START UP INDIA 2016 : Annual Meet of Entrepreneurs and Innovators by ASSOCHAM
Speech By Ambassador Daniel Carmon
Distinguished guests,
Dear Friends, Colleagues, Ladies & Gentlemen,
I am honored to address you today and appreciate the invitation to be part of “START UP INDIA 2016: Annual Meet of Entrepreneurs and Innovators”, by ASSOCHAM.
Let me start by congratulating the Government of India for it newly announced Action Plan 'Startup India, Standup India' and express Israel’s enthusiasm in the face of this important endeavour.
Startups and innovation have become popular buzz words in the global village that we share. Yet, I am not sure these words carry the same meaning everywhere. The definitions vary. Interpretation is a question of time and location. But I do believe there are a few attributes of startups we can all agree on: Their ability to grow. The potential they withhold. Startups are designed to scale very quickly, with focus on growth unconstrained by geography. And most of all it requires unique kind of thinking and spirit. It needs creativity.
Startups can grow almost anywhere. But in order to really cultivate them, an ecosystem has to be in place. The latest initiative announced by PM Modi on Saturday is doing exactly that. It provides the needed conditions to evolve and develop. Israel applauds this initiative and would be happy to share its experience in developing suitable ecosystems, comprehensive mechanisms that will encourage unique and sustainable economic growth in India.
Israel has been described by many as the Start Up Nation. A book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer was published with this exact title in 2009. It tries to pinpoint the characteristics that have made Israel an international success story when it comes to innovation.
There are many ingredients and factors to this success, but I would like to elaborate on one of them: the “Israeli Way”, the ability to dream. For it takes dreamers to bring an ancient nation back to its historic homeland; For it takes dreamers to believe that an arid land can become a leader in agriculture; for it takes dreamers to dare to dream and to live the dream.
Ladies & Gentlemen, in Israel there are over 5000 start-ups and still growing. Israel holds the highest number of startups per capita and has a strong viable venture capital industry. It enjoys as the highest rate of Governmental investment in R&D (almost 4% of GDP). It has developed a unique alliance between Society, Government, Industry, Academia, Technology Transfer Companies, Innovators, Inventors, Private Sector, Human Capital and Venture Capital. The start up ecosystem is ready to take risks, to accept failure, to be curious, to argue, to challenge.
Start up and innovation are also closely related to finding out the next “big thing”. Israel is considered to be a leader in two growing fields: IoT – the Internet of Things – and cyber. Two fields with an enormous growth potential mainly because these two interdisciplinary fields will affect almost anything we do in the future.
In cyber, there are over 300 cyber companies in Israel including a dedicated cyber-park - Cyberspark, located in Beer Sheva, Israel’s Cyber Capital. It is designed to materialize the potential and create a unique cyber ecosystem that includes also amongst others, an increasing number of multinational companies and of course - startups. Israel will also soon open the world’s first aviation cyber innovation center in Tel Aviv University that will highlight innovative technologies and solutions.
In the developing field of IoT, a recent report predicts that Israeli companies will take a leading role in building the IoT bridge between the digital and physical worlds, to transform everyday lives and markets. Even at this early stage, IoT is starting to have a real impact by changing how goods are produced and distributed, how products are serviced and refined, how doctors and patients manage health and wellness and even how we will use fully automated driverless cars. Having startups in this field is a long term investment, but one that will certainly bear its fruits.
Startups are an engine of growth. They have the potential to create jobs for a growing number of people and open the door for new segments of economic activity. Let me mention in this context the growing e-commerce industry in India that has evolved very rapidly, creating giants like Snapdeal, Flipkart and others, making shopping for many of us easier and more accessible.
Ladies & Gentlemen, next week Israel and India will mark 24 years of full diplomatic relations, that have continuously grown and expanded to more avenues of cooperation, deepening & widening our cooperation in each and every field. Only two days ago, External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, concluded a successful visit to Israel. She was warmly received by the Israeli people and leadership, first and foremost by President Rivlin & Prime Minister Netanyahu. This visit, only three months after the historic visit by President Pranab Mukherjee to my country, is yet another solid proof for close relations, friendship and partnership.
With the announcement of the ‘Start Up India’ initiative, we have another opportunity to expand our cooperation. Accompanying the Minister in her visit, and as a first-hand witness, I can proudly share with you, that Research & Innovation were issues which topped the agenda of conversations between Minister Swaraj and her Israeli Hosts.
There are number of possibilities, for such innovative cooperation, Let me share with you a few ideas:
1. Israel’s experience in creating a thriving ecosystem for innovation can and should be shared. While not being a copy-paste model, there are some principals that can be used, shared and learned from, lessons learnt and best practices included.
2. We need to create more platforms for ideas and people from both counties to meet and interact. We need startups from both countries. Partnerships between Indians and Israelis in the field of innovation are already happening, not just within our two countries. It was Prime Minister Netanyahu who said that "Hindi and Hebrew are the main languages of the Silicon valley, (although) you sometimes also hear English". He repeated this a day before yesterday. Beyond that, we can create together a second or third Silicon valley either in India or Israel, to develop a start up product which could benefit our countries, our companies, but others across the world, too.
3. Such collaboration can also increase market access for the respective partners to major leading markets in North America, Europe and Asian markets.
4. Academic connections between Israel and India are still far from reaching their full potential. Leading technological institutions are regularly setting the tone for harnessing innovation. By strengthening the academic and education connections, specifically in innovation cyber and technology, we will provide better tools to develop ideas and aspirations.
India and Israel are partners. We share values, challenges and interests. India and Israel, two ancient people, proud of their respective traditions, but hungry, eager to grasp the future. We should be doing it together. The desire to work together is huge and I believe after the launching of the PM initiative of “Start Up India, Stand Up India” following the Minister’s visit, and awaiting many more, that we will see even more collaboration between Delhi and Jerusalem, Mumbai and Tel Aviv, Bangalore and Beer Sheva.
To sum up, Ladies & Gentlemen, Israel, the Start Up Nation, welcomes “Start Up India, Stand Up India”.
Thank you.