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JERUSALEM — A strong turnout from leading Silicon Valley high-tech figures marked a conference to kick off the local business year after the summer holidays.

The Ernst and Young Journey 2000 Conference, held in Tel Aviv last month, attracted 1,500 registrants, with more than 50 speakers and panelists, 36 from the United States several from Europe, and 15 from Israel. There were 14 workshops for participants to choose from, in four time-slots.

In addition, there were two plenary sessions, plus a double session devoted to one of the most popular events: a competition among six start-up companies for a prize of $250,000 in seed funding.

The winner of the competition, as judged by representatives of three leading venture-capital funds, was Sellso — although in ballots cast by the voting audience the winner was C4U.

The annual conference hosted by international accounting and consulting firm Ernst and Young is remarkable in Israel for its co-hosts from Silicon Valley, especially the renowned Palo Alto high-tech law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara. Both have been co-sponsoring this event for the last four years.

"Israel is an excellent source of quality clients for us," said Art Schneiderman, senior partner with Wilson Sonsini and managing partner of the Global Catalyst Partners venture-capital firm. "One thing that is evident from our interest in Israel is that there is no other country that comes as close to the United States or Silicon Valley in being a wellspring for technological innovation as Israel."

"We are definitely aggressive in pursuing Israeli business," said Larry Lopez, Silicon Valley Bank vice president for international strategic partners. "I come here four to six times a year, meeting with start-ups who are candidates for opening offices in the United States.

"We have branches all over the United States, and we figure if we talk to them in Israel, they will become our customers in the United States. Moreover, we are one of the few banks in the United States who will cooperate with venture-capital firms and extend loans on the basis of — and along with — venture-capital financing."

In addition to the sponsors, speakers and panelists from Silicon Valley included Guy Kawasaki and Bob Joos of Garage.com in Palo Alto, the online pioneer of investor-entrepreneur matchmaking, and Donna Jensen of startups.com in Redwood City. Jensen announced the planned opening of a branch office in Israel — the first such office outside the United States — for her consulting firm.