{"id":3208,"date":"2023-02-11T10:04:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-11T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/?post_type=report&p=3208"},"modified":"2023-08-15T15:03:48","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T15:03:48","slug":"israeli-innovation-breaks-the-boundaries","status":"publish","type":"report","link":"https:\/\/innovationisrael.org.il\/en\/report\/israeli-innovation-breaks-the-boundaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli Innovation Breaks the Boundaries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Israeli innovation has attained great heights in recent decades. Israel is a global center with a vibrant innovation culture based on interdisciplinary capabilities, a spirit of entrepreneurship and strong technical skills. Recent years have witnessed a flourishing of Israeli hi-tech that is expressed by widespread activity of multinational corporations, innovative startup companies, and Israeli growth companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cHigh Tech in Israel 2018\u201d Chapter of this report will describe yet another year of impressive achievements for Israeli innovation. This has been attained despite the challenging period in which the world order has destabilized, following world trade wars and tax reforms instituted by the Trump government. It is especially worth noting the breakthrough of sectors such as Fintech and artificial intelligence (AI) alongside the maturing of growth companies in the \u201ctraditional\u201d fields of internet, cyber, medical devices etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, if Israel wants to make the transition from a startup nation to a smart-up nation, the Israeli innovation ecosystem must break through the boundaries within which it presently operates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israeli innovation is defined by several dimensions. Technologically, the majority of the innovation activity is focused in the ICT sector. From a geographical perspective, the dominant mass of activity is still concentrated in central Israel, with only relatively low activity even in major cities like Haifa, Jerusalem, and Beersheba. From a demographic perspective, approximately half of all high-tech employees are up to 45-year-old non-Haredi Jewish men.1<\/a><\/sup>CBS data \u2013 Labor Force Survey, 2017<\/span> Moreover, technological innovation has yet to breach the bounds of the high- tech industry. As a result, the overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens do not feel that they live in a \u201ctechnological\u201d country in areas that affect their daily lives such as transportation, commerce, finance, and access to public services. The upshot is that the huge economic and social potential inherent in Israeli innovation remains largely unfulfilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our perception is that innovation is a key engine for economic growth and wellbeing. As such, all citizens, sectors, regions and spheres of life in Israel should benefit from it. A central theme in our State of Innovation in Israel report for 2017 was increasing the number of employees in innovation-based firms. In the current report, we present a vision of the Israeli innovation breaking boundaries in several additional dimensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the \u201cTechnology Power Race\u201d Chapter, we will discuss the challenge of the technological dimension \u2013 the competition on leadership in the technologies of the future. This is especially relevant when set against the background of intensifying global competition in emerging technologies, primarily in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the \u201cPersonalized Medicine\u201d Chapter, we will present the challenge in the sectorial dimension \u2013 how to breach the bounds of ICT and develop a leading personalized medicine ecosystem in Israel. Israeli industry enjoys significant advantages in areas of unique medical data: It is based on the health funds\u2019 computerized medical files, on genomic databases, on sophisticated basic science, and on the proven capability of the Israeli ecosystem in ICT, all of which place Israeli industry at an excellent starting point.In the \u201cInnovation-Driven Economy in the Periphery\u201d Chapter, we will present the challenge of the geographical dimension \u2013 breaching the borders of innovation activity that is currently located primarily in central Israel and bringing it to the rest of the country. We will propose a practical strategy based on bolstering high-tech in the metropolises, improving utilization of the human capital potential in the periphery and strengthening the regional advantages via technological innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, in the \u201cFrom a High Tech Industry to a Smart Economy\u201d Chapter, we will present the \u201cdepth\u201d dimension of the challenge \u2013 how to cause Israeli technological developments to become an integral part of daily life in Israeli society. We will propose possible directions for closing the gap between Israel and the leading Western nations that increased the level of their populations\u2019 accessibility to advanced technologies in all areas of daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n