Australia will host a delegation of selected Israeli assistive technology startups at forthcoming Sydney startup week events.
The delegation, led by the PresenTense organization, will meet with government officials, investors and potential business partners. Its arrival has been motivated, among other things, by the new Australian tax aimed at supporting disabled persons.
After the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) , a tax devoted to helping people with disabilities and their families, has come into effect, and as part of its desire to revolutionize this field, the Australian government is now interested in learning about the solutions offered by Israeli entrepreneurs. Earlier this year, PresenTense hosted the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce and the premier of New South Wales Mike Baird, and later in October, Sydney will host a delegation of Israeli assistive technology companies.
The Australians were deeply impressed with the activity in Israel under the auspices of PresenTense, which aims to make entrepreneurship accessible to all sectors of population, and is particularly active in the field of social entrepreneurship aimed at assisting people with disabilities. The Israeli delegation will take part in Sydney's startup week, the Spark Festival Sydney, and the Impact Investment Summit - Asia Pacific, on 24-28 October. During the visit, the Israeli companies will meet, among others, with Australian investors and present them with innovative technologies and developments from Israel. The Israeli entrepreneurs will meet with NAB, Australia's largest bank, Remarkable, an Australian disability-focused assistive technology accelerator, Teva Pharmaceuticals Australia and Celestino, a real estate firm specializing in building science and industry parks.
The delegation will be headed by PresenTense Israel CEO Guy Spigelman, who was born in Australia and immigrated to Israel 22 years ago. He will open the visit with a workshop on assistive technology for adolescents and people with disability, in the presence of government ministers dealing with innovation. The Israeli companies in the delegation include: Paratrek - a tourism venture developed as part of the A3I assistive technology solutions entrepreneurship accelerator, operated by PresenTense in cooperation with Beit Issie Shapiro, which enables people with wheelchairs and various mobility impairments to travel over rough terrain, trek, climb cliffs and more, all using a unique wheelchair; Sesame Enable - which enables full control of smartphone functions using head movements; NiNiSpeech, a system enabling people with speech impediments to gain speech fluency by using unique technologies; and Yooocan, a supportive community for people with disabilities and their families.
Spigelman says, "Our objective in this delegation is to pack the entire strength of the Israeli startup nation and our experience as an organization running an assistive technology accelerator, which has resulted in dozens of breakthrough ventures, and direct it towards a country that is interested in improving the life of people with disabilities."
New South Wales Premier Mike Baird said, "As Australia's startup state, New South Wales welcomes the Israeli delegation headed by PresenTense and the opportunity of presenting you with Australia's rich talent pool. Earlier this year, I was the first premier of New South Wales to make an official visit to Israel and was pleased to form a formal partnership between our businesses and universities, and Israel, which will bolster cooperation between the two countries."
Australia's Ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma said, "The delegation to Australia proves that the growing technological cooperation between Israel and Australia has a social potential, and not only an economic one. Using technology and innovation to improve the life of people with disabilities is one of the most promising fields in the high tech industry, and PresenTense is at the vanguard of this effort. We hope that the current delegation will build a platform for a prosperous and significant partnership."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 10, 2016
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