Today we publish a special DVN Report on Israel. Why are we focusing on Israel? It’s because Israel is lately of direct and particular relevance to what we in the driver- and machine-vision fields do. Israel might not be on your radar; for years it played only a minor role in the automotive industries. No longer!
Now Israel is in a new era, with over 1,500 new high-tech companies established every year, churning out countless breakthrough technologies and techniques. This, in turn, is fuelling a race among the largest multinational corporations’ venture arms, global venture capitalists, and other investment entities—all converging on Israel to invest in their growth and acquire their next best technologies. And following IT and cyber-tech, the latest disruptive technological cluster seeing massive, rapid, productive growth in Isral is automotive.
Digitalisation, in shifting the industry’s focus towards data-driven thinking, has created a demand for new competencies ranging from object recognition and ADAS to mobility behaviour projections for shared-ride services. These areas fall within the Israeli sweet spot. A highly skilled workforce, shaped by factors unique to Israel, offers ability and know-how to meet the demand for these advanced competencies. Today, with the most startups and the highest venture capital in the world (per capita), Israel is referred to as the “Startup Nation.” There are about 500 companies in the automotive and smart transportation sector alone, many of them focused on sensors and ADAS technology. They are supported by a vivid ecosystem that includes a governmental smart mobility community as well as dedicated mobility accelerators and venture capital firms.
While researching for the report, I became convinced that a meeting of worldwide lighting and ADAS experts and Israeli startups should be useful for all our community. What convinced me? Here are four example events that occurred just within the last week I spent in Israel:
- DLD (Digital Life Design), organised by Munich-based DLD Media, gathering of the international ecosystem of startups in Israel. DLD acts as a platform for exchange of future visions and experiences, driven by the mission to create a network of innovation, digital prospects, science and culture. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, GM, Qualcomm, SAP, Samsung were present.
- Daimler announced a USD $50m investment in the Israeli-founded VIA
- Hyundai announced a multimillion-dollar investment in Israel’s Technion university (after VW recently invested $300m there).
- Maniv Mobility, an Israel-based venture capital firm focusing on investing in transportation technology and autonomous vehicles, have raised more than USD $40m in their first fund dedicated to automotive technology. Big-name investors include Jaguar Land Rover, Lyft, OurCrowd and Valeo.
Over 30 Israeli startups involved in lighting and ADAS expressed immediate interest in presenting their innovations during such a DVN event to be held this November in Tel Aviv. At this day a few automakers and lighting suppliers have already decided to attend, but we need much more to make such an event in November feasible. Download, get and read this Israel Startup Ecosystem Report released today, you’ll find it full of information about fascinating technologies and the companies developing and making them, as well as the unique infrastructure that makes it all possible. Transmit it to your colleagues, and let us know your feelings about your company participation to the November event. We will contact you very soon on the subject. Meanwhile, stay tuned; we’ll keep you up to date as plans develop.
Sincerely yours,
DVN President