By Noam Zakai
The notion that Israel can become a dominant player in the clean tech sector is recently heard from various sources.
Israel has proven that size doesn’t matter - as it is apparent in the impact, size and success of its Internet and telecom industry. This success is derived from factors such as scientific infrastructure, innovative local market, and human network, all important for creation of an innovation system.
Does Israel has the same success factors in the Cleantech field?
I’ve compared the contributing factors to Israeli telecom success and similar factors in the cleantech industry in the table below. Though such a comparison is biased (in telecom we are analyzing something that already happened while the cleantech and its success factors are still in early stages), it can give some ideas on the the future of the cleantech industry:
Telecom |
Cleantech |
|
|
Theoretical background |
Universities and Technion |
Universities, Technion, Weizmann Institute |
|
Practical field experience |
Israeli military and defense industries serves as an incubator for practical experience Major success stories (Amdocs, Comverse) created a cluster in Tel Aviv area |
Lack of equivalent in the cleantech industry Major success stories such as Ormat |
|
Markets Intimacy |
Import knowledge by Israelis that spent years abroad Innovative internal market enabled companies to test and mature technologies and products Social Network |
Major challenge to overcome is focusing on technology solutions and neglecting marketing aspects |
|
Financing |
State backed VC’s (Yozma for example) paved the way for private VC’s |
Dedicated state backed funding ("Katamon" funding plan among others) Mature VC industry looking for new fields that can maintain high ROI |
Bridging the gaps will be a major challenge for the Israeli cleantech industry. However and there are some signs that this can be achieved:
- Israel’s #1 citizen, Shimon Peres, has made cleantech the mission of his term
- Political parties are reorganizing political agenda around the matter.
- Israeli VC community is searching for new growth engines and increasing its attention to this field.
- Shai Agassi, ex SAP senior executive is raising significant capital for electric transportation design and manufacturing center in Israel
- Dedicated incubators funded by private investors and the government are declaring cleantech as their primary focus
- The global need combined with legacy entrepreneurship signal bright future for the Israeli cleantech
However, the main challenge is to create a widespread legacy of delivering solutions to the marketplace.
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