Seeking to understand Israel’s $296 billion economy, Nathan Miller quoted former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who said, “The Jews’ greatest contribution to history is dissatisfaction.”
The head of Los Angeles-based public relations firm Miller Ink spoke at an Aug. 12 panel discussion hosted by the Commonwealth Club’s Middle East Forum titled “Israeli innovations in solving big problems.” Joining Miller was Israeli Deputy Consul General Ravit Baer.
Miller offered up Peres’ “dissatisfaction” quote to explain why Israel has become what he called “a magnet for solution seekers from all over the world.” As a consultant with Israel 21c, a news aggregate website of Israel-positive articles, Miller has followed the success of the Jewish state.
“It’s the quintessential 21st century economy,” he told an audience of nearly 100. “Israel has gone from growing apples to designing Apple computers.”
He cited 2014’s memorandum of understanding between Israel and California as a springboard for innovation, with Israel now helping Beverly Hills monitor watering for lawns as well as undertaking joint ventures in stem cell research and HIV/AIDS treatment.
“Israel is a culture that promotes risk-taking,” he said. “Its investment in higher education, in science, is higher per capita than anyplace in the world.”
Baer noted that 4.2 percent of Israel’s GDP goes to research and development, a figure second in the world only to South Korea. With 2,000 startups, Israel has more than the entire European Union, she said, and is also home to 300 R&D centers.
However, it lacks an industrial base, according to Baer. “The Israeli economy is based on knowledge export,” she said. “It is not a place for production. It’s the manpower, the people, the knowledge.”
Baer pointed out that the Israeli government plays a role in assisting entrepreneurs and startups. The country’s high-tech incubators receive 85 percent of their funding from the government, and in many cases the Ministry of Science funds up to 50 percent of a startup’s budget, with no expectation of equity in the company’s future success.
“You pay [back] only if you succeed,” she said. “The aim is to promote R&D.”
At one point, Miller ran a slide show depicting a range of Israeli innovations, from a device that sees through walls to a promising medical treatment that freezes tumors. For fun, he threw in a slide showing that Sabra hummus is the official dip of the National Football League.
During a question and answer session, Baer pointed out that the government has taken steps to bring more of the country’s women, ultra-Orthodox and Arabs into the high-tech workforce by promoting business incubators “more culturally relevant to these communities.”
As for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its effects on the Israeli economy, Miller suggested: “If we could take the world to Israel for a week, the problem would be solved.”