On Tuesday, April 6, WTIA and The Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest hosted a first-of-its-kind virtual event. The Israel-WA Virtual Tech Summit for Business Opportunities united 40 people from the tech, healthcare and local business communities to explore new opportunities for partnerships between the two ecosystems and highlight frameworks for collaboration. The event also featured a presentation from the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD), an organization that provides capital for joint industrial research and development between American and Israeli companies.

“We are proud of the significant presence and the mutual contribution of Washington state based companies in the Israeli innovative ecosystem. This event aimed to explore the next level of technological cooperation between Washington state and Israel companies in new innovative areas.” says Consul General Kofman. Despite being more than 6,700 miles apart, Washington State and Israel share much in common. Both are home to tech ecosystems that have long been the epicenter of cutting-edge innovation, with a large number of growing startups and established companies working to challenge the status quo across every aspect of our lives. The event aimed to tap into this collective mindshare from both countries, and specifically dive deep on potential new innovations across the healthcare and blockchain industries within small breakout groups.

During the healthcare breakout, participants emphasized a willingness to foster more integration between both countries. The parties recognized, however, that there are multiple hurdles that must be overcome, including balancing an understanding of nuances in the US market, optimizing infrastructure to share best practices, and basic communication differences.

Tomer Lark,CEO at Serenno Medical, spoke on behalf of Israeli startups sharing that the inability to travel to the US as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a clear impact on his ability to connect with US businesses.

“We have seen less success signing hospitals through the digital format,” said Lark. “Physicians have been so busy fighting COVID-19 and purchase departments are not keen on starting relationships with international vendors via the remote meetings. Leveraging market insights and networking support from WTIA and Washington State would greatly improve our ability to connect with US-based companies.”

For the blockchain industry, resource sharing is beneficial, too. Participants agreed that what’s often missing from blockchain work is understanding the theory and the “why.” The education piece is crucial according to participants, as blockchain technology has so much promise, but will only become widely adopted if education on its usage is prioritized. Beyond the more common applications in artificial intelligence and machine learning, blockchain technology can also support sustainability and social impact campaigns such as COVID-19 vaccine distribution and voting.

This roundtable was only the beginning when it comes to collaboration. To join the conversation and share your ideas, please reach out to Nick Ellingson, WTIA’s Startup Ambassador & Director of Products: nick@washingtontechnology.org.