The Telegraph: Israël la nation start-up rivalise avec Silicon Valley

"Israël, en dépit d'être le 100e pays le plus petit dans le monde et qui pourrait en vertu sa petite superficie s'intégrer 459 fois en Europe, a après l'Amérique le plus grand nombre de sociétés cotées sur le NASDAQ. Israël compte également en dehors des États-Unis le plus grand nombre de start-ups high-tech, qu'on estime à 3.500, allant de sociétés Internet à de solutions logicielles."

En 64 ans, Israël est devenu incontournable.  Au point qu'il est impossible de le boycotter - au grand dam des boycotteurs et des boycotteuses...  

Voir également: Quand les blogueurs français découvrent la Silicon Valley israélienne 

Source: The Telegraph (Israel: The start up nation taking on Silicon Valley, par Emma Barnett, photo)

Israel's strong technology start up scene has correctly earned the tiny state its growing reputation as the world’s second Silicon Valley, finds Emma Barnett.

Israel, despite being the 100th smallest country in the world, which can fit into Europe 459 times, has the highest number of companies listed on the NASDAQ after America. It also has highest number of high-tech start ups, estimated to be 3,500, ranging from internet companies to software solutions, outside of the US.

Last week I went on a tour of the country’s technology scene, ahead of the imminent International Broadcasting Convention (IBC), one of the largest global tradeshows for innovations in TV, at which more than 30 Israeli companies will be showcasing their latest solutions (the largest ever delegation from the country).

Snaptu, a mobile application platform (acquired earlier this year by Facebook for between $60-70m) and ICQ, the first internet instant messaging service (bought by AOL in 1998 for approximately $400m) are a couple of the high profile Israeli start ups to have been snapped up by major web players since the dawn of the world wide web. Additionally I was surprised to learn many technology companies, including Google, Microsoft and Intel, choose to have their major research and development (R and D) centres inside this small state.

Despite only being 64 years old, and constantly in a state of political turmoil, Israel is fast becoming known in technology circles, as the world’s second Silicon Valley and as a ‘start up nation’ – now also the title of a successful book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer, charting the country’s successful and often unknown tech story.

This prowess in technology has resulted in leaders and high profile figures from around the world to make regular visits to the small embattled state to see the start up nation in action. Earlier this month for instance, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Michael Bear, flew into Israel in order to promote the UK’s capital as the best place for Israeli’s to list their companies and to find out about opportunities for UK based fund managers to invest in Israeli technology businesses.

Seeing the start up nation in action, so soon after returning from Palo Alto – the home of the original Silicon Valley, I was impressed by the same high levels of innovation, concentrated into one small area and a similar set of cash rich and investment-hungry venture capital firms waiting on the sidelines for the next golden egg.

Company after company presented to us, a small band of international journalists, many showing a different solution to a problem people often don’t yet know they need solving.

Stand out technology companies included: Waze – a mobile navigation app updated in real-time, Playcast – an on demand gaming service delivered via TVs without a games console, and JustAd TV, an advertising service which allows adverts to be dropped into time-shifted viewing.

Interestingly the military service experience, compulsory for all Israelis, is considered to be one of the main factors why the country has a strong technology start up scene.

“The culture and engineering training the military gives everyone, fosters a culture of people feeling like they can achieve something great on their own, putting to use the skills and discipline they learned in the Israeli army,” one Israeli technology entrepreneur tells me.

However, where the Israeli ‘Silicon Valley’ differs to the original Californian version, is in the amount of consumer technology products being created.

I saw a lot of middleware and chip companies while on my tech tour, which definitely all fell into the business to business category.

According to Yonatan Sela, vice president of marketing of Tvinci, a pay TV on-demand platform, because of Israel’s small size, (7.7 million) and it’s rather unique inability to do business with its direct neighbours for political reasons, it’s difficult to grow a consumer technology business in Israel.

“Building a consumer brand is much harder to do outside of a big market like the US. It’s definitely very difficult to do in Israel as the population is so small that growing and scaling a consumer brand is tough. Plus we can’t rely upon the brand then to catch on with our immediate neighbours. This is why business to business solutions we can provide via technology and then sell aboard, is more commonplace."

However, Gilad Japhet, the founder and chief executive of MyHeritage, a popular social networking site for families and is a rare example of an Israeli consumer web company, thinks the focus on technology solutions for businesses is indicative of the country’s culture and expertise.

“Israelis are incredibly good at problem solving. They are trained to never accept barriers and always try and solve an issue – no matter how difficult it is. This makes Israel very strong in technology. However, Israelis are typically not good when it comes to finesse and creating slick user interfaces for the normal consumer. This leaves a shortage of business to consumer start ups in Israel as people here usually like to solve digital issues for businesses but not the consumer…I think Israelis are drawn more to algorithms and the back end stuff.”

There is also a trend happening across the country's technology start ups which is helping to create a more stable and dependable business sector. Entrepreneurs are slowly moving away from the ‘fast exit’ which Israeli founders of technology companies had become known for. Increasingly these technology businesses are being built for the long term, hoping to ape and eventually rival the giants of Silicon Valley.