Since 2008 I’ve been advocating that small countries like Portugal should look on to Israel as model of an innovation based economy. I must admit to have been very much inspired by António Camara, the founder of YDreams, he is an even earlier advocate of the Israeli model.
For years I felt preaching in a desert drier than the Negev (the desert that covers most of the south of Israel), as I went to events (like this one) or tried to get the attention from TV reporters, preaching that if a small country like Portugal wanted to leapfrog its development path that we were to copy the Israeli model. Sure, not everything can be copied but at least we can follow the same path.
Yesterday, I felt, maybe for the first time, that in a way, those preaching days are over. Lots of people are now convinced by the evidence, as one of the strongest economical crisis that has ever hit Portugal helped to shake the general attitude towards entrepreneurship. Events like the one that took place this Monday in Lisbon, at the Ferin bookshop, with the participation of the Israeli ambassador to Lisbon, Ms Tzipora Rimon are also a good contribution.
One of the novelties of Lisbon Challenge Spring 2014 is including Israel on the final international roadshow. We believe that by exposing the startups from the program, to the Israeli tech scene they will be energized by the startup nation effect, which in a nutshell translates into making the impossibilities of its geography, a reality every day.
Ms Tzipora Rimon, the ambassador of Israel to Lisbon explained how Israel has became a startup nation, which she divided into the following 12 pillars:
1. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is increasingly technological and requires real solutions. The kind of critical solutions that don’t have a second chance, like the anti-ballistic missile system Arrow. Also, and arguably more importantly, the IDF provide for a great network for the majority of the population since service is compulsory.
2. “Thinking out of the box” and networking is a very important part of the culture in Israel, where the small size of country almost makes a “graph of one” a possibility, so everybody knows everybody – if you are an entrepreneur trying to startup, grasping a powerful network is a obviously a great head start.
3. Cooperation between academics and industry is a reality. There are 7 universities in Israel and along with each one of them there are industrial parks to capitalize the R&D and guarantee the tech transfer towards the national industry. A leading example is Weissman Institute YEDA Research, which is managed like a private company to sell technology.
4. Quality of higher education and research institutes, which the number of Nobel prizes coming from either Israel or from Israeli in the U.S. is the best example.
5. The best companies choose Israel. The first R&D centers outside the U.S. are assembled in Israel, for two reasons, a) the deep ties between U.S. and Israeli economy and b) for government of Israel going to extra mile the attract those centers to Israeli soil.
6. Israel is the number 1 country in terms of investment in R&D, as percentage of the GDP with a staggering 4.5%, and this can only result from the determination of an entire generation of politicians that want to take the country to the edge of science and technology, what started as need for survival is now a self-sustaining economic process per se.
7. A network of 24 incubators spread all over the country for high-tech startups guarantee that entrepreneurs get a fast track towards creating startup projects close to their locations of interest.
8. The City Council of Tel Aviv has helped to organize a very active startup community in the metropolitan area, attracting the best startups to the region.
9. Even more remote regions like the University Ben-Gurion of Beersheba get to receive high-profile project like the recently inaugurated Beersheba Cyber Security Hub, probably the most advanced of its kind in the world.
10. The labor force is not only very qualified as it is multi language, with migrants coming from literally all over the world.
11. Although Israel is not an EU member it has trade agreements with EU and participates in major R&D initiatives like the Horizon 2020 program, allowing the country to participate on pair with other EU states.
12. Modern infrastructure financing structure, with plenty of Venture Capital that only comes short in availability and refinement to Silicon Valley, in the US.
If you’re a LisbonChallenge participant and get to be one of the final 10 invested teams you’ll have the chance to participate in a roadshow in the beginning of September on the Startup Nation, and get to see through your own eyes why Israel is a Startup Nation.
Andre Marquet, Founder of Beta-i and director of LisbonChallenge