ILTH newsletter No. 7 - December, 2016
Dear friends and partners,
As we approach the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays at the outset, let us wish you and your loved ones a joyous Merry Christmas and a meaningful Hanukkah.
The ILTH team
Above picture: Vilnius Christmas-tree ranked among the world's best
NEWSLETTER ISSUE 7
We are happy to present to you the latest issue of our newsletter, where we aim to keep you informed of the Hub's activities, events, updates and development in the fields of Life Science and technology in Israel and Lithuania.
The ILTH participated in the Life Science Baltics 2016 Conference
The ILTH participated in the Life Science Baltics 2016 Conference and exhibition on 14-15 September in Vilnius, joined by an Israeli delegation of 100 scientists, doctors and entrepreneurs from the Academia, life science companies and hospitals.
Above: ILTH booth at Life Science Baltics 2016
Life Sciences Baltics (LSB) is the only international forum in the Baltics for world-class biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical devices experts globally.
The Conference was opened by an inspiring and stimulating presentation given by the Nobel Prize Laureate (Chemistry 2011), Prof Dan Shechtman. Watch his full presentation here:
Above: Picture of Zeev Zelig Director of Life Science – ILTH, Jurgita Butkevičiene Export Director at Enterprise Lithuania and Nobel Prize Winner prof. Dan Shechtman
The Hub members engaged in meetings and discussions, promoting new and existing initiatives of cooperation with business, universities and organisations in Lithuania. The Prime Minister of Lithuania honored us by visiting us at our booth.
Above: Tomas Navardauskas Operations Manager – ILTH, Zeev Zelig Director of Life Science – ILTH, Prime Minister of Lithuania Mr. Algirdas Butkevičius, Len Judes Israel Lithuania Chamber of Commerce, Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania in Israel H.E. Mr. Edminas Bagdonas and Ph.D Eliezer Girsh
For LSB 2016 attendees and distinguished guests ILTH hub sponsored a tour of Jewish Vilnius. Yulik Gurevich, a knowledgeable guide guided delegation through old Vilnius town and streets rich in Jewish heritage.
Above: guided Jewish Vilnius
The LSB conference was followed by a number of meetings including with the hub sponsors and meetings with leading Universities in Lithuania.
We wanted to take this opportunity also to congratulate Teva Baltics General Manager Janis Meikšāns (ILTH board on winning the CEO of the Year Award! The association of Lithuanian Business Leaders, in partnership with Nordea Bank and the Verslo Žinios (Business News) portal, has honored Teva Baltics' General Manager Janis Meikšāns as 2016 CEO of the Year.
Above: ILTH team meeting with Dr. Audrius Tutlys Country Manager of Teva Lithuania and Dalius Kaveckas, Managing Director of Inova Baltics
ILTH meetings with the leading Universities in Lithuania
Cooperation possibilities were discussed with Dr. Rimantas Jankauskas a Vice-Rector for Research at Vilnius University (VU).
Hub members Len Judes, Zvika visited Kaunas University of Technology (KTU). The visit to KTU and meeting with Prof. Petras Baršauskas the Rector of KTU and Edmundas Šalna a Director of KTU National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre was arranged by Mr. Aleksandras Abišala, a member of ILTH Advisory Board.
Above: ILTH team meeting with Dr. Rimantas Jankauskas a Vice-Rector for Research at Vilnius University (VU)
ILTH meeting with Alien Technology Transfer company
On 24th of September in Tel Aviv, ILTH team held a meeting with Alien Technology Transfer management team. AlienTT is an independent public funding advisory specialized in project financing, project management, development of concepts and business models for innovative products. Cooperation possibilities were discussed.
Above: AlienTT visiting Hubanana entrepreneurship hub
Israel - China technology Summit
Zvika Kezurer and Len Judes participated at Innovation Israel - China technology Summit. The summit took place during the DLD Tel Aviv Innovation Festival on 24-25 September and included delegates from leading companies in the fields of Medical Devices, Agritech, Cleantech, Internet, Mobile, Fintech, Smart Cities and more. Senior executives and decision makers from Israeli technology companies attended alongside recognized Chinese investment houses, private investors and strategic players, all seeking partnership opportunities.
Above: ILTH team at Innovation Israel - China technology Summit
Israel business mission to Moldova
Following an invitation of Dovydas Varkulevičius a Chairman of the Board Lithuanian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and the request for the assistance in arranging Moldova Israeli participation Israel business delegation of 6 representatives visited Chisinau on the 7-11 November. Zvika Kezurer and Tomas Navardauskas both helped to organize the Israeli delegation to participate in the Startup Week and B2B meetings.
The main event Chisinau Startup Week and meetings with the Moldovan IT companies were incorporated with the USAID Moldova Competitiveness Project. The delegation members met with local startups, businessmen and authorities to exchange information and views regarding business cooperation. More details about the event https://chisinau.startupweek.co/
The delegation also was invited to visit StarNet a leading telecommunication and ITC company in Moldova. It was interesting to learn about StarNet initiatives of building IT park and already established own IT academy. The follow up visit of the StarNet management team from Moldova took visit to Vilnius Tech Park grand opening.
