The DeserTech and Climate Innovation Center is opening in Beersheba with an investment of NIS 15 million.
It will be one of nine new innovation centers across Israel identified by the government. This one will be built with the support of the Israel Innovation Authority and the Environmental Protection, Economy and Industry, Development of the Negev and Galilee, and the Agriculture and Rural Development and Regional Cooperation ministries.
The center – a partnership of the Merage Foundation Israel, the InNegev Incubator, the Israel Innovation Institute, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Group 19, Fusion Fund, and Netafim – will focus specifically on new climate startups aimed at helping to solve the climate change and desertification crises.
Innovation vs climate change
"Our goal is to change researchers into entrepreneurs that will develop the next climate startup," explained the center's COO, Sivan Cohen Shachari.
"The world is facing unprecedented climate change," Cohen Shachari continued. "The more we suffer, the more solutions will be needed. We are facing issues of water and food scarcity and the need for new kinds of energy. The Negev is the best site to develop these technologies, scale them up, and deliver them where they are most needed."
The center is a strategic extension of work in the Negev by the Merage Foundation Israel, explained foundation Executive Director Nicole Hod Stroh.
"We see the establishment of the center as a vehicle to catalyze the creation of additional jobs in the Negev and contribute to strengthening the communities after October 7," she said, noting that the center hopes to supply hundreds of high-paying jobs.
It's all desert
The center's activities will stretch throughout the Negev and the Arava, from Kiryat Gat to Eilat and Sderot to the Dead Sea. Together, the founding organizations will help support ventures, researchers, students, and entrepreneurs in developing breakthrough technologies and establishing new companies.
"The program includes comprehensive ideation activities, integration of technologies from the academy, work with leading industries and regional business partners, and acceleration and mentoring programs at the highest level in the world," a release on the center explained. "The center will also promote high-tech employment in the Negev, led by Group 19, which has extensive experience in attracting a wide array of companies and job creation in the Negev and the Galilee.
"The activity will connect candidates and employers for residents of the Negev who wish to integrate into the high-tech industry."
Room for improvement
The Negev has served as a hotbed for climate technology for the last several years, said Amir Tzach, vice president of Investments and Business Development for InNegev Incubator. However, he said that only 2% to 3% of Israeli high-tech still occurs in the region. He said that the center will help grow high-tech "from the bottom up," aiming to change the percentage.
Cohen Shachari said that only around 30-35 companies in the Negev can call themselves "desertech startups," which "is not a game changer in the ecosystem – the Negev or the country's ecosystem."
The center has a five-year plan with a goal of 120 initiatives coming out of it and hundreds more entrepreneurs participating in meetups and workshops.
October 7 led to a real crisis in the Negev, Cohen Shachari added. This center is also another way to help rehabilitate the area.
"In these challenging times, this initiative takes on additional meaning and will also contribute to the rehabilitation and promotion of quality employment for the communities affected by the recent events," said InNegev Incubator CEO Arnon Columbus.
Added incoming DeserTech and Climate Innovation Center CEO Dr. Judith Zilberstein: "I see it as a national mission in this challenging time."