Fifteen Israeli start-up companies briefed some 200 UK-based corporations, investors, and family businesses on their technologies at an event in London held by the chamber of commerce UK Israel Business (UKIB), The Times of Israel reported Thursday.
A vast variety of sectors were represented by companies which research in the areas of artificial intelligence and vision devices, as well as technology for patients with dyslexia. The companies also work with drones, big data, cybersecurity, marketing technologies, and nano-satellites.
“Israel is the Silicon Valley for the rest of the world. The scale-up company founders we are showcasing have followed uncharted paths, building huge companies out of nothing,” Hugo Bieber, chief executive of UKIB, said in a statement. Israeli innovation is becoming “ever more important” to the UK, he said.
The reaction to the Israeli companies “has been fantastic,” Bieber added after the event. Attendees were “inspired” and ready to “further explore investing in and partnering with Israeli high-tech companies,” he observed.
The audience was addressed by Ziv Aviram, the co-founder of Mobileye — a maker of technologies for self-driving cars that was acquired last year by Intel Corp for $15.3 billion. Aviram is also the co-founder of Orcam, a start-up that has developed devices to assist the blind and visually impaired by using smart algorithms and a camera.
Orcam MyEye 2.0 is the only wearable artificial vision technology that is activated by an intuitive pointing gesture or simply by following the wearer’s gaze. Wireless, lightweight and compacted into the size of finger, the device can instantly read printed and digital text aloud.
Other start-ups at the event included NSLComm, a company which has developed a new generation of nano-satellites the size of a shoebox, and which was awarded NASA’s New Space Competition prize. Also present at Innovate Israel 2018 were Windward, a shipping analytics firm, and ThetaRay, a developer of financial crime solutions.
Barclays, Centrica and International Airlines Group (IAG) took part in a panel discussion exploring avenues to connect UK-based firms with Israeli companies to profit from their cutting-edge technology. As Britain is negotiating the final settlement for breaking with the European Union, the country is eager to develop new business relationships, among them Israel.
UK-based companies that attended the tech summit included: Barclays Plc; Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc; Microsoft; BT Group; London Stock Exchange; BP; JPMorgan; Deutsche Bank; Shell; Amazon; Google and Centrica, and investors like KKR.
[Photo: UK Israel Business / Facebook ]