Half of them established their offshore operation in the last two years. Those companies employ about 20% of their entire workforce overseas. We see offshoring as a positive outcome in the near term, as it allows Israeli start-ups to grow, stay in Israel, and keep costs in check.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nPools of untapped talent<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Women<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Total female headcount in the Israeli tech industry is at 30% (including non-tech professions like marketing, HR and business development), but women comprise only 23% of core tech professions like software engineers and, in our survey, only 16% of tech management.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The potential of women in tech is probably double these numbers, as girls comprise almost half of all students studying advanced math in high school.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Similarly, Ultra-Orthodox women began studying software engineering at an associate degree level less than a decade ago and today there are nearly 700 new graduates every year. They require additional training and bridging of cultural gaps to become fully integrated into the core of the industry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- In 2018, the Ministry of Labor launched a joint venture with SheCodes to offer free coding training for all women.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Israeli Arabs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Another pool of talent is the 2,000+ Arab students of tech studies that are gradually entering the tech sector. We see a major opportunity to get them into core technology jobs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- There has been a dramatic trend reversal in recent years: In 2016 alone, there were more Arab tech-relevant students than all the Arab students over the previous 30 years (1985-2014): 2,222 v. 1,598 respectively.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Today, Israeli Arabs comprise about 11% of all high-tech related degrees in academia, thus indicating a substantial potential for further growth as their share of the population is almost double.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- We can see this trend already materializing, as 18% of all Computer Science students in universities are Israeli Arab.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Still, two-thirds of Israeli tech companies in our survey (most of them very young startups with less than 50 employees) report not having a single Arab tech employee. When Israeli tech companies of all sizes do employ Israeli Arabs, these make up around 3% of their headcount.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Larger firms, some of them multinational corporations, employ significantly more Israeli Arabs \u2013 an average of about 8% of their total headcount.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Successful integration requires bridging gaps in soft skills and cultural aspects. The Israeli Government has supported such programs since 2014.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Foreign Tech Experts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- The Israeli Government earlier this year took the unprecedented step of establishing a very convenient and rapid process for obtaining a special tech visa, helping recruit experienced professionals. This change is being slowly recognized by the companies, and several dozen have already taken advantage of the new procedure. 46% of the companies in the survey answered that they would consider this option. Another source of talent is Israelis working abroad in tech companies. More than<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 500 tech professionals return to Israel every year. The Israel Innovation Authority launched a pilot program in 2018 to support their integration into tech companies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Prof. Eugene Kandel, CEO, Start-Up Nation Central<\/strong>: \u201cThe high growth in demand for Israeli innovation, which is good news, exceeds the supply of the human capital the innovation sector needs. The Israeli government, NGOs, and the industry understand the importance of this task, and as a result of their actions the supply of human capital has been growing over the last few years. Still, this report shows that even more rapid growth in human capital supply is required so that the sector can grow and satisfy global demand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nAharon Aharon, CEO, Israel Innovation Authority<\/strong>: “The high-tech industry is undergoing rapid growth and is unable to \u2018catch up\u2019 with the demand for skilled tech talent. The Israeli government has recently implemented a national program to expand the pool of high tech talent, including increasing the number of university and non-academic quality program graduates, working to realize the potential of underrepresented populations in the high tech sector such as women, Arabs and the Ultra-Orthodox, and facilitating the integration of returning Israelis with tech experience, as well as promoting the arrival of foreign experts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n