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First Tech Tour planned for Israel |
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Nikcy Blackburn |
The European Tech Tour Association (ETT), a European non-profit organization, is to hold a unique hi-tech conference in Israel this November attended by 60 of the world's top businessmen, investors, and financial advisers.
The two-day Tech Tour, which takes place on November 10-12 in Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, aims to introduce businesspeople from around the world to about 25 of Israel's top technology start-ups to promote investment and business opportunities.
This is the first time a Tech Tour has been held in Israel, and is also the first time the organization has arranged a tour outside of Europe.
"If you invest in technology you simply cannot ignore Israel," said Sven Lingjaerde, the president and founder of ETT. "Israel is a small country with a tiny population and yet it has many significant hi-tech success stories, far more than many European countries with much larger populations."
Lingjaerde, a general partner of trans-Atlantic venture capital company, Vision Capital, set up the ETT in 1998. So far conferences have been held in Ireland, Holland, Scotland, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, among others.
The Israeli Tech Tour will be the 14th. "We run counter-cycle," says Lingjaerde. "In the past Israel was doing well by itself. The fact that Israel's economy is now depressed makes a Tech Tour more relevant. The country needs international investors more than ever before."
Delegates to the conferences are by invitation only, and the ETT ensures that their interests match those of the companies being showcased. In most countries the ETT selection committee picks from a pool of about 240 companies, but Lingjaerde said that he believes in Israel the choice will be from between 300 to 400 companies, mostly in the security, defense, networking, telecommunications, and storage sectors.
Unlike most conferences, the Tech Tour does not take place at one central location. Instead, delegates are taken to meet the companies, and see them operating in context. The goal of the tour is to provide delegates and entrepreneurs with the maximum opportunity to meet and mingle in formal and informal settings.
At the end of every Tech Tour a special surprise event is arranged. In past years delegates found themselves flying by private plane to go salmon fishing in Norway, crewing four old clipper boats in Holland, and car racing in Finland.
"These events help promote contact," says Lingjaerde. "People share ideas in a far more informal way than if they were sitting on the other side of a table. Often providing an idea or a contact in the industry is as important as providing money."
The cost of the conference is 3,000 to delegates. Entrepreneurs present their companies for free. The events are often sponsored by corporations, as the ETT is run mostly by volunteers.
The Israeli tour is being organized by investment banker, Ron Senator, the former head of JP Morgan in Israel. "The tour will raise awareness and spur interest," says Senator. "There is a misconception abroad that because of the geopolitical situation and the global economic slowdown, the pace of innovation in Israel has not kept up with past levels. We want to show that things are really humming here and that we can continue to look to Israel as a great source of new technology in the future."
If the tour is a success, Lingjaerde said others will follow in years to come |
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Jerusalem Post, 10.09.2003 |
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