Friday, January 20, 2012

Reflection

This has been an Amazing trip Academically and Culturally! We have visited amazing Companies! Meet and spoke with  high powered business  executives. We took tours of Companies that most Israelis will never experience.

Thank you Pace University, and Professor Bachenheimer for putting together a wonderful experience!

Day 7 Final Vists

We have arrived at Carmel VC Company in Jerusalem. We will be hearing a few presenters speak about startup Companies that they have been involved with.


In my personal opinion, one of the most interesting companies was presented today. It was a Marketing Company  that was bought by Something Click. The are an internet marketing company that displayed personalized banner advertisements on website that he Consumer browses through. It is very simple idea once it was explain clearly, but it was very complex system to create! This company more or less invented internets banner advertisements.  I am very interested in Marketing, and am actually started my own company. This presenter definitely gave me a lot of useful information to chew over. 


Tel Aviv University is our second and final stop. Ailya has brought a presenter to class to discuss Israel's Entrepreneurship, and professor will also be giving a quick presentation as well.
 


Interesting Information: 


1993 Israel government wanted to stimulate Industry was vowed to give $8 Million dollars to any VC fund if the VC can raise $12 million dollars themselves. 

"The falafel factor- Combination of things to make Somethig work"




We had about 10 minutes to chat with student after the class. Almost every student is trying to or is starting a Company!! All the ideas are super high-tech and out of the box strategies. I really wonder where these students got their ideas from! 



Day 6- Gaza Strip Anyone ?

OMG LMAO!  I have been waken up to be told that we are 2 miles away from Gaza Strip. 


We are visiting Israel's water desalinization plant.


One very interesting fact is that it is not owned by Israel. the plant is privately owned by Viola Environment and IDE Technologies. These two companies together have built more than 40  Desalinization plants. This plant in particular produces 120 Million Cubic Meters of water which is equivalent to 15% percent of the drinking water a year currently being consumed in Israel.  In 4 to 5 years all drinking water in Israel will be Desalinized, as a few more plants are finished being built. These plants as well s this one use reverse osmosis, high pressure sea water and a filter through a series of systems to clean the water. Water is so clean that is is actually distilled water that can not be consumed. So the finally step is the addition of limestone into the water. This plant and its facility is huge! I asked our tour guide about the possible threat of missiles being launched to hit the Plant from Gaza. He told me that it is a way of life and they try to not think about it. Plus he said "we provide their fresh water supply so I do not know why they would want to ruin that".

We had an awesome Lunch at this small authenticate hole in the wall lol 

Second Visit of the Day was a Company Called -Ormat
Omrat is an old company by Israel Standards- 57 years. Omrat specializes in Geo Thermal Energy producer. CEO was asked to answer the same question we have asked almost every speaker we meet with "Why has hIsrad such a success being so entrepreneurial and innovative" He was the first person who really gave a different and thoughtful point of view. 

He said that people who live in undeveloped countries look to study engineering and science to try to figure out ways to better life. In developed countries people study more service and professional oriented subjects like finance management and marketing. In undeveloped area these areas do not exist because basic industry does not exist. Innovation comes from the bottom- the building blocks of science and engineering.

Our Final vist of the day was Object 3D printing. This company can literally print anything in 3D with multiple materials. It sounded very crazy to me. I am still confused how there technology works lol.  But Object is the leading company that provides 3d prototype printing. The build the printers then sell them.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Day 5- Panel Day

Thanks to Fred Prince, today we will be visiting two great Bio-Med Companies- Chiasma Pharm., and Omnirix (Johnson and Johnson owned Company). Fred is the acting CEO and Chairman for Chiasma and he recently sold Omnirix to Johnson and Johnson. We have a panel of speakers waiting for us at Chiasma that will speak  about Entrepreneurship in Israel. 

Cool Facts from the Presenters that really grabbed my attention: 


1. Israel has three times as many Noble Prizes winners than any other country in the science field. 


2. Russian immigration in Israel was a huge factor of developing Israel's technology and IP property, because the Russian Jewish immigrants brought a lot of Russian Technological ideas with them.

One of the more interesting companies presented was Meda-Sense. Meda-Sense has invented a system to measure pain of an individual. Their system like Itamar's, measure pain through a series of factors/ information that run through your finger tips. This is truly a revolutionary thing. Docotors can now more accurately tell if a patience is suffering during surgery, or during any medical problems when they aren't able to talk. This will definitely be a medical revolutionary device!


