Ambassador Modai's comments at the launch of the Ireland-Israel Business Network
Wednesday 20 June, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Boardroom, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Carysfort Avenue, Blackrock, Dublin
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,
I'm delighted to be here this evening to participate in the launch of the Ireland Israel Business Network.
In the recent book, Start-Up Nation, the story of Israel's economic miracle, the introductory chapter opens with the quote. "Nice speech, but what are you going to do?". The person posing this question was President Shimon Peres and the respondent was Shai Agassi, an executive at S.A.P, the largest enterprise software company in the world, and the founder of Better Place, a company now working with governments, businesses and energy companies to accelerate the transition to sustainable transportation for the masses. President Peres posed this question after hearing Agassi's proposal for reducing Israel's dependence on oil through the adoption of purely electric vehicles which would be supported by a network of charging stations and battery swap stations. The ultimate objective however, would be for other countries to adopt this model, thus, reducing global dependence on oil, benefitting the global environment and reducing economic energy shocks. The challenge was and remains enormous, but to date, Better Place is making progress in Australia, Japan, North America, Denmark, and of course, Israel.
While the story and progress of Better Place is a fascinating one, what I want to focus on here is President Peres’s question – Nice speech, but what are you going to do? – because this question epitomises the Israeli culture and business culture. Ideas, concepts, hypotheticals are all considered worthy endeavours, but to make them a reality one must take the initiative, embrace risks and ultimately commit oneself to action.
This willingness to think big and take risks is both a key ingredient of the Israeli business culture and a key factor in the development of Israel as an entrepreneurial hi-tech country.
From what I have seen since my arrival to Ireland almost two years ago, from simply reading Irish business news and meeting business people, is that despite the current economic challenges, Ireland is also seizing opportunities and taking the initiative in a number of sectors, such as cloud computing, cleantech and medical devices. All sectors which have excellent synergies with Israel and which are of high potential growth.
As two tiny nations on the global stage, Ireland and Israel have done exceptionally well at attracting and retaining foreign direct investment and developing their export sectors, but Israel and Ireland also share other characteristics, which offer a rationale for doing more together in the commercial, economic and academic spheres. For example, Ireland and Israel score remarkably well in a number of international indices, such as the World Economic Forum's Global competitiveness Index, the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business Index and more recently, the Cleantech Group and WWF’s - Global cleantech Innovation Index.
There is no doubt in my mind that our two countries can also learn much from each other, and this is evident in the number of delegations and official visits that have occurred, even in the last 2 years. Once such delegation involved the visit to Israel by representatives of seven Irish academic institutions, including University College Dublin, and was organised to explore the potential for developing bilateral research collaboration in specific or niche subjects.
Despite the lack of a direct flight connection between Israel and Ireland, I am frequently meeting Israeli business people both at the Embassy and elsewhere and this too reflects the transaction of business and an appetite for doing more together.
I would like to thank the Ireland Israel Business Network founders, Dr. Clyde Hutchinson and Yanky Fachler for inviting me to speak here this evening and I also want to commend them to taking the initiative to establish this forum and organise this event, which I really believe can and will do much to advance the links between our two countries, to their mutual benefit. I would also like to thank Professor Pat Gibbons, for hosting us here this evening and for his kind words.
I wish the Ireland Israel Business Network and its members much success.