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Procter & Gamble Explains Why Israel is THE Startup Nation
I visited P&G office in Tel Aviv. Lital Asher-Dotan, who established Procter & Gamble first R&D hub in Israel called “P&G Israel House of Innovation”, explained why P&G calls Israel a “startup nation.”
In the entry lobby of P&G office, which is 20 minutes away from Google’s office in Tel Aviv, there are a few samples of different products sold by P&G in Israel. Among the usual health and beauty brands (Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Oral B, Gillette, Tampax, Pampers …) and brands of household cleaners (Ariel, Lenor, Swiffer, Tide …) there were also different prizes and trophies P&G Israel has received for the development of innovative products. However, what surprised me the most was that besides all these products and prizes there was a copy of the acclaimed book Startup nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer.
Procter & Gamble takes Research and Development seriously: it invests $2.8 Billion annually and has 9,300 employees in R&D worldwide. The Israel House of Innovation (IHI) was created five years ago by CEO Bob McDonald and one of the key goals is to create alliances between P&G and Israeli innovators.
Procter & Gamble’s Israel House of Innovation collaborates with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), the largest generic drug manufacturer in the world; the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which carries out more than 1/3 of all academic scientific research in Israel; Powermat, which has only 70 employees and is developing wireless battery rechargers. By the way, Jay-Z participates in the JV with Powermat and P&G not only as a spokesperson but also as an investment partner. P&G has also signed on bilateral agreement with Israeli Chief Scientist providing Israeli start ups that collaborate with P&G favorable access to governmental funding.
Present in over 180 countries and with total revenues of about $80 Billion, P&G is the world’s largest Multinational consumer goods company. Procter & Gamble has promised to deliver 3-6 % of growth per year or about extra $5billion in annual revenue. Open innovation is the key to this growth: the giant established in 1837 aims to have 50% of all innovation (not only on new products but also on internal systems) having elements from outside of the company. Jeff Weedman, P&G Vice President, External BD:
“Our JV with TEVA represents the lessons learned that we need better access to Innovation and global abilities while we can provide the in-depth consumer knowhow.”
Lital Asher-Dotan explained why P&G calls Israel a startup nation:
-Israel has the highest density of tech start-ups in the world. Israel has about 80 companies listed on NASDAQ, more than all of Europe, Japan, Korea, India, and China combined.
-Israel is the biggest destination for global venture capital per capita. In recent years, many US based VCs have opened Israeli funds and/or Israeli offices – Sequoia ($580M), Benchmark ($490M). Greylock, Battery Ventures, Bessemer. Main accelerators in Israel are: Microsoft, VentureGeeks, The Junction, TechLoft, DreamIT Ventures,The Hive, UpWestLabs, The Library, and MobileMonday.
- Israel raises 2.5 times as much global venture capital as the U.S., 30 times more than Europe, 80 times more than India, and 350 times more than China.
-Israel has twice the number of engineers per capita than the US and Japan. 34% of its population holds university degrees (24% of the work force).
- Israel has the highest level of R&D spending relative to GDP in the world: 4,9% in 2009. OECD average is 2,3%.
- Israel holds the largest number of Nobel Prize winners this past decade. By the way, I had the chance to meet Dr. Dan Schechtman, winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “the discovery of quasicrystals,” who told me his views on entrepreneurship.
-In Israel, Military technology is often transferred to other areas. For instance, Based on real-time image processing technology from Rafael’s Missile Division, Dr. Gabi Iddan from Given Imaging developed the PillCam™ capsule endoscope – the first ingestible camera in a pill for detection of GI disorders. The PillCam™ capsule is easily ingested by the patient and transmits high quality color images that enable physicians to directly visualize parts of the GI tract. Capsule endoscopy is the only available ingestible diagnostic tool that allows direct visualization of the small intestine.
I have just outlined the key points why Israel is considered by P&G as a startup Nation. In a post for Techcrunch, Roi Carthy and Daniel Cunha, founders of Initial Capital, suggest what the Brazilian booming startup community could learn from the Israeli case.
Source: Forbes
Sweden loves Israeli hi-tech
Special: Leading Israeli venture capitalist Erel Margalit helps Sweden develop its startup industry
One of Europe’s strongest economies takes advice from Israelis
A crowd of some 400 Swedish entrepreneurs, managers and venture capitalists gathered in a small conference hall in the town of Kista, near Stockholm. The occasion was the 10th anniversary of entrepreneurial incubator STING, one of the biggest in Sweden. Erel Margalit, veteran Israeli entrepreneur and founder of the JVP Fund, got up to speak.
