Archive for 'Israel'
Israeli Women in Tech
At Israel’s Marker conference this week, I was pleasantly surprised how many women were in attendance. Some women I spoke to complained that they make up a very small percentage, maybe 10%, but my sense was that it was much higher.
Compared to technology conferences in the states, Israeli women seem to be leading the way. Even if they’re not all CEOs or VCs, they showed up. As for the male/female speaker ratio, its pretty small and probably comparable to the U.S.
I chatted with several women, but not enough to get a sense of what the breakdown was between clerical, large corporate management and entrepreneurs. I did talk to a number of content producers, graphic designers, marketing execs and journalists however and all of them were interesting, driven, well traveled and spoke English fluently. Many have lived abroad.
The other thing I noticed was the strong presence of feminine energy – from clothing, shoes, make-up and bags to their walk, hair styles and smile. It was all there – purses rather than logoed backpacks, vibrantly designed cell phone holders, European barrettes, wild boots and multi-colored glasses.
Below is a fair representation of the female faces of technology in the greater Tel Aviv area. I probably took another 200 or so shots, so you tell me where there is a higher number of women in technology?
Fashion blogger Daria Shualy
Maayan Cohen, New Media Reporter at the Marker
Hagit Katzenelson
Maayan Cohen, New Media Reporter at the Marker
From Old City Inspiration to New Ventures: A day in Jerusalem
The last 24 hours have been somewhat strange for me. There’s been a sizable amount of meshugass on this trip – misfired communications, sardine-like conditions of our “bus” (which was actually a late model Ford van that the Israeli Consulate very graciously replaced today with a proper tour bus… YAY!), and the TG gang consensus that our goals for the trip and the itinerary were a bit off kilter.
Fellow TravelingGeek, Sarah Lacy, wrote a bit about our rebellion on Monday – an act that set into motion quite a few interesting activities and experiences.
As a result I have several half-finished posts sitting in my draft folder that I’ve just not been able to complete. (Confession: I’m a relatively newly minted blogger in terms of style. My writing has always tended to be a bit more in-depth analytical second day story type of stuff, so this whole rapid-fire writing thing is a new challenge).
In any case, that mini-backlog of items is going to have to wait a bit longer because after today’s adventures I’m focused on something deeply important to me.
Faith.
More specifically the way in which faith inspires.
It’s funny to think that on my first trip to Jerusalem in the summer of 1995, I found myself nearly paralyzed at my first approach to the Western Wall.. While I’ve only returned to the spot twice since that time, I’ve had exactly the opposite experience on each return. English to Armenian . Rather than feeling repelled by the energy that comes off of this majestic edifice, it’s as though a tractor beam grabs me, pulling me in.
But I’m getting ahead of myself… the story begins when we began the most enjoyable forced march you can imagine.
Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre
It has been more than two decades since I last walked through Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre (black and white shot is of the church in 1885).
A deeply spiritual and moving place, a Greek orthodox woman prayed to my left, a Polish catholic priest led a group to my right and every religious variation in between stood among me. Within its walls, you can either pray or quietly reflect with every other walk of life from around the world and be at peace.
I took a few short video clips while inside which are captured below. Click play.
As I took these earlier today, they were streaming live on Flixwagon.com, a real-time video solution by an Israeli start-up. More on them later.
A Chat with JVP's Erel Margalit
JVP’s Managing Director Erel Margalit talks to our blogging group this week about start-ups and innovation in Israel.
Their Jerusalem outskirts office is not unlike a Silicon Valley-based VC office except that the printers and fax machines might be a tad older and like every other Israeli company kitchen, they’re well stocked with Nescafe instant coffee. The latter is an integral part of the culture here in the same way it was 20′ish years ago.
We learn about their DreamWorks-like initiative Animation Lab, which extends beyond a typical technology play. “The line is blurred between where technology ends and content begins,” noted Margalit. As the former head of MSN Israel, he has a background and perspective on digital rich content.
Erel and his team ‘get’ social media. We were introduced to three stealth mode companies and saw ‘on-screen’ demos. I can’t talk about them just yet, except to say that they’re dabbling in virtual worlds, interactive games, social networks and online video.
When asked about entrepreneurship and why there’s so much innovation coming out of Israel, Erel says, “Israelis don’t think about what they can lose but about what they can gain. Unlike Europe, they don’t have a plate on their door in a town where their family and history was rooted for 1,000 years. Israel is new and full of immigrants from all over the world. So its much easier for us to take risks.”
JVP is currently the king VC in Israel, having launched between 20 and 40 companies, with most of their exits in the communications and media space. “We’re on our 5th fund,” he added. English to Armenian “The key is to make a few home runs in each fund.”
We got the impression that they’re on track and that the climate was ripe with opportunities. Eran continued to rave about the opportunities that Israel has over Europe and the states…..and why. “Silicon Valley is very engineering driven versus the rest of the world. Not having that as a major driving force gives us an opportunity.”
He sees other opportunities in Asia where they’re developing a lot of interactive content. During his last trip to China, he observed that 500,000 were playing online warfare games. In LA, it was all about broadcasting entertainment. In Europe, mobile continues to take a leadership role.
I captured the tail end of his interview on video – see below (also uploaded to Flixwagon.com). Click play to tune in.
