Israeli high tech draws a lot of interest and curiosity overseas, and the Recanati School of Management at Tel Aviv University wants to provide the answers with a new program for foreign MBA students. As part of the ten-day "Doing Business in Israel" program, 28 foreign students visited high-tech companies, start-ups, and incubators, and met with entrepreneurs and investors.
This was the first of three groups that will visit Israel this year. The students came from the US, Canada, Europe, China, India, and Singapore. Three of the students were Emily Nolten from Emory University in Atlanta, Steven Stephenson from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, and Benjamin Milne from University of Vancouver.
"I come from the life sciences industry, and I am very interested in the field in Israel. Israel also interests me from a cultural and religious aspect," says Nolten.
"I decided to come because this appears to be a successful mix of fun and business," says Milne, who has a BA from Université de Montréal. "I attended Bibi Netanyahu's talk in 2002, during my BA studies. There were disturbances and the police closed the campus. This was a big affair in Canada, and since then I've been interested in Israel. This program enables me to visit Israel to get a broad picture about its economy and politics, far more being a mere tourist."
"I was fascinated to learn about another part of the world," says Stephenson. "I was interested to see how technology and innovation works in Israel."
Before coming to Israel, the three students read the book "Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle " by Saul Singer and Dan Senor, and they are no excited to meet some of the people they read about. "We met investors, entrepreneurs, and companies, and we get an honest picture of Israeli high tech," says Stephenson.
"Globes": Do you see a difference between the condition of Israeli high tech compared with high tech in Canada and the US?
Milne: "Of course. In Canada, there's a crisis of innovation and entrepreneurship. There's no reason to take risks. I think that the country doesn’t support and encourage entrepreneurs like Israel does. On the other hand, the Canadians were made anxious just by raising the idea of government support for private entrepreneurs."
Nolten: "In the US, too, where there is a much broader culture of entrepreneurship, people are still afraid about ruining their reputation and of failure in general. It seems different here."
What impressed you the most in your meetings with Israeli industry?
Nolten: "The informality. If my friends hadn’t told me that there's no line for a bus, I might still be waiting in line at the Jerusalem bus station."
Milne: "I understand that here, if you want to succeed, you have to do, without asking for permission or recognition. Start and do."
"The uniqueness of the Israeli economy"
Lahav Executive Education Program CEO Udi Aharoni told "Globes" that the program was part of an international program, called "Doing Business", with the participation of 500 business schools worldwide.
"14 students participated in the first program, most of whom were Jews or former Israelis. This time there were 28 participants, and only one of the women was Jewish. For most of them, this was their first visit to Israel."
"Students come for ten days, during which we teach them about Israel's special case in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship, and they earn credit points. The students also visited companies they'd read about, met with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, and toured Jerusalem, Nazareth, and an Air Force base."
Aharoni said that the program focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship, but that it was not limited to the technology side. "They'd read about Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., Given Imaging Ltd. (Nasdaq: GIVN; TASE: GIVN), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), Makhteshim Agan Industries Ltd., Tefron Ltd. (Bulletin Board: TFRFF; TASE:TFR), and Strauss Group Ltd. (TASE:STRS). The objective is to show them the uniqueness of the Israeli economy."
What responses did you get from the students? What did they like the most about the visit?
Aharoni: "The informality. They were impressed by the management culture in which everything was fast and possible. They were interested in the social attitude toward failure, which enables someone who did not succeed to start over, and of course in thinking outside the box."
The students also heard lectures by School of Management Dean Prof. Asher Tischler, Platinum Neurone Ventures managing partner and former chief scientist Dr. Shuki Gleitman, DFJ Tamir Fishman Ventures Ltd. managing general partner Dr. Benny Zeevi, Genesis Partners general partner Eden Shochat, and Call Yachol founder and CEO Dr. Gil Winch.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 18, 2012
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