Above: moments from Israel business mission to Chisinau Startup Week
PLEF 2016 in Vilnius
Rima Blumenzon, Business Development Manager at ILTH took part in the sessions at a Global Lithuanian Economic Forum PLEF 2016 in Vilnius on 10th November. The goal of PLEF is to bring together Lithuanians and Lithuania`s supporters globally, to communicate, cooperate, improve, encourage interest in one`s own country and create the future of Lithuania. Rima had a possibility to represent two organisations: The Israel Lithuania Technology Hub and Lithuanians Community in Israel “Nerija”. There were stimulating speeches about Lithuanian Identity, business, opportunities and people, also mentioning Israel and influential Jewish community.
Above: Rima Blumenzon at PLEF 2016 in Vilnius
Vilnius Tech Park Official Grand Opening
We were happy to participate in the opening of Vilnius Tech Park on November 16, 2016. It`s the biggest tech hub in Baltics. Boasting more than 9,000 square meters of prime office space in renovated 19th century buildings, all set in the historic parkland of Sapiegos stately home, Vilnius Tech Park is now one of the most stylish working environments on offer in the Baltics.
To recap, the hub initiated the startup exchange program between our Hub, the Hubanana tech hub and Vilnius Tech Park at the June Tech Conference in Ra’anana, Israel.
Above: Remigijus Šimašius, Mayor of Vilnius with Zvika Kezurer Chairman at ILTH
Above: Zvika Kezurer with Monika Poskaityte Head of Communication at VTP
Conference “Lithuania and Israel: Past, Present, Future”
On November 24, Embassy of Lithuania in Israel together with the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized the Conference “Lithuania and Israel: Past, Present, Future”. The event took place at the Peres Center for Peace. Important issues of bilateral Lithuanian-Israeli agenda were discussed.
Above: Greeting and opening remarks Ambassador of Lithuania in Israel, Edminas Bagdonas
Litvak World“ project and issues of reinstatement of Lithuanian Citizenship presented in Tel Aviv
On November 11, 2016 in the Lithuanian Embassy “Litvak world” project has been presented by its member of board Mr Rolandas Valiūnas. The main purpose of “Litvak World” are reviving the history of Lithuanian Jews and reinstating it into the history of Lithuania, cherishing and promoting the Lithuanian Jewish heritage, creating a network of Litvaks, revitalizing ties between Litvaks and Lithuania. At the meeting “Reinstatement of Lithuanian Citizenship: New Opportunities” has also been presented.
Above: Lithuanian Jews meeting at the Embassy of Lithuania in Israel
Further ILTH news, missions and involvements at the events
GLA awards 2016 by Global Lithuanian Leaders, GLL
We are proud to announce that Tomas Navardauskas Operations Manager at ILTH is one of the nominees of Global Lithuanian Awards 2016 in the category Global Experience for Lithuanian Business. The awards are given for the contributing to Lithuania's economy growth by advising our companies on export opportunities and global strategy. GLA aim to promote the idea of Global Lithuania and create the atmosphere of appreciation for international experience exchange and diaspora engagement. GLA are hosted by the President of Lithuania and organized in close cooperation with Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. More information: http://www.gllawards.lt
Discover Jewish Lithuania
We are pleased to highlight `Discover Jewish Lithuania` – a mobile app based on augmented reality. It covers more than 60 different stories from 600 years of Jewish history in Lithuania. It’s not only in Vilnius, the North Jerusalem, but also in smaller towns-shtetls, such as Ukmergė, Kėdainiai, Joniškis, Žagarė, Valkininkai and Degsnės.
The project has been financed in large by the EU Grants programme "Promotion of Diversity in Culture and Arts within European Cultural Heritage.
For more visit: www.discoverjewishlithuania.com
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB8bxtYYu2g
Upcoming events (partial list for the coming months)
7-8th February 2017: The 23rd Annual International Tourism Exhibition
IMTM is the official and only professional exhibition for the tourism trade market in Israel. The meeting place and trendsetter for the global and local tourist industry. More details: http://www.fairs.co.il/en/fairs-event/imtm-2017/
7-8th MARCH 2017 Axis Tel Aviv: Startups. Investors. Connected.
Axis Tel Aviv 2016 is a two - day conference that delivers a unique opportunity for global investors to get up close and personal with select Israeli startups and learn what makes Israel one of the most innovative technology ecosystems in the world.
Axis Innovation delivers a unique opportunity for global investors to get up close and personal with exciting startups from emerging markets whose technologies seek to disrupt the status quo in a wide variety of tech sectors including digital media, IT, mobile, e-commerce and health-tech.
And Finally…
We would like to thank our sponsors for supporting our activity Teva Baltics, Inova Baltics and Kaunas Free Economic Zone (FEZ).
The Israel Lithuania Technology Hub (ILTH)
29 Hamered St.
61502, Tel Aviv, Israel
Tel: +972-3-517-5481
Email: info@ilth.org
