Silicon Wady Meets Fulda

06.12.2017
Foto: privat

Dr. Brian Polin of the Jerusalem College of Technology visited Prof. Dr. Stephan Golla’s management class. Brian spoke about the factors that drive Israel to be an entrepreneurial nation. These factors begin with needs, particularly defense, agriculture and water technologies.

These needs can only be met if the scientific and engineering know-how exists.  He went on to present figures on Israel's high investment in R&D, as a percentage of its GDP.  In this category, Israel is second in the world, following South Korea.

This was followed by a discussion on Israel's world venture capital investment, the financial backing that enables the commercialization of the science derrived from the R&D

According to Dr. Polin the final component in the making of Israel an entrepreneurial nation is the entrepreneurial spirit that drives many of the country's university graduates.  This he said, stems in part from the willingness to challenge status quo and the social acceptance of failure.

Even success presents challenges.  Two of the challenges confronting Israel in the wake of its entrepreneurial success have been equitable distribution of the wealth the innovation has created and the need to maintain the high level of innovation required to sustain the country's economic model.

Dr. Polin concluded his lecture by speaking about German-Israel collaboration on innovation in both the public and private sectors. He spoke of the acquisition of an Israel cybersecurity firm by Continental AG and the establishment of Hessian Israeli Partnership Accelerator for Cybersecurity (HIPA).

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