Israeli innovation is heading to a city near you (in this case, Los Angeles). Not to be missed upcoming Israel conference let''s you meet some of the most interesting leaders of Israeli''s start up nation.
Guest post by By Alan Weinkrantz
Whenever I try to explain to people what makes Israel a special and wonderful place to discover innovation and technology, one of the arguments that I make is that because of its size and because it’s easy to go from city to city to do basic discovery work and connect on a human level. There’s lots of innovation everywhere. While Israel is certainly in a class of its own, I believe it’s this combination of efficient geography, condensed intelligence in a variety of disciplines, and a very unique culture that brings together a mishmash of Israelis and others fromaround the world who choose to call this place home.
Aside from traditional technology that Israel is known for, I had a chance to see another element of Israel at its best during SXSW 2012 in Austin. There, I saw 30 Israeli companies cross pollinating technology with an art form of music, film, games and all types of interactive platforms to create and share.
Fast forward a bit from SXSW and move to LA, where this coming Thursday and Friday, Sharona Justman and Yossi Vardi will be co-hosting The Israel Conference ™ While billed as a ‘conference,” it’s more of a rapid fire sequence of speed dating, schmoozing, great food and tons of fun, some surprise entertainment, with a combination of the best of Israel’s arts and sciences coming to life.
Yes, this is billed as a business conference, but I see it as much more than that. When Sharona and Yossi take the stage, along with their sidekick, Jeff Pulver, they not only showcase great people and great companies from Israel, they are also mixing in speakers from companies like Cisco, Yahoo, Microsoft, Young & Rubican, EMC, Oracle, and Verizon who have strong ties to Israel’s technology economy.
Now, since this is LA, and all of you reading this article are certainly fabulous, you can’t leave out the entertainment industry in the mix of the Sharona / Yossi / Jeff show. There’s a panel called “Israel in Hollywood,” and one that should surprise and delight us all – a discussion on “Israel Reaching for the Moon” – literally, from Space IL.
In between the panels, and walking up and down the isles to visit the exhibitors, you’ll be able to relish in Max Brenner chocolate, or sip on Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf drinks, and try all sorts of carbonated beverages from Israel-born, Soda Stream. I know there’s tons of conferences and events, but if you can make it Los Angeles, you might discover something new, something innovative, and certainly a reflection of how Israel is transforming before our very own eyes.
Last Sunday, on CBS News’ 60 Minutes, there was a terrific segment on what made Tel Aviv (and for that matter Israel) so unique. I won’t give you the answer here, but if you fast forward to 5:20 in this video, you’ll learn the answer when Yossi Vardi shares his insights. You can also meet Yossi and a few hundred other like-minded people on Thursday and Friday at The Israel Conference™ in Los Angeles.
Alan Weinkrantz is a Technology Public Relations Advisor to U.S. and Israeli Companies.