Israel Innovation 2.0

The week of July 27, 2008, started off with an opinion piece by NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman about T. Boone Pickens and Shai Agassi leading the energy revolution. Meanwhile, rivals in Agassi’s former field, IBM and Microsoft are moving forward with integrating their recent Israeli acquisitions and Adobe is now seeking its own Israeli technology. Of course, politically, the big news was that Israeli PM, Ehud Olmert, will be resigning in September. How this will impact peace in the region and Israel’s economy, if at all, is yet to be seen. These weren’t the only big headlines from the past week though. The full 16 Israel-related technology headlines from the week of July 27, 2008 are right below.

Cleantech
Texas to Tel Aviv

Luz II parent in Phoenix solar talks

M&A and Investments
Chief Scientist budget not cut – but dry

Multimedia file storage startup raises cash

Information Technology
Penguins in Tel Aviv? It Must Be the Annual Open-Source Convention

IBM Bulks Up Data Protection

Adobe seeks Israeli technology

Microsoft zooms into data quality

Telecommunications
iPoint in Sri Lankan Move

Cisco invests in Israeli multimedia WiFi startup

ClickSoftware Extends Major Contract for Mobile Workforce Management in Germany

Miscellaneous
My ads aren’t your ads

Metacafe pays to profit

Website allows employee recommendations for pay

Olmert to Quit After Elections in September

MADE IN IBM LABS: IBM Research Develops Technology to Aid Human Memory

About the author: Lisa Damast is the Membership
Manager of ebizQ.net and currently resides in Israel. Any questions or
inquiries regarding this blog or ebizQ membership services can be
directed to her via email at ldamast (at) ebizq (dot) net. She can also be followed on Twitter, where she covers additional Israeli technology companies and Israel-related headlines and topics.

The U.S. dollar is falling, several foreign countries are experiencing significant growth rates, and the price of gold has risen from the $300 range to the $800 range. What should expatriates living in Israel invest their U.S. dollars in?

These questions and more were discussed at the first Jerusalem Investing Meetup event organized by portfolio manager extraordinaire, Zack Miller. Topics covered in depth included:

- Why investors invest internationally? Growth, valuation, diversification.

- How investors can invest internationally? Stocks, International bonds, currencies.

By applying what I have learned over the past few months about investing and technology in Israel with what was discussed at the meetup, here are my thoughts on investing in Israel and its high-tech companies:

While BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) have had the most growth in the past few years and promise the most return. Return on investments in these countries aren’t a guaranteed thing. Israel, on the other hand, also has a fair growth rate and a proven track record of getting money out of investments made in it. For reasons such as these, VCs are learning to love investing in Israeli companies and so should more individual investors.

To briefly expound, Israel is currently a bull market that has the highest concentration of engineers in the world and over 120 publicly traded companies in the US. After the United States, Israel has the largest amount of companies listed on the Nasdaq and is one of the top four countries American VCs invest in. Many companies, from Microsoft to Cisco to Google, have opened R&D offices in Israel. There is also talk that Google is planning to hire more local database experts as the demand for that increases.

If so many major companies find value in investing in Israeli technology, shouldn’t the individual investor as well?

Here are some well-established Israeli high-tech companies that are being recommended to individual investors, such as the expats at the meetup:

Comverse Technologies
Teva Pharmaceutical
Elbit Medical
Africa-Israel

I think these companies should also be recommended:
Voltaire
Given Imaging
Ormat Technologies

Think other Israeli high-tech companies should be recommended to investors? Enter the company or companies you recommend and I’ll add it here.