This is the 7th year in a row that the unique course deals with lessons and insights that can be learned from the Israeli innovation environment. The course is part of a collaboration between the Faculty of Management at Tel Aviv University and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania , led by Dr. David Tzbilichovsky , of the Faculty of Management and Prof. David Shaw , of the Wharton School of Business.
The course was held as part of a joint program for the two schools, focusing on various aspects of innovation and entrepreneurship, the impact of the business environment in Israel on the ways of operating technology companies, research and development and venture capital. This year the course focused on analyzing the activities of multinational companies in Israel. The course is held in a format that combines lectures, conducting joint projects for students from both universities, visiting companies and hosting guest lecturers who share their experience and insights with the students.
During the intensive week, the students visited groundbreaking companies, among others, the students visited:
Mobileye - a company that specializes in the development and production of road accident prevention assistance systems, based on image processing technology, acquired in 2017 by Intel, in the largest deal in the history of Israeli high-tech. In the creation of autonomous vehicles and an extensive description of the company's future products. The tour also included the experimental garage, where advanced autonomous driving systems are installed and tested.
Nova - Provider of measurement solutions for chip manufacturing. During a visit toNova Measuring Instruments, the students received lectures from senior management: Dov Farkash, Senior Vice President for Strategic Development, Dr. Shay Wolfling, theCTO and Zohar Gil, VP of Marketing, the hosts. , Including the company's acquisition strategy.The visit also included a visit to the 'clean rooms', where the advanced systems are manufactured.
OurCrowd - Students met with John Medwood , one of the pioneers of the venture capital industry in Israel and CEO of OurCrowd, acrowdfundingplatform that enables private investors from around the world to join startup investments. During the visit they also heard lectures from portfolio companies - including a lecture by Eitan Buchman,CMOOf Freightos , which is leading a revolution in the management of international transportation processes, including solutions for the efficient shipment of cargo and containers, which recently completed a third round of financing of $ 44 million.
In addition, the students also visited Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital , where they heard about the innovative activity in the field of Biomed from Dr. Tamar Raz, the director of Hadassah and the CEO of BioHouse , Dr. Shai Meltzer.
The course also hosted entrepreneurs and founders of innovative Israeli companies, who shared their experience with the students. Among the guests were : Omar Kilf , founder and CEO of the automotive technology company Innoviz , developed by Lidar - an obstacle scanner for autonomous cars. Omar Kilf, a graduate of the Faculty of Management, spoke about the company and its fast track to success. BMW chose to incorporate Innoviz detectors into models. The company's autonomous vehicle for 2021 in serial production (in parallel with the integration of Mobileye 's camera systems in those vehicles).
Daniel Schreiber , founder and CEO of Lemonade , which brings innovation to the conservative insurance industry through the use of insights from behavioral economics and advanced software systems, who spoke about the company's innovative model in the field of Insurtech and its expansion into additional US markets.
Ami Lotback , CTO , Microsoft Development Center and one of the founders of Adalum, acquired in 2015 by Microsoft, shared with students the difficulties of developing security products in dynamic markets that are constantly changing.
Thus, they participated in a course for leading venture capital investors and lectures on the subject were given by: Modi Rosen ( Trend Fund ), Michael Granov ( Maniv Mobility ) and Tal Slobutkin ( Stageone ).
The combination of theoretical analysis, working in international groups, analyzing current problems and meeting with leading entrepreneurs and principals, allowed students to get to know the local industry and Israeli innovation in depth and provided insights and experiences that ignited students' imaginations and dreams and provided them with much food for thought and deepening
Publication Link: https://coller.tau.ac.il/news/innovation2019