Israeli Technology

Israel is known around the world as a high-tech powerhouse. Intel, AOL, HP, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Motorola are just a few of the international corporations that are investing in Israel, acquiring start-ups or tapping into our pool of highly trained engineers and technicians for research and new product development.

What makes Israel the go-to country for high technology?

It starts with "brainpower": Israel is known for its outstanding human resources with 135 scientists, engineers, doctors and technicians per 100,000 workers - more than any other developed nation. Israel offers one of the world's most highly educated populations. Add to that the superb high-tech training that young Israeli's receive in the Israel Defense Forces and in world-class universities, an entrepreneurial spirit, the ability to think "out of the box", a highly developed venture capital industry, and government support for early-stage start-ups. Combine them all together and you have all of the ingredients needed for high-tech innovation.

It is no surprise that Israel is considered to be number two in the world in the availability of venture capital. In fact, Israel's VCs have raised more money than any of their European counterparts. In addition, Israel was ranked as the third largest state in venture capital raised, after California and Massachusetts.  

Israel’s successful track record of market-creating, profit-driving innovations includes:

• Intel’s high speed Centrino chip was developed in Israel.
• M-Systems was the first to offer Disk-on-Key and Disk-on-Chip flash memory products, changing the way people store and handle information.
• The Philips Brilliance CT Scanner, developed in Israel, takes a comprehensive picture of a patient in seconds, instead of minutes, in the emergency room where every second counts.
• IP Telephony was invented by the two Israelis who founded VocalTec.
• ZIP compression technology was developed by two professors at the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology.
• Given Imaging developed the first ingestible video camera to view the small intestine from the inside to help doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.
• ICQ, the technology for the AOL Instant Messenger, was developed in 1996 by four young Israelis from Mirabilis.
• Comverse invented voice-mail.
• Revolutionizing present day agriculture techniques, Netafim developed modern drip-irrigation technology and Israeli companies continue to lead this field with innovative breakthroughs.

2008 Deals of the Year: U.S. Acquisitions of Israeli Companies

HP                                                      NUR Macroprinters, $117.5

Yahoo! FoxyTunes                             undisclosed amount  

PayPal (eBay subsidiary)                   Fraud Sciences Corp. $169 million  

IBM                                                    XIV, undisclosed amount

Rocket Software                                NetManage Inc., $69 million

2007 Deals of the Year: U.S. Acquisitions of Israeli Companies

AOL                                                   Quigo, $350 million and Yedda, undisclosed amount

Motorola                                            Terayon, $140 million

HP                                                     NUR Macroprinters, $117.5 million

Nielsen                                              BuzzMetricas, $100 million

Websense                                         PortAuthority Technologies, $90 million

Polycom                                            Destiny Conferencing, $47.6 million

Nextwave                                          Go-Networks, $46.5 million

Broadcom                                          Octalica, $35 million

Optium                                               Kailights, $35 million

Reuters                                              ClearForest, $30 million

Tessera                                              Eyesquad, $24 million

GlassHouse Technologies                  MBI Advanced Computer Systems Integrity Systems, $22m

Candela Corp.                                    Inolase Ltd., $16.5 million

Boston Scientific                                Remon Medical Technologies, undisclosed

IBM                                                    Watchfire Corporation, undisclosed

Microsoft                                            Secured Dimensions, undisclosed