There is no Global Challenge that cannot be Solved

By Tslil Lahav (*)

Israeli technology is changing the world. For the better.

In these challenging days, both in the local Israeli and the global arena, we draw encouragement from the unbelievable motivation of Israeli companies, entrepreneurs and developers to spread good. The constant striving to improve both the immediate and distant environments is an inherent characteristic of the Israeli entrepreneur and Israeli society.

In Jewish sources, the basic meaning of the term “Tikkun Olam” is clear – nurturing, correcting and improving the human way of life of the individual and of society. However, in the deeper layers of the concept, it is a moral duty of every person to act in good deeds, with good intentions and out of a clear desire to leave behind us a better world for future generations.

The Foreign Trade Administration at the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry operates through 55 international offices in trade capitals around the world in order to assist Israeli companies in their international activities: to increase and diversify Israeli exports and to attract foreign investments into Israel. In 2024, the administrative teams are expected to hold thousands of different business activities – from dedicated exhibitions in diverse fields to targeted business delegations to and from Israel. The commercial attachés and their teams are in continuous contact with multinational companies from various fields of industry and technology in the countries they service, and assist them in diagnosing their technological needs, while connecting them to suitable solutions from Israel. At the same time, the affiliates work with Israeli companies and assist them in developing the target market and connecting with local business partners.

1. Israeli National Pavilion at MWC

Health, Food, Transportation, Education and more

Out of the thousands of activities planned for 2024, the bulk of them include activities that are distinctly characterized as “Tikkun Olam” – Israeli technologies that change the world for the better. We will try to detail some of them in order to illustrate to readers the depth and breadth of Israeli technological capabilities and the commitment of Israeli entrepreneurs towards a better world for all of humanity:

In the coming year, the administration plans to assist about 2,300 Israeli companies in more than 220 different events in the fields of health, medical equipment and medical computing. Israeli technology in these fields is known throughout the world as innovative and groundbreaking. It is enough to mention companies such as “Given Imaging” – the developer of the world’s first endoscopic pill, “Rewalk Robotics” which developed a bionic system that helps the paralyzed to walk again or the long-standing company “Medinol” that developed the stent for blood vessels,   saving the lives of millions of patients worldwide.

Israel was ranked sixth in the world in the FREEOPP (world index of Healthcare Innovation), with praise from the team of researchers for Israeli R&D capabilities, strong academia and entrepreneurial culture.

About 2,000 companies from the fields of agriculture, food and foodtech are expected to take part in about 230 dedicated events in Israel and around the world in the coming year. The planned events include, in addition to large international exhibitions, incoming delegations of experts from various agricultural fields that will visit Israel and learn from Israeli experience and knowledge  about field crops, livestock, dairy farming and more.

Israeli food technology will also have a place of honor in the coming year when the issues of food safety and global protein supply, alongside important issues such as dealing with the environmental effects of global industrialized agriculture capture the attention of companies and investors against the backdrop of global climate challenges.

Israel’s position in the Middle East is indeed challenging in terms of the environment and the management of the water sector, but it has helped position Israel as the world’s leader in water technologies without question. From agricultural irrigation technologies to the management of water reservoirs, people from all over the world come to Israel to learn how it exports water to its neighbors thanks to the revolutionary use of desalination technologies.

No less than 1,800 companies will participate in approximately 220 planned events in the fields of water and climate. Here too, the global challenges are many and weighty. The phenomenon of desertification is spreading throughout the world and many countries face frequent and more violent transitions between droughts and floods, which even claim human lives.

It may sound strange, but the State of Israel is also establishing itself as a powerhouse in the automotive sector, or at least in transportation technologies… The number of Israeli car manufacturers is still limited, but alongside them is a flourishing and growing industry of thousands of Israeli companies that are expected to take part in a hundred different events around the world, led by commercial attachés in the automotive field and smart transportation. The State of Israel defined the issue of smart transportation as strategic about two decades ago, and since then has been working steadily for the benefit of innovative development in a variety of sectors of the field such as fuel alternatives, mass transportation solutions, autonomous transportation and smart management of vehicle and passenger fleets. Israeli technology companies are leading partners of the largest OEM’s in the global automotive world and lead the technological revolution of the last decades in the automotive world.

In addition to these activities, the commercial attachés of the Foreign Trade Administration around the world are expected to operate in additional technological fields at the forefront of human development, such as educational technologies (Ed-Tech), sports technologies, smart cities and smart construction technologies that contribute to better energy management of buildings, the construction process and the reduction of waste production.

Transcending Physical and Cultural Boundaries

Israeli entrepreneurs are alert to the challenges that exist outside their comfort zone and in the view of Israeli society – there is no global challenge that cannot be solved. One of the characteristics or indicators for the definition of an innovative company as a “startup” is its ability to transcend physical and cultural boundaries of geography, culture and language and aim for global activity from Day 1. Israeli companies excel in this thanks to a variety of basic conditions in Israel:

• Cultural wealth and languages in Israel – Israel is based on an immigrant society that absorbed millions of immigrants from about 70 countries, cultures and languages from all over the world in the first years of its establishment after World War II.
• Non-conformist and informal culture – Israeli entrepreneurs are educated to challenge any conception. It is not uncommon to see an Israeli student challenging his university professor in the first class of the first year. Moreover, we encourage them to do so.
• Absence of natural resources – until the discovery of natural gas deposits off the coast of Israel at the beginning of the previous decade, the State of Israel lacked any natural resources. This forced decision-makers to invest in the country’s only natural resource – the human brain. And so it established a glorious academic system that produced 13 Nobel winners and countless technological developments that helped in marching all of humanity forward.
• Small economy – the size of the Israeli domestic market that has about 10 million inhabitants, about 30% under the age of 16, requires companies interested in rapid growth to aim outward at global markets. This philosophy requires Israeli technological solutions to be adapted to the global challenges in a one-solution-fits-all manner.

The year 2024 is expected to be characterized by great dynamism in the Israeli market against the many changes both in the local market as well as the global ecosystem. We anticipate the entry of more Israeli companies than before into new and challenging markets as an attempt to hedge the risks posed by some of the global markets and at the same time, the growth of many startup companies in Israel. As the well-known saying goes – Necessity is the Mother of Invention, but in the Israeli case, she is the Mother of Innovation.

(*) The writer is Director of Communication, Foreign Trade Administration

For more information: http://www.itrade.gov.il