Israel Innovation 2.0

Earlier this week, BostInnovation, a tech blog focused on the Greater Boston Area community, published a list of 12 of its favorite Boston-area female CEOs on Twitter. The list included the CEOs of Constant Contact, ZipCar and social media marketing companies among others and is intended to encourage members of the community to follow these female executives and learn from them.

It is often said that one of the ways to attract and retain more women in tech is to give them good role models. In addition to continued discussion on the topic and increased efforts to build a community and network of female entrepreneurs, there is still a lot more to be done to encourage more entrepreneurs. In the spirit of BostInnovation, here is a list of 9 Israel-based female entrepreneurs in tech on Twitter and a recent tweet of theirs. Please note this is by no means a comprehensive list. Feel free to add other female founders and CEOs in the comments below.

@darshu: Daria Shualy, founder of fashion social network, Sense of Fashion (@senseofashion).

Stylist Laurie Brucker creates a breezy bohemian look for you, on the Sense of Fashion blog http://www.senseofashion.com/blog/ @lauriebstyle

@yaelbeeri: Yael Beeri, founder of the Tel Aviv Beer Tweetup and co-founder of @TodayBackIn.

Hey Israeli tweeps & tweepettes, I met @zoharwine today, he moved back here from England, let’s welcome him to our Twitter community

@oritHashay: Orit Hashay, Associate at @CarmelVentures and founder of Ramkol.co.il and mit4mit.co.il.

At Oranim 1 – Microsoft online. With Yair Goldfinger & @yarongalai #HTIA.

@kloostermania: Karin Kloosterman, founder of GreenProphet.com, an environmental blog focused on the Middle East (@greenprophet).

Israel’s Organic Goats with the Wind Farm is Delicious Eco-Tourismhttp://goo.gl/fb/J9OGQ

@amitos: Amit Knaani,  co-founder of Vikido, a video messaging service designed for young kids (@vikidoteam).

Oh, this is cute (for kids) games/sites http://kidszone.schoolwebsite.co.uk/

@soltzvi: Sol Tzvi, cofounder of Genieo.

@Scobleizer mentioned #genieo on stage at #tcdisrupt as one of the great companies that filtering news stream

@yaelelish: Yael Elish, Founder of eSnips, VP Product at @waze and currently at a start-up in stealth.

Just installed @waze on my mobile phone – it’s a free navigation app with fun gaming & social elements! http://bit.ly/LkkkW

@michts: Michal Tsur, co-founder of Kaltura, an open source online video platform (@kaltura).

RT @Kaltura Kaltura thought-leadership piece in VentureBeat on HTML5 video : How JavaScript will lead the way to open video,http://bit.ly/ckpKMk

@blondmobile: Jasmine Aharon, co-founder of Mobile Monday Tel Aviv (@MoMoTLV).

Facebook and Google Maps Dominate Smartphone App Usage [STUDY] ttp://2.ly/bsfc

Who else would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments!

(Above image via jonklinger under creative commons.)

Disclosure: I am a GreenProphet.com contributor.

Related Posts:
Celebration of Ada Lovelace Day: 6 women who have contributed to Israel’s hi-tech industry
Why TechAviv and technology in general lacks women (Part 1)
What is keeping women out of technology in Israel?
Women in Technology: Rony Ross, Panorama Software (Interview)

The following is a recap by Jessica Korman of TheMarker’s COM.vention which took place earlier today. Jessica Korman is a graphic designer, blogger and new immigrant. 

“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet” – William Gibson

I just got back from The Marker COM.vention held at Airport City. It was a great opportunity to see “Twitter” friends whom I may or may not have met before. While social media is not a dying trend, it is still important to connect to people on a personal level. That was my main purpose in attending the convention; as a new immigrant in Israel I find myself in the midst of a networking frenzy. In that respect, social media is a tool, a means to an end and not the end itself. 

The convention itself had 2 tracks, ‘The New New Thing – NGN’ sponsored by Bezeq, and ‘Beyond the web 2.0.’ I attended two panels within the ‘Beyond the web 2.0′ track. The first panel I attended, “Beyond Web 2.0,” was moderated by Israel’s Hi-Tech guru, Yossi Vardi and included Anil Hansjee, Head of Corporate Development EMEA, Google (UK, London); Allen Hurff, SVP MySpace; Jane Thompson, Managing Director, International, IAC and Greg Cohn, Director of Strategy and Business Development Yahoo!  as panelists.

