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“ISRAEL INSIDE”
International Business Machines (IBM) was the first multinational company to establish its
main R&D center in Israel back in 1950. Even then, IBM noted Israel’s talent for engineering
and technical problem-solving, asking employees of their Israeli center to perfect the
technology of the card-punching machine, what was then one of their central products.
Later, another major computing company, Intel, saw the creation of the 8088 chip, the first
microprocessor that would allow for laptop computers, come out of Israel, only to be later
integrated into IBM personal computers. This discovery was so significant to Intel’s corporate
history that company VP and General Manager Gordon Grayish asserted, “Most solutions to
most Information Technology problems will come from Israel.” Following IBM and Intel’s lead,
Internet and computing giants like Google, Apple, and Microsoft have set up R&D centers in
Israel due to the sheer caliber of engineering talent available in the country, as well as the
constant hunger to innovate among company employees.
As Jon Medved, a serial Israeli entrepreneur and founder of the crowdfunding equity platform
in Israel “OurCrowd” likes to state, Intel and other international technology companies should
really be writing “Israel Inside” on their products.
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DR. ORNA BERRY
is a central figure in Israel’s innovation ecosystem. Her experience
in founding a successful computing company, Ornet Data Communication
Technologies in 1993, provided her with a wealth of experience to impart to
Israel’s newcomer entrepreneurs. During her tenure as Chief Scientist, the budget
for research and development was the highest in Israeli history, with programs
amounting to $450 million annually. She has also served as the chairwoman of the
Israel-USA Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD), an
organization that heavily contributes to Israeli startups and medical research, and
she serves as a Corporate VP in the leading high-tech company, EMC.