Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower

Vital Voices Chapter Poland along with the Embassy of Israel organized a one-week 2nd Innovation Tech Tour in Israel (March 23 – 29, 2019)

We have spent six days packed with inspiring meetings, Israeli modus operandi regarding innovations and discussions on how Israel became a start-up nation.

It’s more than just a tagline. “Israel is not only a start-up nation but a nation of start-ups”.

Israel is no 1 country in terms of start-ups concentration: there’s 1 start-up for every 400 people. It is also a no 1 country in terms of R&D employees concentration: 140 per 10 000 and no 1 out of 60 leading economies around the world for technological and scientific abilities according to the annual Global Dynamism Index (GDI).

Vital Voices Women Tech Innovation tour provided an unique opportunity for exchange of professional expertise among Israeli and Polish business women from a range of key industries, including high-tech and fin-tech start-ups.

We visited four cities in just six days – starting from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa to Nazareth. We dove into Israeli business culture, start-ups, incubators, accelerators to research labs.

We came back enriched and inspired!

What is the secret formula? Everyone we’ve met lists the same ingredients: military service, governmental support, multinational R&D and innovation centers, growing VC ecosystem, culture of empowerment and competitiveness.

A total of 27 meetings were held – starting from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Hebrew University Entrepreneurship Center, Biz Max – Entrepreneurship Center for Ultra-religious entrepreneurs, Our Crowd, Dr. Hedva Bar chief regulator of the banking system at Israel National Bank, WOMEN Innovators in Healthcare Transformation event, I-Angles VC, WMN -Tech Accelerator for women entrepreneurs in Tel Aviv, SheCodes, Startup Nation Central, Haifa City Hall officials, Technion DRIVE Accelerator, Mindup, Biotech accelerator, Fadi Swaidan at Arab accelerator to IBM Research Labs.

Taking this opportunity, Vital Voices Poland along with all the participants, would like to thank everyone for their support and assistance in making this tour happen. A very special thank you goes to Israeli Embassy in Poland and Mrs. Ruth Cohen-Dar from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.