Omnirix was bought by Johnson and Johnson. Omnirix has invented different liquids and patches that prevent and stop bleeding during surgery. Their technology uses plasma cells from human blood! The current management said that Israel culture- idea of getting everything done as fast as possible and to keep moving forward actually has negatively hurt the company. Israel management cut corners with FDA regulations and only compiled to 90% of what needed to be done. Current management said that the last 10 % was the most important part. Reinforces the fact that quickest is not always the best nor correct method of doing business. After a certain stage in developing business, management must be 120% on top of what needs to be done.






Day 4- Innovation and Technology in a Seeming Simple Trade

It has been a very gloomy rainy day as we continue our travels to visit Iscar. 


We have recently finished our visit with Itamar earlier in the day. Itamar has invented a noninvasive system/machine that can detect sleeping problems through the tip of your finger. Patience wear Itamar's device around their wrist and place a finger cap on the middle or index finger. The technology is pretty interesting! Detecting sleeping problems through your finger tips is very cool.

Iscar has recently been bought by Billionaire investor Warren Buffet. Iscar produces, manufactures and designs metal cutting tools, pieces, and bits for the metals industry. Iscar is a huge multinational company with locations on almost every continent. They have a beautiful huge facility on top of the hill, which can also be called an industrial park. 


Iscar is a fascinating company that really has become a world leader and  innovator in their field. Their manufacturing plant is almost completely self automated!, It is like a scene out of a movie. Comprehensive robotics are at work 24/7 creating products. They have unbelievable technology at work when it comes to designing these tools and the manufacturing them. I have never thought that such a seemingly simple trade as metal cutting tools can have such a technology driven factor. Iscar has aimed to create new products every 2 years to improve and innovate themselves from the competition. This Company has proved to me that technology will be the next driving factor in any industry, no matter how simple its operations may seem.


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Day 3- Tel Aviv Stock Exchange & Better Place

Kobo Avamov from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange gave a nice presentation about the Economic and Financial history of Israel. This country has grown so fast when taking into account how long it has ben in existence. The most  interesting information we were told about was that the Israel economy actually wasn't affect by the recession in 2008. But the stock exchange did lose 42 percent in response to foreign exchanges economic problems . Bio Med is by far the biggest Industry represent in the stock market for Israel.

We just finished our visit with " The Better Place". They have teamed up with Nissan to create the worlds first  electric car that will run on battery power. These cars/ batteries when empty need to be charged from a special charging station that can be found in public areas and the company will install one at your home. Or you can drive into a "battery swap station" and receive a fully charged new battery in a few minutes. Better place will act as a car dealer, and electric source provider / meter reading company.  


This is a very interesting idea that is truly innovative and very technologically forward, but I do not now how efficient or convenient this system will be if you are constantly driving because the batteries do have very strict limits. Automobiles consume more than 20 percent of the total  oil/gas consumption in the world. Israel's Government  has given Better place the right to basically be a Monopoly here. Maybe Better place will work in smaller Cities like Tel Aviv but i do not seeing it working in a City like New York nor in rural areas. The Battery imposes strict limitations of what you can do and were you can go.


 

Day 2- Jerusalem: The Old City

WOW ! Had to wake up super early today 630!!!!  Our bus driver Eli said we have about an hour Drive to get to Jerusalem. 

What a beautiful City!!  So far we have gotten a Historical overview and landscape scenery view as drive and stop atop the Mountain of Olives. Jerusalem has such a rich historical and religious history, that It was quite confusing to understand at first.

The Old City is unreal ! It reminds of a scene of a story book or better yet out of Disney's Movie Aladdin! The streets are so narrow and packed with people. It is a none stop bazar! The peculiar construction of the streets almost makes you beileve that you are partial underground at some points.  There is such a strong feeling of spirituality and religion here, it is a bit overwhelming for me.


The Walling Wall and Jesus Tomb "Rock" are very religious moving places. There is huge difference of scenery and complete atmosphere when comparing the Islamic Sectors to the Jewish & Christian Sector its like day and night.

Day 1- Houston we Have Landed !

Finally, I have arrived in Israel, Tel Aviv! 


I have been looking forward to this trip for quite some time now. The flight was extremely easy to my surprise. I took 2 tylenol PM's and slept for almost 7 hours. I meet a lovely Israel couple sitting next to me that just finished traveling in the U.S. - New York & Las Vegas. I have heard Israelites can be very rude and unwelcoming people. But I experienced just the opposite with them, such a nice, warm, and extremely friendly people. 


We arrived at the hotel around 4pm local. After checkin and a brief class meeting we all walked over to a nearby seafood restaurant for dinner, we were all starving! I spent the rest of my night relaxing watching TV, we have an early start tomorrow.