They discussed how the Internet is moving from our PCs (or in my case, Mac) onto a smaller screen, such as the Android or iPhone and other trends, such as social networking, semantic web and cloud computing, and that search engines are evolving with those trends. The discussion also brought up that there will also be more engagement with entertainment, for example more interaction between the consumer and the advertiser. They concluded that social networking needs to evolve by indexing our relationships, and we must trust our networks to make our privacy decisions for us. From an entrepeneaurial perspective, the economic downturn is actually a great opportunity for start-ups.

The second panel I attended was “Microblogging, Substance or hype.” It was moderated by Gadi Lahav, Director of Internet Content at Haaretz Media and the panelists included Deborah Schultz, Consultant, Advisor and Strategist to Start-Ups and Large Organizations; Yosi Taguri, VP R&D and Social Thinker at Nuconomy and Joi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons. The panel was basically about Twitter, and, in fact, one of the panelists tweeted that this might be the only time it is socially acceptable to tweet when part of a panel.

They said that the idea of microblogging is socially connecting on the fly and that it broke the “real-time” barrier. While Facebook is a database of social connections, Twitter is a constant flow of content and ideas. Actual blogging is much slower but that is not to say that Twitter will be the death of blogging. It might mean less frequent updates or less people creating new blogs, but blogging will still remain part of the conversation.

At this point in time, it is imperative that corporations learn how to participate and use social networking with their branding and marketing. Companies need to learn to use the tools to listen to customers, and let the users know they are being listened to. What still needs to be determined is how to monetize microblogging sites such as Twitter and we have yet to see a business model. The question was raised by one of the panelists, that at this point, does Twitter even need a business model?

What was clearly a sign of the times was the scaling back of emenities commonly found at conventions such as these. Instead of coming home with an armful of gifts, I came home nearly empty handed. Most of the stands were giving away chocolate coins instead of shwag.

During the week of February 1, 2009, SemantiNet released a Beta version of its FireFox add-on, Headup to the public and Shai Agassi talked electric cars at TED. Commtouch partnered with MailChannels and promising Israeli startups presented their technologies at the TechAviv meetup in Herziliyya. For these stories and more, check  below for the 13 Israel-related headlines from the week of February 1, 2009. 

Cleantech

1. Israeli startup grabs $5M for distributed solar thermal

2. Shai Agassi talks electric cars at TED

3. I’m Twittering Over Water In Jerusalem

Investment and Economy

4. Local hi-tech companies raise 27% less venture capital

5. Billions flow between Israel, Silicon Valley

6. Some Amazing New Startups (TechAviv)

Information Technology

7. New technology synopsizes video surveillance

8. MailChannels And CommTouch To Bring Premium Spam Filtering To Parrallels Plesk Panel

9. New technology synopsizes video surveillance

10. SemantiNet Announces headup Semantic Web Plugin for Firefox is Immediately Available as Public Beta

Miscellaneous

11. Why I’m heading back to the US

12.  Wanted: Work

13. An Improved Economic Outlook and Low Interest Rates Are Increasing the IT Spending In Israel states New Report

Much attention in the news was paid to Israel’s operation in Gaza during the week of December 28, 2009, including to online technology related to it. Different Israeli government branches, from the IDF to Israeli Consulates in the U.S., began to leverage popular social media tools, such as blogs, YouTube and Twitter, to explain the purpose of Israel’s operation and its objectives, while supporters around the world used the same mediums and others, such as Facebook, to show their support for Israel and its troops. During the week it also became clear that the conflict wouldn’t be bound to physical operations as several Israeli sites became the targets of cyberterrorism.

Despite the conflict, there was plenty of news of unrelated innovations coming from Israel. Funds were raised and contracts were signed in Israel’s IT and cleantech sectors and announcements of foreign companies opening R&D offices were made. Not all the news that wasn’t related to the conflict was good though. For all these stories and more, check out this week’s special edition of Israel-related headlines from the week of December 28, 2008 below.

