Startup Nation Israel

I would like to share my personal essence (succus) of two exciting days at the Startup Nation Israel. The figures speak a clear language: 15% of Israel's GDP comes from the high-tech and startup sector. The sector accounts for more than half of total exports and there are 90 Unicorns - by comparison, Austria has six.

The power of a vision

A question that comes to mind is where does the power come from to bring new technologies and business models so quickly and so far? It's striking that people are thinking big. Example? Helios has developed a technology that can produce steel without direct CO2 emissions. Sounds fantastic, and it is. However, they can currently produce just a few grams a day in the laboratory. This year, the target is 10 kilograms a day, and by 2032, their goal is that 15% of the steel produced worldwide is to be produced using this method. Or RepAir, it’s electrochemical process helps industrial corporations obtaining affordable carbon emission offsets, by reducing the cost at scale below USD 70 per each ton of CO?.

Will all the ambitious plans work out? Who knows? But there is a clear vision, and visions are known to have enormous power.

Necessity is the mother of invention

After the founding of Israel in 1948, there was almost nothing at first, except desert and enemies all around. For example, hardly any drinking water. The solution: huge seawater desalination plants produce drinking water by reverse osmosis, and an incredible 94% of the wastewater is recycled - compared to 12% in Spain.

Acting with chutzpah

Chutzpah combines intelligent disrespect for authority with social intrepidity. Those with chutzpah may be somehow penetrating but in a very charming way. As different as the people and companies were, we always experienced courage paired with obliging friendliness: It is all about the right culture.

Government programs

The state is not shy taking a direct stake in young companies and prescribing large thematic areas in multi-year programs, such as AI, BioConvergence or Climate-Tech. This creates focus and momentum. Investments are selected based on technological excellence and business potential. Central to this is that the state deliberately takes risk and, in the case of loans, basically assumes repayment in the event of success.

Together, more is possible

Innovation ecosystems are not just a buzzword, but a common reality in Israel. There was a lot of talk about Spaces, Hubs and Accelerators in Austria. And sure, some of them have succeeded, but there has also been innovation theater and scorched earth. One example of how it can work? ESIL - Environmental Sustainablilty Innovation Lab. The motto "Global Needs, Israeli solution" - what a cool mission! ESIL is a partnership of three leading corporations from different countries and industries who have joined forces to develop groundbreaking, industry transforming technologies for a greener and better future. An Innovation Ecosystem at its best.

https://www.mizmaa.com/news/the-case-for-climatetech-in-israel

There are exciting projects between Israeli startups and Austrian companies. For example Voith, which supplies technology for compressed air tanks and Augwind. The company makes it possible to store energy, similar to the principle of pumped power stations. With technology from Voith, efficiency can be significantly increased.

There is a lot of potential and a lot to do.

Let’s go for it!

Thanks again to Advantage Austria Tel Aviv for making this possible!

#innovation #transformation #climatetech #greenenergy #startups

Markus Haas , Allon Raveh , Amir Horowitz , Eran Levy , Neta , Hans Sailer , Harald Mahrer , Michael Berlin , Michael Zettel , Christiane Gina Bertolini , Andreas Tschas , Karim Taga , Henrietta Egerth , Michael , Josef , Rotem Arad , Alexander Kirchner , Walter Reinhard Prutej , Daniel , Yair Rubinstein , Christian Gstrein , Thomas Gabriel , Günter Essl , Dr. Alexander Frech , Karim Taga , Awi Lifshitz , Thomas Madritsch , Martin Graf , Martin Gruber , alexander lena , Patricia , Gerfried Brunner , Gil Barnea , Gernot Maier , Jan Anders Karlsson , Bernhard Lukas , Adi Yoffe , Lukas Liebler , Dipl.-Ing. Patricia M?ckesch , Caroline , Günter Essl , Benjamin Wolf , Ifat Zamir , Alexandra Horvath , Martin Gruber , Silvia K?ry , Gerhard Christiner , Jonathan Geifman , Franz Z?chbauer .