Margalit came to Sweden for a quick two-day visit to try to help fix or at least improve the Swedish startup industry. In some respects this seems to make little sense – how come Sweden, one of the strongest and wealthiest economies in Europe that has produced giant enterprises like IKEA, Ericsson, H&M and Skype, is turning of all places to Israel for advice on developing successful startups? But this is exactly what happened.
“Israel has created a large quantity of technology in relation to its size,” says Margalit. “It’s wonderful to see that the world is very interested to learn from us. When I visited Spain they practically tied me up to prevent me from leaving. They are simply astonished by Israel’s success.”
The JVP Fund, which is based in Jerusalem, was founded by Margalit in 1993 and manages eight venture capital funds totaling more than $900 dollars. JVP’s strong connection with Sweden began with an investment in t Swedish company Qlik Tech. After the stock was issued successfully on NASDAQ the Swedes realized that Israeli know-how and experience in establishing startup companies and encouraging entrepreneurs could be of benefit to them.
In his recent visit, Margalit met with local high-tech business leaders, venture capital managers, government officials, economists and top advisors of large Swedish corporations. “We came out of the meeting with many new ideas,” one Swedish business leader told Margalit.
The Swedes explain that one of the main problems they confront is how to expand into the international market. Swedish entrepreneurs are skilled and creative, but with a population of nine million people, the local market is small and limiting. Sweden has created many international companies, but the startups that have developed there in recent years have had difficulty breaking out of the country’s borders.
Another interesting problem is that Swedish high-tech workers are reluctant to leave secure and stable positions in a large company and are anxious about taking a chance on a small startup.
To cope with these problems Margalit recommends that the Swedes give incentives to entrepreneurs and investors in the way that Israel has done for the last 20 years, including the Initiative Program of the Ministry of Industry Trade and Employment and the Chief Scientist, which in the 1990s aided in establishing Israeli venture capital funds.
Margalit also recommends lowering taxes that prevent companies from giving employees options. “When a person risks his career and moves to a small company you must give him a way to make a profit,” he says. The Swedes agree, but it is also clear to them that this will be difficult because such measures contradict the social democratic, equality-for-all tradition that also demands collecting high taxes.
‘Israelis love to invent’
In one of the meetings, a local venture capitalist asked Margalit how Israel has succeeded in attracting so many international companies to establish development centers in Israel – from Intel and Google to Apple. “American companies understand that Israelis love to invent”, Margalit replied. “And this is contagious.”
In his speech to the participants of the STING incubator conference, Margalit stressed the principles on the basis of which startups succeed. “You need to join technology experts with artists, writers and authors, and understand that we are in a cultural revolution that also integrates technology. Art schools are as strategically significant as engineering schools,” he said.
Per Hedberg, STING’s director, says that Sweden and Israel are essentially very similar. “Israel is a small country without a local market that tries to focus on innovation, just like Sweden. The focus on creating international companies attracts me to Israel.”
Margalit adds that Israel can also learn from the Swedes. “The combination between Swedish equality and the state’s readiness to invest in the private sector, and the innovation and creativity of Israel can conquer the world,” he says.
Swedish-Israeli relations were tense in recent years. There were tendentious stories and coverage about Israel in the Swedish media – like a 2009 report that Israeli soldiers harvested the organs of dead Palestinians – and this created strong negative feelings about Sweden in Israel.
“Most Swedes people do not have a position about Israel, positive or negative,” says Joseph Ackerman, the economic attaché of the Ministry of Industry Trade and Employment in Stockholm who accompanied Margalit on his visit. “There are anti-Israel extremists, but there are also extremists who love Israel very much. The media is relatively unified in its views against Israel – but this is true also in Israel. Everyone goes beyond sound proportions.”
However, Ackerman stresses that visits by Israeli high-tech experts like Margalit and trade agreements between Swedish and Israeli companies increase the possibility of talking about what is positive in Israel. “Indeed, when political events happen, it also influences business relations. Why will companies go to Israel with all the security problems? It means we must be better and more innovative, and bring added value that will attract them to do business in Israel.”
Source: Ynetnews.com
What is Google Up To in Israel ?
I visited Google’s office in Tel Aviv where about 50 people work in Marketing & Sales and over 200 in the engineers department. Yes, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google founders, are Jewish. However, this post has no religious orientation. If you are looking for some sort of religious conspiracy theory go elsewhere, here you will learn only about what Google is really up to in Israel.
