lunes, 9 de mayo de 2016

Successful Tech Hubs: Tel Aviv




Successful Tech Hubs:
Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv[1] is the 2nd largest city in Israel[2] with a population of over 400.000 people. It is a global city and a financial center, and the 2nd largest economy in the Middle East after Abu Dhabi. It was founded as a State for the Jewish after WWII and is located in the Middle East, but responds to the interests of the West (as a political bloc).  The State was situated inside Palestine, and due to this a life-long conflict persists even today were the Palestines consider that that piece of territory really corresponds to them. Efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace, the occupation of Gaza representing the latest armed conflict.  
The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with a large percentage of citizens holding a tertiary education degree, 90% is connected and has SmartPhones. There are around 5.000 Start-Ups spread across the Nation, of which almost 30% are in Tel Aviv. It currently consists of 1 Start-Up per 400 people. Leading multinational firms such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo! or Samsung have recently established themselves in Greater Tel Aviv. Accelerators, co-working spaces and innovation centers have grown 140% over the last 4 years. Israel has gained presence in the global tech industry, with 75% of it’s production being focused on Tech. It has the highest investment in R&D anywhere in the world, compared to the size of it’s economy (4% of GDP).
Start Up Nation[3]. In the early 1990s the Government set up a special fund called “Yozma”, which means Initiative, whose goal was very simple which was to create a Venture Capitalist Industry in Israel. With an 8 million USD initial investment, they invited entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from all over the world to match the amount granted to them by the government to set up their businesses. The government would help the entrepreneurs get started, but once it got it’s money back would immediately get out of the way. One differential advantage (that cannot be so easily replicable in other countries), is that young Israelis compete to get into the best units into the Army. Once they come out of the Army, they are ready to go into business (and have a Network of Army friends who are doing the same). Ideas start in Israel, but they scale elsewhere. Defense investment has made it easier to innovation in cutting edge technology in fields like healthcare, telecommunication, agriculture and other fields.  
Tel Aviv Start Up City[4] is a thriving, accessible and creative start-up ecosystem, unparalleled in it’s innovation, creativity, synergy, and young brilliant energy. It is a global business center and the ultimate non-stop city. The Start Up Tel Aviv competition is designed to draw hundreds of Start Ups and Venture Capitalists to Network, Sell and Invest in the NeXT big idea. A vibrant international hub of innovation and technology, Tel Aviv is full with investors, entrepreneurs and hi-tech professionals from around the world. The Tel Aviv municipality along with the government, corporate and NGO partners, is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and innovators and to helping startups and tech-companies at all levels succeed and excel by lowering their barriers to success. Through city-sponsored and supported local and national policy, municipal tax breaks, co-working spaces, business and partner-led programs, Tel Aviv is fostering an innovative, digital and accessible environment.  






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