Global Immersion Week - ISRAEL

Upon independence in 1948, the country formally adopted the name "State of Israel". Israel is considered the most advanced country in Southwest Asia and the Middle East in economic and industrial development.

Today, the country is enjoying a blossoming of high-tech entrepreneurship rivaling the most developed countries in the world. It has become a cliché, over the past few years, to compare Israel to California's Silicon Valley or Boston's Route 28.

Israel is on the cutting edge of several high-tech fields and, despite its size, has managed to carve out a respectable niche in areas dominated by the industrial giants. Google's Chairman Eric Schmidt complimented the country during a visit there, saying that “Israel has the most important high-tech center in the world after the US.”

Group arrival at the airport, as almost all of you are travelling with IE recommended flight:

• Expect for very strict security control in the airport of Tel Aviv.
  
• Our guide, Oren, will meet us there and our bus will take us to the Grand Beach Hotel.
  

8.45 MEETING POINT: Grand Beach Hotel

9.00-10.30 LECTURE: Israeli Economy and the startup nation.

Israel today is a known powerhouse of technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in the business world, but how did this happen? What's the story of the Israeli economy? Why should one care? What could we all learn from Israel's experience?

In his lecture, Assaf Luxembourg portrays a brief history of the Israeli economy for non-economists, shows how Israel is relevant for our everyday lives, analyses Israel's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and exposes the real secret that enabled Israel to become the so-called "Start Up Nation."

Check more about Assaf here.

You will find the presentation here.

Where: Grand Beach Hotel.

11.00-12.30 MAGMA VC is a leading Israeli venture capital firm, dedicated to investing in Israel's Information, Communications and Technology space ('ICT'), including the software, semiconductor and new media spheres. They seek bright ideas at their earliest stages, and serve as a springboard for their entrepreneurs as they develop and evolve into industry leaders. Our goal is to enable a flow of innovation from the earliest stage all the way through until a company realizes its potential reach.

Our speaker will be Ran Achituv. He joined Magma in 2014, and brings two strong decades of executive experience in strategy, M&A, P&L management, technology, and execution from both the corporate and defense intelligence markets. Ran was the Chief Technology Officer and Head of the CTO Office for Amdocs (NASDAQ: DOX) since 2012, where he led a team that was responsible for strategy, acquisitions, incubation, patents, industry forums, standard bodies, innovation and partnerships.

Where: 22 Rothschild Blvd. 25th floor, Tel Aviv, 6688218.

13.00-14.30 MARKET "SHUK LEVINSKY", TASTING TOUR AND LUNCH: A tour all about scents and flavors, stories and encounters; allowing us to explore the depth of Jewish culture and customs through the foods, the people, and the life of the market.

We will navigate between tens of stalls filled with spices and fresh produce, hidden cafés, gourmet bakeries, boutiques and fashion stores, and most importantly — the “shuk” people.

We will go behind the scenes of the market and hear about: Why don’t we throw away bread? What are the special Shabbat and holiday foods of the different communities? What is the rhythm of the life here? What nightlife is there in the market? We will hear about blessings and kashrut, local healers and charity networks, and much, much more.

Guided by Tamar Linchevsky, specialized in market tasting tours.

15.30-16.30 OLD JAFFA: Historians believe that Jaffa is the only port in the world which can boast uninterrupted inhabitation throughout its entire existence.

The port of Jaffa served as the point of entry for the increased Jewish immigration which came to resettle the land.

In 1968, the Government of Israel and the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality decided to establish a corporation for the Development of Old Jaffa, entrusting to it the task of averting the total destruction of Old Jaffa's glorious past. Old Jaffa has since become one of Israel's foal tourist attractions. It is filled with artists' quarters, studios and art galleries.

16.30-18.00 TEL AVIV HIGHLIGHTS: Tel Aviv was founded by 66 Jewish residents of the neighboring port city of Jaffa in 1909. Tel Aviv quickly overcame Jaffa in size and the two were united under one municipality in 1950. Tel Aviv is home to the largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings in the world, now an UNESCO world heritage site.

9.00 MEETING POINT: Grand Beach Hotel

10.00-12.00 VISITING KIBBUTZ YIZRE´EL: A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz was established in 1909. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism. In recent decades, some kibbutzim have been privatized and changes have been made in the communal lifestyle.

Kibbutz Yizreel currently (June 2014) has 269 members and another 45 candidates for membership – mostly sons and daughters of members. In addition there are 161 children, including 25 serving in the IDF (Israel Defence Corps), 18 parents of members and 40 temporary residents, including soldiers. The total population is around 575 people. The kibbutz is an entire community, and therefore must cater for all the community’s needs: pre-school and school education, higher education, food, culture, health etc.

Their members come from a wide variety of backgrounds; about two thirds of the kibbutz members today are Israeli born. Others come from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. At the same time Israeli groups also connected with youth movements arrived and settled. In recent years Yizreel has absorbed five families from the Soviet Union bloc.

13.00-14.00 ST. PETER FISH LUNCH BY THE SEA SIDE: Ktze Hanachal, located at Kibbutz Ginosar.