Google first opened its office in Israel in 2006. I visited two of the four floors used by Google on the 21st and 22nd floors of the famous Levinstein Tower in downtown Tel Aviv. Although not as impressive as the famed Googleplex in Mountain View, California, the offices offer magnificent views of the Mediterranean sea. Each room has its own theme, with walls and furnishings of all colors. There is a meeting room filled with giant legos, a pinball machine, Nintendo Wii, Playstation and other games. There is also a fully equipped music room with guitars, drums, microphones, professional sound system, etc. Add to that a silent room, a 3D printer, and free food at each floor. The feeling of being in a kindergarten almost made me forget that I was in one of the world’s largest multinational companies.
Google also employs about 80 engineers in its second office in Israel located in Haifa, Israel’s technological center. The Haifa office is just 2 thousand meters away from the beach; I saw pictures but I did not visit that office. The second office also has toys in the lobby, game rooms, beanbag chairs, free food, and so on. Some affirm these Google methods do not enhance creativity. Personally, I believe that, at least, it incentives employees to spend more time together and create stronger personal bonds, which will pay off later by increasing team work. Here is a video about work-life balance at Google Israel.
After visiting the premises, Inna Weiner, a software engineer, presented products and services that have started and/or are being developed in Israel:
Live Results is being developed in Israel. It allows people to find data they are looking for directly in the Google webpage, without the need to click on a link that will direct visitors to a website. For instance, you search “Weather in Rio de Janeiro” and it directly shows the forecast instead of only links to websites (in case you are curious, it is 25 degrees Celsius in the Beautiful city today). I believe Live Results is an effort to make users spend more time in the Google page. By the way, in April, it was the first time people spent more time on Facebook than on Google in Brazil.
Person finder application. An app that was very useful during the Turkey Earthquake. Whenever a natural disaster takes place, the person finder application goes live, aiming to provide reliable and actual information about missing people. People basically have two buttons, “I am looking for someone” and “I have info about someone.”. I enjoy this kind of innovation; it makes me think of Chief Almir using Google Earth to fight deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The person finder application was developed as part of the 20% of free time that engineers have at Google to work on any project of their choice, as long as that project has been approved by their superior. Bear in mind that whatever is developed during these 20% of “free time” is owned by Google, not by the employees. By the way, people in the Sales & Mktg department don’t have the 20% of free time privilege. However, in the Tel Aviv office they can still use the 3D printer and eat for free all day long.
Google Suggest – The Autocomplete Search Tool that let us “search faster than the speed of typing” was fully developed in Israel. Personally, I find this tool way too intrusive. I don’t like to have the impression that I am so dumb that an algorithm can predict what I am about to search for. I am afraid that tomorrow a machine will know what I am about to think.
Digital Dead Sea Scrolls Project. Google has digitized one of the oldest manuscript ever discovered and allows everyone to examine it online with high resolution. For instance, if you search for “And the world shall dwell with the lamb,” you can instantly find the exact location in the digital version of the original scroll. This project was such a success that in the first day it was live more people saw the dead sea scrolls than in the entire year before.
Inna was very excited to present the work Google has done with the Yad Vashem memorial, dedicated to victims of the Holocaust. This collaborationhas created an online collaborative archive of photographs of the museum. Basically, Google uploaded thons of physical documents, such as photos. Anyone, anywhere can not only find information about each person and/or location in the pictures but also easily add information.
Google Insights for search started in Israel and now is being improved by Google engineers all over the world. It is a free tool to analyze search queries. However, only ratios and not the total number of queries are revealed. For instance, you can verify that the total amount of searches for the term “Pele” was about three times higher than ”Maradona” in the past 30 days.
In-Page Analytics was fully developed in Israel. Basically, it lets you quantify precise information about your website. For instance, you can measure the percentage of visitors who clicked on any clickable item in your website.
Israeli ‘lock alert’ up for IFSEC innovation award
WatchLock system sends owner text message if someone tries to pry it open
A new alert system developed by Israel’s MultiLock and Starcom Systems aims to tattletale on thieves – literally.
The WatchLock – a lock enforced with special GPS and cellular chips – allows owners to track its location anywhere in the world, and send them a text message should anyone try to pry it open.
The system is the first of its kind in the world and is one of the leading candidates for the IFSEC 2012 innovation awards.
