India-Israel Innovation Centre launched in Bangalore
India’s first India-Israel Innovation Centre (IIIC), an entrepreneurial tech hub to encourage collaboration between teams and individuals of both countries, has been launched in Bangalore. The IIIC was launched by Ramanan Ramanathan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, Government of India along with Moshe Porat, Founder & CEO Mesh Labs, Ariel Seidman, Deputy Counsul General of Israel and Varad Krishna, Founding Partner, IIIC.
The centre will come up with around 10,000–15,000 sq.ft. of space in the central business district and will be operated by MESH (Modiin Entrepreneur’s Startup Hub). It is expected to be ready by the end of this year, with an investment of around Rs. 2 crores.
“We are looking at fostering collaborations between deep tech companies in the two countries. The centre will give access to Israeli investors and talent to work with their Indian peers,” said Moshe Porat, Co Founder & CEO at MESH Rehovot.
OECD research indicates that Israel spends more money on R&D as a proportion of its economy than any other country (4.25% of its GDP). Meanwhile, India is the nation of origin for the maximum number (14) of immigrant founders of billion dollar startups. According to Moshe Porat, Israeli startups boast of the highest success rate, whereas the success rate for startups in India is around one per cent. He feels that this collaboration will go a long way in increasing the number of successful Indian startups.
According to Varad Krishna, Founding Partner of IIIC, this is the first of six such innovation centres to come up in India. Another two are expected to come up soon in Bangalore and three others in other parts of India. Academic tie-ups between Israel’s Tel-Aviv University, Ben-Gurion university and Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) with their Indian counterparts (IITs and IIITs) are on the anvil.
“We are proud to witness the launch of IIIC, which reinstates that the formula of “India + Israel= Innovation” works. Our role as diplomats is to find best possible ways to connect India to the Israeli ecosystem and vice-versa, especially while both nations are focusing on startups. I wish IIIC to be another productive milestone in connecting the countries and pave the way for many more successful businesses to grow and transform. There would have been no better place than having this launch in India’s Silicon Valley- here in Bangalore,” said Dana Kush, Consulate General of Israel to South India.
“I am happy with the launch the India Israeli Innovation Centre (IIIC) at the IoT India Congress, first ever in India that aims to meet the long pending need to connect the startups ecosystems of Israel and India to improve the quality thereby the survival rate of the startups from our country,” said Varad Krishna.
Startups that are part of IIIC will be given mentorship and guidance and opportunities to participate at all IIIC’s Global events and experience networking avenues with potential customers.
“The IIIC is a significant step towards facilitating penetration of Israeli companies in India and aims to bring local partnerships and joint ventures between the companies from the two countries. It will provide an ecosystem to support entrepreneurship, partnership with vendors, mentoring and non-formal community development that will assist the growth of the companies in different verticals and covers business, technology, investors and customers,” said a statement from the promoters.
The launch took place at the third edition of IoT India Congress, which was held in Bangalore. “The launch of the IIIC was an exciting part of the third edition of IoT India Congress that concluded today. We, at the IET are proud to have collaborated with IIIC and our aim is to facilitate more such opportunities which will help in building a robust ecosystem,” said Shekhar Sanyal, Director and Country Head, the IET.