Israel-Hamas Conflict (Technology side)

1. Israeli news site down, blames cyber attack

2. Muslim hackers attack Israeli websites as Gaza strikes continue

3. Israel Backed by Army of Cyber-Soldiers

4. War sickens me, but I stand with Israel (HelpUsWin*)

5. The Big War You Never Hear Much About

6. Israeli Consulate to tweet about Gaza war

Cleantech

7. Israel’s SolarEdge Raises $23M to Crush Shady Solar

8. BrightSource Energy signs contract with Siemens for solar-powered generator

Investments and deals

9. 2009: Year of the survival of the fittest

10. Bluephoenix Announces Multi-Million Dollar Modernization Contract With a Large Scandinavian Bank

11. Intrinsyc Signs Soleus Licensing Agreement With ODM for Industrial PDA and LBS Phone
12. Oy Vey! Israeli VCs Exceptionally Gloomy on 2009

Information Technology

13. HCL opens office in Israel

14. Invention: Software research assistant

15. EMC continues to move forward

Miscellaneous

16. The American Idol for blogging superstars

17. One to Watch: Tvinci

18. Israeli’s documentary is drawing wide acclaim

19. MyHeritage Makes Family History Research Easier With Launch Of Family Tree Builder 3

20. Crude oil rises after Israeli attacks on Gaza roil Middle East

Israel Innovation 2.0 content related to Israel-Hamas conflict

21. Direct from the streets of Gaza… and Israel. How TechCrunch UK’s post could have read regarding UGC

22. Cyberterrorism against Israeli and American sites: How to Stay Secure

Video from IDF Spokeperson’s Unit TouTube Channel (Capt. Benjamin Rutland on the ground forces entering Gaza on 3 Jan. 2009)

*HelpUsWin is an online grassroots campaign helping to ensure that international coverage of the Campaign Against Hamas is balanced. To learn more about it or how you can become involved, please check out the HelpUsWin website.

**The following relates to the enterprise but is not directly related to technology companies or people in Israel.**

Every so often I like to share my thoughts on Facebook’s future and where I think it is going in regards to the enterprise and in general. My biggest prediction in the past has been that in the race to gather the world’s information, Facebook and Google are at opposite ends of the information spectrum when it comes to social and computerized gathering and are bound to clash at some point. In light of Facebook’s recent failed attempt to buy Twitter, here are three things Facebook is likely to do or should do in the future based on this recent and other not so recent news.

1. Enhanced human-powered search, via Twitter-style comments and features
As mentioned, the inspiration for this post is that in recent days there has been talk of Facebook’s failed attempt to purchase the social networking/micro-blogging site Twitter in exchange for stock options. The exact plans Facebook had for integrating Twitter, which is primarily used by business and technology professionals to communicate with one another and who commonly share links to relevant information on the Web, may be unknown, but it is safe to assume that Facebook would have somehow integrated the rest of the technology into its status feature (which currently only enables users to comment on them). Twitter’s appeal is that being a site that relies on user interactions and content, it is the ultimate way to share information and help people find useful information on the Internet.

Regardless of the failed deal, it seems that Facebook will continue to develop Twitter-like technology on its own and roll it out as soon as it can. As it already has the status feature, and comment feature, its first focus will probably be to add a way to search your own past statuses as well as those of your friends.

2. Enterprise-friendly collaboration. Goodbye GMail.
Ever since companies started creating networks on Facebook, I’ve been waiting for Facebook to announce its creation or plans for creating a special platform for enterprises. The platform could serve as a low cost intranet system for companies and allow for better collaboration and communication among employees within such companies. If Facebook changed its messaging system into a full email application it would already have the other communication means, such as chat and video chat apps available to make collaboration easier and possibly a little more fun.

Also, if Facebook wanted to take GMail straight on, it could partner with Microsoft (who it partners with for search results and advertising) and develop an online version of MS Office that it could offer on its enterprise platform for collaboration. Of course, back in October 2008, co-founder, Dustin Moskovitz and colleague Justin Rosenstein left the company with the desire to build an online “enterprise productivity suite” that will from the outside (using Facebook Connect) complement the non-work-related social aspect of Facebook.

3. Calendar
Who doesn’t like Facebook’s events feature? It’s easy to create, access and share. Most important though is the access. Unlike Google Calendar or other calendar applications, the events are integrated throughout Facebook making it easy to access from the search bar or when you’re on the homepage after signing in to see what upcoming events there are for that day and the next few. While it is great the way it is, Facebook Events can still be improved to act as a full personal planner by making it possible to synchronize non-Facebook events with Facebook as well. Perhaps one way this could be done is with an “Share to Facebook Events” widget that could be placed on other websites.

What do you think? Agree? Disagree?

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.