Held in the UK in mid May, IFSEC is the largest annual security event in Britain and one of the most prestigious in the world.
WatchLock looks like a slightly oversized version of a standard lock, but its unique system sends out its location at any given time.
The system keeps a log of every time the lock is opened and should anything but its key be used, it alerts the owner by SMS or email immediately.
The locator system is not power-dependent, making it ideal for securing remote locations or moving objects, such as trucks or containers.
Source: Ynetnews.com
BC Premier Christy Clark calls for long-lasting business relationships between Israel and British Columbia
FULL SPEECH by Premier Christy Clark
Remarks for Yom Ha’atzmaut – Israel’s Independence Day
April 25, 2012
Good evening and chag sameach
Thank you for having me here to celebrate Israel’s 64th birthday.
64 years as a democratic, independent state is a remarkable achievement.
One that many would never have imagined to be possible in years prior.
Your determination did not end in 1948, it only became stronger.
These have not been an easy 64 years. Every step of the way, Israel’s courage – your courage – has been tested.
But Israel’s tenacity through those tough times has spurred unparalleled innovation.
Israel is home to some of the top universities and technical institutes in the world.
It’s a country with leading edge research and innovation
in health sciences, biotech, chemistry, clean technology and the environment.
A country with more start-ups per capita than anywhere else in the world.
And to me, that’s the story of Israel.
I still remember my first experience in Israel.
I could see citizens committed to putting their families and communities first. Because the only way to build a country like Israel is by working together and for each other.
That same commitment is found here in British Columbia. You don’t just support your own families and community – which you do – but you are there for all of British Columbia and Israel too.
You are helping build British Columbia and Israel.
My primary mission is to make lives better for British Columbian families.
And to do that we are focused on creating and protecting jobs by strengthening our economy.
That means ensuring that our universities offer the best training, education andresearch.
It means getting government out of the way of the private sector and eliminating redtape that restricts business growth.
And it means opening doors and working with other innovative, forward-thinking nations.
As part of that initiative, I am pleased to announce today that MLA Moira Stilwell will be leading a BC delegation on a mission to Israel next month.
She will be joined by several other MLAs as well as key biotech and health leaders.
The purpose of this mission is find ways to work together to commercialize medical technology, something Israeli entrepreneurs have been doing for years.
We want to establish long-lasting business relationships between Israel and BritishColumbia.
And we want to spur even more innovation so we can create jobs that put food on dinner tables in both British Columbia and in Israel.
Support for Israel abroad makes a difference. That’s why you are here today. Every friend counts.
I’m proud that British Columbia can be counted as a friend of Israel’s.
I wish you all a happy Yom Ha’atzmaut. Chag Sameach.
Thank you.
Electric-car buyers to get thousands of shekels in tax benefits from Israeli government
New incentive involves lowering purchase tax on vehicles that pollute less, resulting in a saving of NIS 6,000 to NIS 10,000 for car buyers.
Motorists who buy electric-powered cars and some hybrid cars are to get additional tax benefits in a bid to encourage more Israelis to purchase these greener models, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz announced on Sunday.
The new incentive involves lowering the purchase tax on certain vehicles that pollute less than standard internal-combustion vehicles, resulting in a saving of NIS 6,000 to NIS 10,000 for car buyers.
Under the new policy the tax on electric cars is being cut from 10 percent to 8 percent this year and next.
When it comes to hybrid cars, which run on a combination of electricity and gasoline, purchase tax will remain at 30 percent, but it was slated to go up to 45 percent.
Cars that run on a combination of gasoline and rechargeable batteries, which are called “plug-in” vehicles, will be subject to a lower, 20 percent purchase tax this year and next – a rate that will then gradually increase.
Finance Ministry officials say the benefits for Israeli car buyers who take advantage of the incentives are collectively worth NIS 130 million over the next several years.
Initial pro-environment tax rates were introduced about three years ago. The newly announced incentives are expected to result in cleaner air, with incidental benefits to the country including, for example, lower medical costs for respiratory illnesses.
Hybrid vehicles emit up to 50 percent less air pollution. Use of battery-powered vehicles can result in even more substantial pollution reduction, but the extent of the improvement depends on the source of the electricity used to power the cars, taking into account pollution generated at the electric power plant. Electric cars themselves, however, don’t emit air pollution and therefore result in immediate benefits in urban areas, where air pollution is a major cause of illness and even death.
Source: Haaretz.com