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Another prominent worrisome feature in the Global Innovation Index decline is in the international ranking of Israeli universities. This metric may impact the international prestige of Israeli researchers, the quality of research produced in Israel, and the quality of university graduates’ training. Today, Israel’s three leading universities rank 32nd<\/sup> in the global rankings, compared to the 22nd<\/sup> place achieved in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIsrael stands out among the group of countries with the highest income in four central areas: human capital and research, market sophistication, maturity of the business sector, and output of knowledge and technology. While human capital is one of the primary resources attracting global technology companies, Israel is only ranked 24th<\/sup> (the composers of the index note that Israel produces relatively higher innovation outputs in relation to the level of investment in innovation). In contrast, areas that constitute weak points for Israel, and in which it has a relatively low ranking, are creative outputs, institutions, and infrastructures.<\/p>\n\n\n\nStartups in Israel have raised significant sums in the past decade but should not be complacent<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Israel has stood out in relation to other hubs worldwide in its number of active startups which raised funding from investors. As of April 2023, there were 9,093 technology companies that had, at some stage of their operation, raised funding from investors. This figure ranks the Israeli hub as third in the world in this metric and positions Israel as a prominent startup hub on a global level. San Francisco is the largest hub in the world according to this metric with 14,300 technology companies that raised funding, followed by New York with 12,600. The next largest hubs in the ranking are London, Boston, and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Entrepreneurial activity in Israel has been especially prominent over the past decade during which 11,865 companies that raised funding from investors were established in Israel. Some of these companies have since closed or become inactive. The fields in which the Israeli ecosystem’s comparative global advantage in concentrating fund raising came to the fore were privacy and information security (cyber), agricultural technology (agri-tech), content and media, and information technologies. In relative terms, Israeli cyber companies’ share of the total capital raised locally is 2.85 times higher than the global average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Israel has enjoyed phenomenal growth in startups’ fundraising over the past decade. An unprecedented sum of 95 billion dollars was raised by Israeli technology companies between 2013-2022, a figure which positions the Israeli innovation hub in 6th<\/sup> place in the world in terms of startups’ fundraising during this period. This is an especially impressive achievement considering the largest hubs that are ranked ahead of Israel and which are located in economic superpowers \u2013 the US and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Nevertheless, Israel must not be complacent, and it is important to be aware of global trends and other factors that exert a long-term influence on innovation, as noted above. Firstly, the accelerated growth in startups’ fundraising is not unique to Israel. In most of the hubs examined there was a significant growth in startups’ fundraising during this period, including a record in total investments in 2021 followed by a decline in 2022. Some of the hubs enjoyed growth similar to that of Israel, including Singapore, Switzerland, Berlin, New York, and Los Angeles. In other places, it was double, and even higher, that of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is important to mention London and Paris \u2013 two hubs with the most noteworthy growth in funds raised by startups. At the beginning of the period under examination in 2013, startups’ fundraising in Israel (2.8 billion dollars) was five times higher than in Paris and double that in London. Thanks to the rapid development of the innovation ecosystems in both cities, by the end of the relevant period in 2022, London had overtaken Israel in the sum raised by startups in the city: almost 19 billion dollars were raised in London in 2022 compared to almost 16 billion dollars in Israel. The sum raised in Israel was still higher than that raised in Paris (10.9 billion dollars), however if the rapid growth typifying Paris in recent years is sustained, this situation may change within a few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The significance for the startups and innovation hubs in Israel is that its competition is increasing, and not just with the major hubs with which it regularly competes for funding and personnel, primarily San Francisco \u2013 the largest ecosystem in terms of the number of companies and funding. The fiercest competition today is with smaller and rapidly growing ecosystems, mainly in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In relative terms, Israeli startups’ funding rounds of more than 50 million dollars constitute a high ratio of all funding rounds. The areas with larger shares of the funding rounds of this scope are large mature hubs: Shanghai, San Francisco, Boston, and San Diego. This figure testifies to the maturity level achieved by the Israeli innovation ecosystem in recent years that position it among the world’s leading ecosystems that are located in significantly larger countries than Israel \u2013 the US and China. Furthermore, in the period under examination (2013-2022), Israel witnessed the sharpest increase in its share of funding rounds of this scope (at least 50 million dollars) compared to the other large hubs and has thus almost closed the gap with these hubs within just a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, it is important to note that this phenomenon is not unique to Israel. As of 2022, in most of the hubs examined and to which Israel compares itself, the majority of funding raised by startups was in funding rounds larger than 50 million dollars. Funding raised in the large-scale funding rounds also increased significantly in London, New York, and Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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A Global Comparison: High-tech in Israel Relies Almost Entirely on the Private Sector, and Primarily on Foreign Investors The Israeli innovation ecosystem is in direct competition with other hubs around the world for human resources, investments, and innovation infrastructures. It is important therefore to examine high-tech’s contribution to the Israeli economy not just in comparison […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4472,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","report_year":[52],"geographic_location":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
A Global Comparison - English Innovation Site<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n\t \n