14.00-15.30 BOAT RIDE SEA OF GALILEE: This is Israel’s largest fresh water reservoir, and is also the country’s largest and most important source and reservoir of drinking water. For this and other reasons, the Kineret has become an important national symbol and is also a first class tourism center.

9.00 MEETING POINT: Grand Beach Hotel

10.00-11.00 OUTBRAIN is an online advertiser specializing in presenting sponsored website links. It claims it uses behavioral targeting to recommend articles, slideshows, blog posts, photos or videos to a reader, rather than relying on a more basic "related items" widget. The sites with the recommended articles pay Outbrain for this service, and Outbrain pays the site on which the links appear.

Our host will be Ori Lahav, Co-founder of Outbrain.

Where: Natanya (6 Arye Regev street).

12.00-13.00 ELEVATOR FUND is an investment studio that invests in innovative early-stage startups and builds companies around advanced technologies in partnership with large corporations.

Our host this time will be Ilan Regenbaum. Ilan is a VC investor at Elevator, where he manages dealflow and operations for the fund. He also still serves in the Air Force's Innovation Department where he leads a team of soldiers working to build a culture of innovation in the military. Before that, he founded and ran three of his own startups, and headed business development at another Israeli startup.

He is originally from Johannesburg, South Africa and is an avid photographer, skier, and runner.

Where: 54 Ahad Haam St.

13.00-14.00 LUNCH: Racha. Georgian food: special Georgian pastries, meat, lots of green herbs, nuts and vegetables.

14.30-16.00 ENTREPRENEUR PANEL: our talk will be with Sagi Gidali and Sachar Pessis.

Sagi co-founded, in 2012, SaferVPN, an internet security company that aims to allow unrestricted and uncensored internet access globally. As CPO, he has succeeded in creating an intuitive and user-friendly VPN in the industry and has effectively marketed it globally. Currently SaferVPN provides online privacy and internet freedom to hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses.

SaferVPN provides secure, private and uncensored internet to anyone, anywhere.

Sachar, Cofounder and CEO of WIBKI and Connatix. He worked for Tamir Fishman, one of Israel’s top full-service financial groups where he was responsible of leading a team of 30 employees and managed the Corporate Benefits of over 80 senior managements of Major Israeli and global companies.

WIBKI is a free easy way to organize, track and share your Web. They are creating a new social experience and based on it they will build an innovative ad-network that will change the online advertisement ecosystem as we know it today.

16.30-17.30 SCiO: Our speaker Guy Brodetzki will join us for coffee and tell us all about SCiO, a devise that reads the chemical make-up of materials. It is a non-intrusive, no-touch optical sensor that provides a seamless user experience.

Guy has a M.Sc in Physics, and he has worked in various fields, including algorithms, system engineering, and system analysis. He has been working in ConsumerPhysics since the very beginning - in the founder's basement, and helped bring the vision into reality. Currently he is the product manager of the SCiO's developer toolkit and also leading sales engineering efforts in the B2B projects.

Where: Landwer Café.

17.30-18.30 GOOGLE was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both Jewish, while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University, California. Google's mission statement from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful".

Google first opened its office in Israel in 2006. Although not as impressive as the one in Mountain View, California, the offices offer magnificent views of the Mediterranean sea. Each room has its own theme, with walls and furnishings of all colors. Google also employs about 80 engineers in its second office in Israel located in Haifa, Israel’s technological center. The Haifa office is just 2 thousand meters away from the beach.

Eliran Drucker will show us around Google Tel Aviv and tell us about how he, as an IE alumni, got there.

Where: Electra Tower- 34th Floor, 98 Yigal Alon Street,Tel Aviv.

19.00-21.00 NETWORKING IE EVENT at Kanta: The vibe at Kanta is a mix of an urban outdoor garden and a cozy cocktail lounge with delicious dishes straight out of Chef Yaron Malka’s kitchen.

Where: Ibn Gabirol St 71, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6416202.

8.30 MEETING POINT: Grand Beach Hotel

10.00-12.00 RAMAT DAVID AIR FORCE BASE is one of three major airbases of the Israel Defense Forces. It is located southeast of Haifa, not far from Megiddo. During the British mandate period, it served as a Royal Air Force station.

Where: Restricted Road

12.30-14.30 JEZREEL VALLEY WINERY

Currently living in Kibbutz Hanaton, Jacob Ner-David is the Chairman of Jezreel Valley Winery, which he co-founded in 2011, and is the Chairman of NoProblem and Clipcall. He serves also as a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, helping to build a new service line focused on early stage companies, or “Scaling Up Start Up Nation.”

For the past 18 years Jacob has focused on the tech sector as a serial entrepreneur, serving as CEO in many cases, including Ambient, Delta Three, NomadIQ, 2bAnwhere, DoubleFusion, and most recently Zula, Inc.

In addition Jacob has been active as an angel investor, advisor and board member to many companies. He has lectured at the Hebrew University and the Technion, as well as guest lectures in many other forums. Jacob received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from City University of New York. Jacob is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.

