2012 has been an action packed year, with senior inbound and outbound delegations by major water companies from the UK and Israel. In addition, we have seen great interest in Renewable Energy alternatives coming from Israel. The year has seen a particular interest in Israeli smart-grid and smart-solutions technologies as the UK is looking to reach its 2020 Renewable Energy targets. In addition, 2012 saw the launch of the Israel Alternative Fuels Initiative aimed at reducing world dependence on oil transportation.

 

In addition to supporting dozens of Israeli companies looking to penetrate the UK economy selling consumer goods, the Trade & Economic Office assisted on two major international trade events. February saw the fourth IsraWinExpo in Tel Aviv, promoting the massive expansion of the Israeli wine industry, promoting some of its world-class wineries to stakeholders across the industry. Later in the year in October, a major delegation of Israeli companies visited SIAL, one of Europe’s key food & drink events. Represented by twenty companies, the Israeli Pavilion saw household brands sit alongside relatively new food companies, selling innovative and predominantly ambient processed goods.

 

In 2012, the Trade and Economic Office in London witnessed an increasing interest for Israel’s life science innovations, specifically in highly advanced visualization technologies, non-invasive devices, and robotics. The breadth of the sophisticated technologies on offer has attracted a great deal of attention in the UK. Following a visit to Israel, the Chief Science Officer of one of the UK leading medical devices manufacturers said that “we were able to meet many companies and not one did not present a technology that was not of potential interest”.

 

Homeland security was a new area of focus for the team at the Trade and Economic Office in London. However, in less than a year we have already seen a great deal of interest from the UK security industry in both the public and private sectors, with a real focus on the latest smart and intelligent-detection technologies and systems. The highlight of the year saw a high-level delegation from the UK participate in the Second International Conference on Homeland Security in Tel Aviv.

 

Despite facing an increasingly challenging global economic environment, the Israeli high-tech industry has proven its resiliency and continues to serve as one of the world’s main sources for technology innovation.

Over the past few years, the “start-up nation” has solidified its position with the development of innovative technologies delivered by established vendors and a steady stream of start-up companies. An indication of Israel’s vital role in the global technology industry can be found in the increasing volume and value of acquisitions of local companies by international buyers recently, as well as in the rising level of foreign VC investments.

 

Furthermore, tech giants such as Apple and Facebook have recently joined the other global major technology vendors in acquiring local talent and establishing Israeli R&D activities.