Israel is (definitively) open for business and innovation.
On April 19-20 a dozen of international companies together with Elis Open Italy met in Tel Aviv for the Mind the Bridge Scaleup Summit Israel, a highly curated, invitation-only format, where globally oriented corporates and scaleups operating in specific verticals can do business, spot technology trends, and benchmark their open innovation approaches.
During the first day of activities, the participants had the chance to deep dive into the Israeli Tech Ecosystem.
Thanks to the contributions of high-level speakers, the corporates participating in the Scaleup Summit had the chance to know more about how to access Israeli innovation (thanks to Hanan Brand, Israel Innovation Authority), Israeli startups success stories (from Yaakov Nahmias, founder of Tissue Dynamics and Believer Meats) and the state of Israeli VC (by Itay Rand, General Partner at 10D).
Mind the Bridge presented the latest report on corporate innovation in Israel, and then capped off the day with a panel on corporate innovation best practices with Annie Degani (FinSec Innovation Lab – Startup Accelerator by Mastercard & Enel), Ayal Somech (Boeing), Dikla Wagner (Munich Re), and Orr Hameiri (Procter & Gamble).
The second day was dedicated to company visits to Start-Up Nation Central, Konnect – Volkswagen Group Innovation Hub TLV, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to learn from other multinational corporations that are already operating in Israel.
Below the most interesting insights from these 2 days of activities:
Israel’s reputation as the Startup Nation has attracted more than 180 global corporate leaders, who have established nearly 225 outposts in the country. While Israel has long been known as a global hub for advanced research and development, it is increasingly becoming a popular destination for lean innovation structures such as scouting antennas, corporate venture capital funds, innovation labs, incubators, accelerators, and startups.
The Israeli high-tech industry generates significant economic value, with a workforce of around 361,000 employees in high-tech, accounting for 10.4% of total employment (according to the Central Bureau of Statistics in 2022). Additionally, high tech contributes 15.3% of GDP and 25% of income tax, offering highly profitable business opportunities and promising investment returns.
Israel has established itself as a global leader in research and development, with a staggering 4.93% of GDP dedicated to R&D. To maintain its technological leadership, the country invests approximately 1.5 billion per year. Looking to the future, Israel’s focus areas will include climate tech, bio-convergence, quantum technology, and Artificial Intelligence.
To support these initiatives, the Israeli government created in 2016 the Israel Innovation Authority, an independent, publicly funded agency. Since then the Israel Innovation Authority has set up 19 incubators and labs across the country. Early-stage projects can receive funding of up to 85% of their project costs for a period of two years, which serves to encourage innovation and drive progress in these crucial areas.
Mind the Bridge is a global open innovation platform, providing services and products to corporates and local startup ecosystems. It is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Barcelona, Seoul and Tel Aviv, and a presence in Los Angeles, New York and Milan.
Mind the Bridge has been working as an international bridge at the intersection between startups and corporates since 2007, by scouting, filtering, and working with 10,000+ startups a year supporting global corporations with open innovation initiatives that translate into curated deals with startups (POCs, procurement, investments, and/or acquisitions). It also provides corporates with advisory services and benchmarking on innovation strategy and structure.
ELIS Open Italy is an innovation program for companies, startups and innovation enablers in Italy. The program is an opportunity for large corporates and innovative companies to work together for the development of new solutions, promoting a culture of open innovation.