Jerusalem Venture Partners
We met with JVP who work with Israel’s Chief Scientist and receives substantial government backing for promising entrepreneurs. We heard presentations by several “under the radar screen” start-ups that are about to release their products. We can not give details, but several involve animation and use of Avatars that are very intriguing (Second Life?Watch out!)
One very interesting soon to be released startup involves self-enrichment with good content provided by knowledgeable people for those who seek beyond Google searches. As I heard this young Israeli woman, who has a philosophy and psychology educational background present, I thought about this as the fulfillment of Doug Engelbart’s hope for the use of technology (Doug invented the keyboard and mouse among other innovations in the hope people would use these tools to solve human problems). peta dunia satelit . Hope this venture succeeds as it would help provide more access to useful information for everyone.
Two of the venture partners, Erel Margalit and Uri Adoni, provided an overview of Israeli start-ups and the role of JVP in development. These are as bright VC’s as you can find anywhere. Amazing Israel can play as large a role in tech innovation as it does. How such a small country can provide such large successes is the wonder of the world. Erel and Uri are certainly part of the answer.
if you’re wondering…
…why all the blogs all the sudden, there are two reasons.
1. we got a new bus. THANK YOU ISRAELI GOV’T! we are not actually sitting on top of one another in sweltering heat. (although craig is still sitting in scoble’s lap….we’re not quite sure why*) most of us are just clacking away happily on keyboards.
[* may not be true. may be just inserted to see if valleywag has discovered my blog]
2. we are going to Jerusalem today!
i think that’s pretty much a dream for anyone of muslim, christian or
jewish faith whether they consciously realize it or not. i can’t wait
to see what affect it’ll have on me. in silicon valley, you almost
never hear anyone talking about religion. it really might be the only
taboo subject. it’s such a macho-intellectual culture and i think for
many entrepreneurs and techies admitting a belief in a higher mystical
power is almost a sign of weakness, naivety or even stupidity. (don’t
yell at me, i’m just telling you what i hear)
i’m not sure if i’ve made it a point not to talk about religion myself or i’ve just never been asked. either way it’s fair to say i don’t wear it on my sleeve, wave it like a banner or whatever other cliche you want to use. we’ll see if today changes that. true test: if i BLOG about it.
sarah the hero!
me rescuing scoble’s camera. believe it or not, he left it at the restaurant! it’s a facebook photo so hopefully the link works… Brasov . peta dunia satelit
Solel on Solar Energy
I know very little about solar energy, partly because I have my head buried in Internet stuff and partly because I live in a country that doesn’t understand the urgency of alternative energy solutions. So, while the Googles of the world and wealthy visionaries pay attention to this issue, its not a topic of discussion in small towns throughout America.
We remain a wasteful country and have never been hit hard by rations, whether its energy, gas or water in the same way others have experienced around the world. Prices go up but we continue to overuse our natural resources.
Living in South Africa in the 80s, two and sometimes three children would use the same bath water, and then we’d use the same water to feed our gardens. People were always conscious about electricity since they had so many power outages and it was expensive.
Spain is doing the right thing by investing in solar infrastructure. It’s not rocket science. Solar thermal power is inherently local, is a free and secure resource, is widely available and its highly predictable. Most people understand that solar essentially uses reflectors to concentrate the sun’s energy and create heat.
After these tubes cool down however, its tricky to keep things warm for long, even though you can store some of this heat using molt and salt, which takes the heat from the oil and then stores it for 5-6 hours so it can be usable in the evening.
Let’s look at the facts and what our options are. Coal is expensive. Once you pay off the loans from solar, its free. Those who think about the long term picture and benefits that can be derived will win in the end.
I went to Solel’s plant today, a world leader in the development and implementation of solar thermal technology in northern Israel. Solel’s technology converts sunshine into useful thermal energy and subsequently into electricity by way of parabolic mirrors that concentrate solar energy onto solar thermal receivers containing a heat transfer fluid.
The heat transfer fluid is circulated and heated through receivers, which is then released to a series of heat exchangers to generate super-heated steam. From the moment the sun rises until it dips over the horizon, all of its rays are captured and converted into usable energy. Solel is doing remarkable things and attempting to change the way we think about energy.
ethnic profiling also hits home…
yesterday i found the most rad present EVER for my super hip husband geoff. (who it feels like i haven’t seen for MONTHS) it was a black t-shirt with this rad panther jumping from behind hebrew letters that said “black panthers.” the shop keepers refused to let me buy it because i was american. in fact, it was worse than that. they all fled the store and went upstairs and just yelled at me from up there. after making me wait 15 minutes. it was the most passive aggressive ethnocentrism i’ve ever seen. peta dunia satelit WTF? i thought we were allies?
everyone seems to be *aghast* saying things like this “never” happen in super progressive, hip tel aviv. guess there are just jerks everywhere.
religious freedom hits home…
i feel horrendous again today. turns out walking around in the heat for 12 hours then capping off the evening with champagne and immense laughter isn’t a great cure for the flu, or whatever plague this is. ALL i wanted was a bagel this morning. an american christian girl like me wouldn’t have expected that’d be impossible in israel. peta dunia satelit English to Armenian . apparently, at passover time it is. looking back on the time in elementary school i thought it was “awesome” that my jewish friends got to eat matzah with whole new eyes….
