Innovation Modules
In this section we offer a diversity of companies and speakers arranged in six modules that represent different fields of Israeli innovation. Interested specifically in CyberTech, CleanTech, or HealthTech? Or are your participants particularly passionate about fintech? Here, you can follow a specific field of interest throughout your Israel Trek, integrating two or more experiences from the same module in your itinerary. You can also use it as a simple database, browsing all categories and choosing only the most interesting and relevant options.
Agri-Tech /
Ag-Tech
Israel’s agricultural technology (Agri-Tech, or Ag-Tech) sector has won world recognition for its bold new ways of working in agriculture, by combining technology know-how to improve existing practices. Israel’s Agri-Tech products include dairy systems, insect farming, aquaculture and water treatment, computerized irrigation, sophisticated greenhouses, and crop protection, among others.
The OECD cites that the main challenges facing the world’s agriculture sector show to best feed a growing global population, while reducing the environmental impact and providing a livelihood for farmers of future generations.
With a challenging climate, harsh land, a shortage of natural fresh water, and a necessity to survive, Israeli agriculturists, scientists, engineers and innovators continue to develop cutting edge technologies and opportunities to help feed the world.
(Sources: Ministry of Economy and Trade, OECD)
FoodTech
With a growing population and reduced resources, the global community has called on innovators to find food solutions to an ever-growing world population. Innovators all over the world are coming up with ways to grow these products in labs to answer the need for food security.
Famous for its cross-tech initiatives, Israeli companies are combining technologies from different disciplines such as big data, artificial intelligence, robotics, IoT, engineering and biology to create its own brand of solutions for the global community.
Israel’s food technology (FoodTech) sector includes hundreds of companies creating new technologies and products such as alternative proteins, fermentation and plant-based products, novel ingredients, packaging solutions, healthier products, and cultivated meat and meat substitutes, among others.
(Sources: Ministry of Economy and Trade, The Kitchen Hub, IVC)
CleanTech
Israeli innovators are trying to answer some of the world’s biggest CleanTech challenges. The country’s entrepreneurs continue to be seen as an authority in the sector thanks to a history of overcoming challenges in the fields of water, energy and agriculture.
The CleanTech ecosystem includes startups and scaled-up companies working toward solutions for climate change, as well as new approaches to environmental protection, waste management, water treatment, oil substitutes, renewable energy, energy efficiency, climate solutions and more.
Israel’s CleanTech companies have proven to be a source of attraction for cooperation and collaboration with international financial and strategic entities.
(Sources: IIA, PwC)
CyberTech
Israel’s cyber activities are world renowned and hold an important position in the global cybersecurity ecosystem. After the U.S., Israel is second in terms of venture capital funding in the global cyber sector.
Israel holds the dubious designation of being one of the top cyber-attacked countries around the globe.
In response, the country’s cyber ecosystem – government, army, private companies, investors, academia – have ensured that Israel stays ahead in defensive cyber capabilities. The cyber ecosystem includes large cyber companies, multinational firms with R&D branches, new start-ups, military cyber developments, and supporting infrastructure from government funding that supports both private and public initiatives.
The local companies are known for offering diverse protection solutions for an array of cyber threats, especially data security, network security, IoT and control systems, data protection, security operations, cloud security, and others.
Israel’s cybersecurity hub sends its innovative solutions to the global market.
(Sources: IIA, PwC, SNC)
HealthTech
HealthTech is about combining medical data with new technologies and science to create novel solutions that can improve our care, deliver better treatment options, and improve our health outcomes.
Israel is positioned as one of the world’s top incubators of medical advances and a source of healthcare patents, scientific discoveries, and highly cited research. Israel’s scientific knowledge coupled with its digital public healthcare system has brought about health tech solutions for drug development, more accurate diagnoses, telehealth, remote monitoring, patient engagement technologies, treatment methods, and more.
A small country with a small population, Israel’s footprint in the health tech space goes above and beyond its population size. The local health tech sector boasts hundreds of startups and companies, technology hubs, R&D centers, VCs, accelerators, and government-supported initiatives.
(Sources: SNC, IIA)
FinTech
Like elsewhere around the world, Israel’s FinTech sector is dedicated to bringing new tech solutions to support and enable banking and financial services. From crypto to insurance-tech, web 3.0, fintech cybersecurity, AI-based platforms, quantum and financial planning software, Israeli startups are bringing new payment processing, e-commerce transactions, social trading, accounting and other tech-fueled ways to make our day-to-day transactions easier to manage.
While made in Israel, because of this country’s small market size, the solutions are actually earmarked for the markets of Europe and North America. Many companies also move their headquarters overseas. So, on the one hand, Israel boasts high-quality human capital in the local labor market which enables FinTech to establish R&D centers in Israel. Similarly, the FinTech sector’s contribution to the local economy remains low.
As of July 2023, there were 614 FinTech startups in Israel. In global terms, this is a substantially large number of firms relative to the size of Israel’s population. For example, Israel’s FinTech output is on par with other technologically advanced economies such as Switzerland and Hong Kong, and is ranked higher than the UK.
Some of the Israeli FinTech-related unicorns (companies with a valuation of at least $1 billion) include: Papaya Global (cloud-based payroll management solutions for businesses), Rapyd (online payment solutions for international businesses), Earnix (AI-based marketing analytics and data monitoring solutions for insurers and banks), Payoneer (online money transfer, digital payment services), and Melio (B2B payments platform for small businesses).
(Sources: Israel Securities Authority 2023, Calcalist, Forbes, Tracxn)