Welcome to the 14th edition of the ILTH Newsletter!
Dear Friends,
The ILTH hub newsletter is out with the latest news of the last quarter of 2019 on collaborations in Life Science, Biomed, Fintech, Miltech, Startups – and much more!
Our recent main activities:
Participation at Fintech Inn in Vilnius.
Hub presentation with Innonation (www.innonation.io) made to the Ambassador of Lithuania, H.E. Lina Antanaviciene and the Commercial Attache, Raimondas Martinavicius.
Farewell to Ambassador of Lithuania H.E. Edminas Bagdonas.
Lithuanian team at DLD Tel Aviv 2019.
Israel Lithuania Chamber of Commerce reception hosted by Schneider Children's Medical Center in Israel.
We hope you enjoy this edition!
The Hub Team
Past events and Hub involvements
19th December: chamber participation in a meeting at the economic devision of the ministry of foreign affairs Jerusalem
Len Judes’ account and reflection on diplomacy and innovation below:
The Israeli diplomacy of Innovation
Much has been written and spoken about the Israeli “Start Up Nation”, how innovative technology has transformed the Israeli economy, the successful “exits” and the favoured term so commonly used of the Israeli innovation - ecosystem. Much less about the impact Innovation has had on Israeli international relations.
I participated today in a rare meeting held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, hosted by the Economic Affairs Division which is an important part of the Ministry. The various directors within the Department met with us, the chairmen and presidents of the bi national chambers of commerce in order to discuss working practices and enhanced cooperation, recognising the importance of these chambers which voluntarily promote and encourage trade, business and investment between Israel and the respective counter states. One of the most important issues discussed at length was that of the huge demand for and interest in Israeli high-tech in general and cutting-edge innovation particularly. Israel is seen as a centre of innovation offering far reaching benefits not only to the private sector, but also to governments, countries and international organizations, whether as possible solutions to humanitarian challenges, such as famine, drought, search and rescue, cyber security etc or as economic boosters creating jobs and bringing that competitive edge required in a hugely vying global market.
Many countries have opened national Innovation Centres or Technology Hubs in Israel, whether within their embassies or independently. Similarly, leading technology multinationals have set up incubators, accelerators or other varied R&D centres, competing in attracting local tech companies, talent or start-ups to favour their platform, offering them incentives and sweeteners of sorts. Foreign scouts are forever visiting and attending conferences, seminars and exhibitions.
Israel has indeed come a long way from the days in which we prided ourselves in our exports of “Jaffa Oranges” to the present where our leading export is tech and innovation in particularly, or as a senior official once put it, our natural resources are located between our right and left ears.
Within this reality, we, the Israel-Lithuania Chamber of Commerce and Industry, were the first and only binational Chamber to launch our own Technology Hub back in 2012. Recognising that the most interesting and attractive cross border business synergies between Israel and Lithuania lie in the fields of technology and life science. Our most significant contribution was the initiative of founding a life science international conference and exhibition, similar to BioMed, the leading Israeli biannual event. The “Life Science Baltics” Conference was then launched, based on our BioMed model, with significant Israeli participation as speakers and participants.
Our office in Tel Aviv is within the Innonation Powerhouse, which feeds into the Israel-China innovative technology ecosystem, a small cog in a large wheel, demonstrating de facto the internationalism of this industry.
The MFA has a director of Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Technology who’s responsibility is to assist foreign embassies and corporates find their sought after matches in Israel, encourage the creation of business ties, all in the Ministerial role of promoting Israeli foreign relations. Clearly, Israeli technology contributes not only to the economy, but also to Israeli foreign and public relations. For many years Israel has been amongst the first countries to offer assistance to other states in times of crisis, natural disasters and calamity, whether by offering search and rescue assistance, emergency medical services, in instances of earthquakes, floods, droughts etc, nowadays such assistance is complimented with cutting edge technology based equipment. Our cyber security and tech related intelligence abilities are apparently without parallel.
10 December: Ambassador of Lithuania, H.E. Lina Antanaviciene visit to the Beit Issie Shapiro
Len Judes and Ambassador of Lithunia H.E. Lina Antanaviciene visited Beit Issie Shapiro.
Beit Issie Shapiro is Israel’s leading developer and provider of innovative therapies and state-of-the-art services for children and adults across the entire range of disabilities impacting on over half a million people annually. Thanks to the organisers Sharon Yeheskel-Oron and Liron Ross.
27-28 November: Fintech INN Conference IN Vilnius
ILTH hub participated at Fintech Inn the largest and most significant international Fintech conference in the Baltic region. The event was organised jointly by Lithuania’s Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Lithuanian Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economy and Innovation, the Bank of Lithuania, as well as Invest Lithuania.
Several Israeli companies have “opened shop” now in Lithuania and are very active.
7 November: Meeting with Ambassador of Slovenia, Andreja Purkart Martinez
We were delighted to host the Ambassador of Slovenia, Andreja Purkart Martinez, whom wished to learn about our Technology Hub model. The meeting took place at our office within the Innonation Powerhouse.
5 November: meeting with Ambassador of Lithuania, H.E. Lina Antanaviciene and the Commercial Attache, Raimondas Martinavicius
It was a pleasure co-hosting today together with Innonation, the Ambassador of Lithuania, H.E. Lina Antanaviciene and the Commercial Attache, Raimondas Martinavicius. New and exciting tech related ventures and investment opportunities in Lithuania were discussed.
1 November: Celebrating Lithuanian day in Israel
20 September: DLD Tel Aviv 2019
The Lithuanian team at DLD Tel Aviv
13 September:
We were delighted to celebrate the credence presentation with Ambassador of Lithuania H.E. Lina Antanaviciene.
30 July: Farewell Ambassador of Lithuania Edminas Bagdonas
Farewell Ambassador Bagdonas, thank you for the support extended to the Chamber these past 5 years and good luck for the future!
15 May: Israel Lithuania Chamber of Commerce reception
Several moments from today’s Israel Lithuania Chamber of Commerce reception hosted by Schneider Children's Medical Center in Israel.
It was a good opportunity to present the Schneider Children's Medical Center and the past and new planned activities of the Chamber and ILTH.
Guests of honour: H.E. Edminas Bagdonas, Ambassador of Lithuania in Israel Prof. Joseph Press, MD, Director, Schneider Children’s Medical Center Adv. Len Judes, Chairman.
And Finally…
We came with a mission - to strengthen the connection, deepen the relations between Israel and Lithuania and work for better future together.
We would like to thank our sponsors for supporting our activity Teva Baltics, Inova Baltics and Klaipeda Free Economic Zone.
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The Israel Lithuania Technology Hub (ILTH)
The Innonation Powerhouse
30 Habarzel St.
Tel Aviv, Israel
Tel: +972-3-517-5481
Email: info@ilth.org
