form of defence equipment and arms, while spy software developed in Israel has attracted deep controversy.

Israel's more than 50-year occupation of Palestinian territory is also a major source of criticism from the international community.

But programmes in such areas as agriculture and water recycling have served it well.

As one example, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks up Israel's advancements in tomato cultivation. The government has played a role with tax advantages and through its Innovation Authority.

Mandatory military service for most Jewish Israelis contributes since many receive technological training there, particularly those in the elite Unit 8200 for signal intelligence.

But some also name two aspects of the Israeli ethos: the need to innovate in a country in the desert and chutzpah, or audacity.

"In Israel, we try to survive," said Revital Hollander of Interdisciplinary Centre Herzliya, an Israeli university that recently hosted business students from Canada's McGill University to collaborate and participate in a hackathon.

"Basically we are always in a situation where we need to solve problems, and this is our state of mind."

Employment in high-tech rose in 2018 to 8.7 percent of Israel's total compared with 8.3 percent the previous year, according to figures from the government, which is seeking to increase that number.

Those involved in the industry talk about encouraging start-ups to "scale-up" -- grow their businesses -- rather than cash in on lucrative acquisition offers from abroad.

To spread the wealth, Israel has been seeking to turn the city of Beersheba in the country's desert south into a major tech hub, including through the relocation of military tech units there.

- 'Our responsibility' -

But reverence for what Israel has already created is plentiful.

It could be seen recently in Herzliya near Tel Aviv, where the Canadian and Israeli students collaborated.

Jiro Kondo, a professor at McGill's Desautels faculty of management, said the "ecosystem" Israel had created was unique considering its starting point.

"The only example in the last 40 years where I can think of something that went from zero to something that's successful not just in dollars invested but value created... is in Israel," he said.

At the Peres Center, founded by former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres, the story of the country's innovation begins even before its 1948 founding, told through virtual reality and interactive presentations.

Its focus is less on its economic aspects than on how it can improve lives.

"And innovation is a tool for that," deputy director general Yarden Leal said from Peres's former office, still housing his books and Nobel peace prize.

mjs/hc/qan

Facebook

Mobileye

INTEL

GOOGLE


Related Links
Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


SPACE TRAVEL
Circus reinvented in Montreal, this time with high-tech vibe
Montreal (AFP) Sept 2, 2019
Montreal - the Canadian city that spawned the global juggernaut Cirque du Soleil - has once again reimagined the circus, this time tapping into the rich animation and video game production talent found in the Quebec metropolis. In the old port district, between a giant bridge over the Saint Lawrence river and a Ferris wheel, two strange white pyramids sprouted up this summer - an edgy 21st century big top. They are part of the latest act from Guy Laliberte, the founder of the venerable Cirque ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

SPACE TRAVEL
Space Station science return and spacecraft shuffle

Company Claims Orbital Hotel to Host 400 Space Tourists Will Be Operational By 2025

Circus reinvented in Montreal, this time with high-tech vibe

China's satellite tests pulsar navigation for future deep space exploration

SPACE TRAVEL
Dynetics, Raytheon producing glide bodies for hypersonic weapon prototypes

Study tests performance of electric solid propellant

China's first medium-scale launcher with LOX LCH4 propellants ZQ-2 soliciting payloads worldwide

New Delhi in Talks With Moscow Over Rocket Engines for Indian Space Program

SPACE TRAVEL
NASA engineers attach Mars Helicopter to Mars 2020 rover

ESA Chief says discussed ExoMars 2020 launch with Roscosmos

NASA Invites Students to Name Next Mars Rover

NASA's Mars Helicopter Attached to Mars 2020 Rover

SPACE TRAVEL
China's newly launched communication satellite suffers abnormality

China launches first private rocket capable of carrying satellites

Chinese scientists say goodbye to Tiangong-2

China's space lab Tiangong 2 destroyed in controlled fall to earth

SPACE TRAVEL
Private Chinese firms tapping international space market

Iridium and Thales Expand Partnership to Deliver Aircraft Connectivity Services

ESA re-routes satellite to avoid SpaceX collision risk

Cutting-edge Chinese satellite malfunctions after launch

SPACE TRAVEL
China's Tianhe-2 Supercomputer to Crunch Space Data From New Radio Telescope

ESA spacecraft dodges large constellation

Defrosting surfaces in seconds

Smarter experiments for faster materials discovery

SPACE TRAVEL
Deep-sea sediments reveal solar system chaos: An advance in dating geologic archives

Exoplanets Can't Hide Their Secrets from Innovative New Instrument

Hints of a volcanically active exomoon

Canadian astronomers determine Earth's fingerprint

SPACE TRAVEL
Storms on Jupiter are disturbing the planet's colorful belts

ALMA shows what's inside Jupiter's storms

Young Jupiter was smacked head-on by massive newborn planet

Mission to Jupiter's icy moon confirmed









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.