Israel – High Tech and Start-Up Country Dušan Lesjak dusan.lesjak@mfdps.si Celje, 16.2.2017

Israel © D. Lesjak

Some basic facts about Israel and Slovenia Capital Jerusalem (intl. unrecognized) Ljubljana Official language Hebrew, Arabic Slovenian (Italian, Hungarian) Ethnic groups Jewish 75% Arab 21%, Other 4% Slovenians 83% Serbs 2%, Croats 2%, Bosniaks 1% Unspecified 12% Religion Muslim 18% Christian 2% Druze 1.6% Roman Catholic 58% Undeclared 16% Non-religious 10% Unknown 7% Believer (no religion) 3.5% Muslim 2.4% Eastern Orthodox 2.3% Lutheran 1% Government Unitary parliamentary republic Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic Independence 14 May 1948 25 June 1991 Area 20,770-22,072 km2 Water: 440 km2; 2.12% 20,273 km2 Water: 0.7%  Population (2016 estimate) 8.6 mio; Density: 391/km2 2.1; Density: 102/km2 HDI - Human development index (2015) 0.894; Rank: 18 0.880; Rank: 25 The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income per capita indicators. A country scores higher HDI when the life expectancy at birth is longer, the education period is longer, and the income per capita is higher. It is used to distinguish whether the country is a developed, a developing or an underdeveloped country. Countries fall into four broad human development categories: Very High Human Development, High Human Development, Medium Human Development and Low Human Development. © D. Lesjak

Israel and Slovenia Economic Outlook http://www.focus-economics.com/countries/israel http://www.focus-economics.com/countries/slovenia Israel’s economy grew at the fastest rate in three years in 2016 according to a preliminary result and the latest monthly indicators confirm the bright picture. In December, the state of the economy index grew at the fastest pace in two years and business confidence came in at a three-year high. The positive momentum was also reflected in the labor market, with the unemployment rate for 2016 the lowest on record. Although the country’s growth engines are ticking along nicely, some downside risks are clouding the horizon. Rating agency Moody’s praised Israel’s success in reducing debt but highlighted political tensions as a potential drag on growth going forward. On 6 February, the Knesset approved a controversial bill on the legalization of Israeli settlements in Palestinian-owned areas, which could heighten tensions with both international institutions and Palestine. Ongoing bribery investigations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could prompt an early end to his term and therefore snap elections. Slovenia Rising investment and strong private consumption stemming from a tight labor market will fuel Slovenia’s economy in 2017. However, higher wages could harm the country’s competitiveness. FocusEconomics analysts see the economy accelerating from 2016’s growth and expanding 2.5% in 2017, which is up 0.1 percentage points from last month’s reading. For 2018, the panel also expects GDP growth of 2.5%.

Nobel prize Year Winner Field Contribution 1966 Shmuel Yosef Agnon Literature „profoundly characteristic narrative art with motifs from the life of the Jewish people" 1978 Menachem Begin Peace "for signing a peace treaty with Egypt" 1994 Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres "for the peace talks that produced the Oslo Accords" 2002 Daniel Kahneman Economics "for prospect theory" 2004 Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko Chemistry "for discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation" 2005 Robert Aumann "his work on conflict and cooperation through game- theory analysis" 2009 Ada Yonath "her studies on the structure and function of the ribosome in cells" 2011 Dan Shechtman "for his studies on atoms in rigid crystals" 2013 Arieh Warshel and Michael Levitt "for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems" © D. Lesjak

Space The Israel Space Agency is one of only 7 countries that both build their own satellites and launch their own launchers – named Shavit. There are 9 Israeli satellites in the space. 2 more nano-satellites were launched in February 2017. One of them is a medical research laboratory. © D. Lesjak

Water 86% of the water in Israel is reused (Spain 19%). 75% of the country’s sewage is recycled (the highest percentage in the world). More than 50% of water used in agriculture comes from treated sewage. More water than needed because of the desalination. Israel needs 1.9 billion m3 of fresh water and gets 1.5 billion m3 from natural resources. Sorek Desalination Plant.  Credit: Photo courtesy of IDE Technologies. © D. Lesjak

Agriculture In Valentine’s Day in 2014,60 million Watermelon and Melon in the desert: Growing them in the air (no soil) All year around Sweeter Volcani agricultural research center https://www.facebook.com/volcanicenteren/ Aquaculture in Kibbutz Ketura in the Negev Desert In Valentine’s Day in 2014,60 million Israeli flowers were sent to Europe for sale. An Israeli woman picking buttercup flowers in a field near Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak © D. Lesjak

A few achievements The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel. 1.000 employees (mostly researchers) Microsoft is building a new research center (investing $1B in Herzelia, near Tel Aviv) (Most of the Windows NT and XP operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel). “Intel” development center. IBM development center for welfare of society (located at University of Haifa). .... Outside the United States, Israel has the largest number of NASDAQ listed companies - 81 in May 2016. © D. Lesjak

Education 24% of Israel's workforce holds university degrees, ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland. 12% hold advanced degrees. Israel has the highest number of scientists and technicians per capita in the world with 140 (85 in the US and 83 in Japan) scientists and technicians per 10,000 employees. © D. Lesjak

Medicine Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer. Missile engineer from the security industry transform the technology into Medical equipment. The electro-optic devices which guide missiles were put in a pill to create the “PillCams“ Israel’s medical centers hold developed “Medical tourism” programs. © D. Lesjak

Kobi Ricther a leading combat pilot Ph.D. in biology and biochemistry, a postdoctoral research at MIT in AI founder of Orbot – automated optical inspection (AOI) system. In 1989 Orbot controled 60% of the worldwide market, after they merged with the Oprotech even 80%. founder of Medinol in 1992 and at the end of the millenuim they controled 35% of the international coronary stent market. © D. Lesjak

Nuclear weapon In 1956 only the US, the USSR and the UK possessed nuclear weapon In 1956 Israel had only 1.8 mio people. The full scale production of nuclear warheads is believed to have commenced by 1966, with the Israel Defense Forces believed to be in possession of up to 13 operational nuclear warheads by 1967. The Dimona nuclear plant now features a synagogue. Photo credit: Dudu Greenshpan © D. Lesjak

Iron Dome Development of a successful computerized anti-missile rockets Many countries are interested in purchasing the technology © D. Lesjak

Science and technology One of the country's most developed sectors. Israel ranks 5. among the most innovative countries in the Bloomberg Innovation Index It has one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed. © D. Lesjak

The Coolest Tech Startups 21. Zebra (2014) 20. ParaZero (2012) 19. MyHeritage 18. Brayola 17. Cortica (2007) 16. Winwards 15. Argus Cyber Security (2013) 14. Arbe Robotics 13. Nexar (2013) 12. Vroom 11. SalesPredict (2012) 10. Wix (2000) 9. Via (2012) 8. Mobileye (1999) 7. Airobotics 6. Viber 5. Storedot 4. Flytrex 3. Sirin Mobile technology 2. Waze (2007) 1. Gett http://www.businessinsider.com/the-coolest-tech-startups-in-israel-2016-11/#21-zebra-1 © D. Lesjak

http://www.gospodarski-izzivi.com/prodajna-uspesnica-narod-startupov/ © D. Lesjak