The Israel Conference: The Latest and Greatest in Technology Innovations

What Are The Biggest Technology Innovations Coming Out of Israel?

Pictured (from left to right) Sharona Justman, Co-Founder of The Israel Conference, Frank Melloul CEO of i24 News, and Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist from the Los Angeles Times, Michael Hiltzik after a session discussing international news and i24 News impact on Israel.

If you’re into technology and you were looking for the latest and greatest in tech innovations The Israel Conference would be a great starting place!

The 7th annual technology and venture capital 2-day conference held at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California highlights Israeli facing start-ups on the cusp of the technological innovation. The conference was held on October 21-22 with the best weather you could have in L.A. for a conference.

One of the primary objectives of the conference is to showcase the successes of global firms as well as their partnerships with Israeli based technology start-ups. Israel is almost second to none in the amount of start-up firms that come out of Israel as well as the speed at which they innovate and churn our products and services that are truly world changing.

This weekend they will showcase and feature over 90 companies that are somewhere in the startup phase or already launched. There are multiple discussion sessions where CEO’s will present and showcase their concepts and products. We also saw a lot of (proof of concepts) that were absolutely amazing! These are typically ideas that someone has tested as being viable and ready to go to market.

One company that really amazed us this year was ReWalk. They are a wearable robotics company that has developed an exoskeleton that allows disable and paraplegic individuals walk with assistance from the device. It’s an electronic device that powers an individual through their own walking steps. Loren Wass is the President and he gave an excellent presentation on the company and the technology.

Israel, in 2015, has had IPO entries and exits of $5.9 Billion. In the first quarter of 2015 alone Israeli start-ups raised over $1Billion in venture capital. An organization called 8200 EISP, which is a technology incubator that helps develop first time tech entrepreneurs from start-up to launch has been responsible for graduating over 95 different startup companies. Of those 75 are still active in the marketplace. 8200 takes no equity from their startups and sends them through a 6-month program where they receive over 500 hours of mentoring and content. They screen over 400 companies a year but they only take 20 of those companies into the program. 8200 has been responsible for raising over $250 million in funds for companies that go through their program and they aren’t showing signs of slowing down anytime soon. 

(From left) Todd Schweich, Founder of Game Changers and Marketing Director for The Israel Conference, Ori Eisen, CEO and founder of 41st parameter, which is a fraud consulting company, and myself.

I also had an opportunity to meet and speak with Ori Eisen who is an Information Technology fraud and consulting expert. He founded a company called 41st parameter where he helps companies mitigate digital fraud. Given his background and his recent tenure at American Express as the Global Director of Worldwide Fraud, its not surprising to know that he is brewing a new technological innovation that could change the fraud detection landscape forever.

I was honored to have been in the presence of so many high-powered technology executives and CEO’s this week at The Israel Conference as the presentations and panels have been extremely valuable.

I would highly recommend attendance if you have a business idea that you are looking to get funding for, or if you want to make some very good connections with CEO’s and executives in industries ranging from tech to film to music.