16.30-17.30 JVP: Jerusalem Venture Partners is a prominent global venture capital, established in 1993.

JVP has been renowned for not only creating companies from seed, and driving them through to exit, by leveraging the teams’ strong technical and operational expertise, but also in the numerous financial transactions the fund management led in several companies to further increase the groups’ stake and ultimately substantially increase the upside and exit value for the funds investors.

Among the pioneering firms of the Israeli venture capital industry, JVP has been instrumental in building some of the largest companies to emerge from Israel.

Noa Segre, Director of Investor Relations, will be our host. Having been part of JVP for six years Noa has worked with both the investment professionals and investor relations team giving her a wide scope of understanding of the fund’s outreach and activities. After working closely with all the Fund partners, Noa currently holds the position of Director of Investor Relations where she oversees and directs JVP’s day-to-day investor operations. Prior to JVP, Noa worked for five years for the US State Department in The American Consulate General in Jerusalem overseeing various aspects of the diplomatic mission in Israel. Noa, fluent in five languages is an Alumnus of Runnymede Collage in Madrid, Spain where she majored in Art History and Photography.

Where: 24 Hebron Road, Jerusalem 93542.

17.30-18.30 OurCrowd is a world-leading equity-based crowdfunding platform, built for accredited investors to provide venture capital funding for Israeli (and later global) venture capital start-ups. Membership in the community is vetted and offered only to people who meet the stringent accreditation criteria.

Accredited investors who are accepted into the community can make minimum investments of $10,000 per deal.

OurCrowd has become the first Israel focused, equity-based investment platform to launch and one of the world’s leading accredited investor only platforms.

Our host, Stephane Itzigsohn has personally led the diligence efforts on over 30 investments, grossing over $50M, invested alongside industry leaders such as Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Ventures, Eric Schmidt and Marc Cuban. His focus is on biotechnology, CleanTech, AgriTech, and medical devices.

Where: 28 Derech Hebron, Jerusalem 9108001.

8.30 MEETING POINT: Gold Hotel

9.00-13.30 THE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims, the Temple Mount and Western Wall for Jews and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for Christians. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site List in 1981.

The Old City is roughly divided (going counterclockwise from the northeastern corner) into the Muslim Quarter, Christian Quarter, Armenian Quarter and Jewish Quarter.

The Old City's monumental defensive walls and city gates were built in the years 1535-1542 by the Turkish sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

14.00-15.00 LUNCH: Notre Dame Center, buffet.

15.30-17.30 HOLOCAUST MUSEUM: As the Jewish people’s living memorial to the Holocaust, Yad Vashem safeguards the memory of the past and imparts its meaning for future generations. Established in 1953, as the world center for documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem is today a dynamic and vital place of intergenerational and international encounter.

8.30 MEETING POINT: Gold Hotel

10.30-12.30 MASADA: A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the fortress of Masada was built in the year 30 BCE by King Herod, whose architectural feats have left their mark throughout the country.

At the beginning of the great revolt against Rome in the year 68BCE, the site was conquered by a group of Jewish zealots and Masada became their last stronghold. In the year 72 the Romans besieged Masada and succeeded in reaching the steep fortress after reconstructing a huge earthen ramp on its western side. In the year 73, the 960 Jewish zealots living at the top of Masada chose to commit suicide rather than to fall into the hands of the Romans alive. Their deeds left behind a saga of courage, heroism and martyrdom.

13.30-15.00 LUNCH AND SWIMMING IN THE DEAD SEA: The dead sea is known throughout the world for its unique properties. It is the lowest elevation point on land, it has 33.7% salinity, it´s the deepest hypersaline lake on Earth and water´s high density is what makes swimming feel like floating.

The minerals found in the mud and water of the Dead Sea are known for having nurturing and healing properties.

It has historical relevance as noted by Biblical figures King David & King Herod as well as its usage for Egyptian mummification, fertilizer and of course cosmetic products that are still popular today. Although, environmental concerns over the Dead Sea shrinking has caused many to stop buying products made with Dead Sea minerals.

Where: Restaurant Neve Midbar Beach.

18.30 MEETING POINT: Hotel lobby.

19.00-22.00 TRADITIONAL SHABBAT DINNER: Shabbat traditionally includes three required meals: Friday night dinner, Saturday lunch, and the third meal in late afternoon. For non-Orthodox Jews, Friday night dinner is the most popular Shabbat meal.

The traditional Shabbat meal is multi-coursed, and includes fish, soup, meat or poultry, and side dishes. (Serve fish and meat/poultry as separate courses, on separate cutlery and dishes.) For the lunch meal, it is customary to eat "cholent," a casserole-like dish prepared before Shabbat and kept warm overnight on the stove.

Where: Jonathan and Smadar Goldstein's House.

11.00 CHECK-OUT HOTEL: Gold Hotel

13.00 DEPARTURE FOR THE AIRPORT

Rie Boe Pedersen

Program Director

RieBoe.Pedersen@ie.edu

Mobile phone (this week only): +34 626 36 46 83