In the morning we walk a few city blocks from our hotel to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Israel’s only securities exchange. The modern high-rise juts out from a line of old buildings, and this is where our workshop events will be held today. In three parallel sessions we hear interesting talks on topics such as “Global PR,” “Growth Marketing,“ “Exit, Merge & IPO Strategies,“ or “Fundraising.” Between workshops there’s always an opportunity to talk with other start-ups, potential investors, and network partners. We cultivate the contacts we made yesterday, and our start-ups schedule meetings for later in the day.
In the afternoon we head through the Shuk Ha’Carmel – the famous Arabian Carmel Market, which serves as a major contrast to the high-rises of the financial district – to our meetings in the surrounding cafés. Anne Baumgrass and Susanne Bülow from Synfioo meet with a staffer from an EU Horizon 2020 project that works together with industry partners to better utilize the Danube as a transportation channel and to make traffic more intermodal. Synfioo can make a valuable contribution to this project, because it is a platform for monitoring and planning transportation networks and chains.
Katja Richter and Alexander Anielski from diamond inventics introduced their test platform for detecting microorganisms to a new contact who has offered to help build a bridge to the African market. This is particularly interesting because the simple use of the test platform in any field conditions – meaning not just in a laboratory – can help customers in Africa to find microbiological contamination in water or food in a fast and uncomplicated way.
Julien Bergner from adento met someone from an Israeli venture capital fund who specializes in medtech, meaning new technological solutions in the medicine sector. This fits perfectly for the innovative software solution for dentists, which adento is developing and has already successfully brought to market. The search for investors who will finance further growth is of course one of the most important reasons for start-ups to present at an event like TAU Innovation Days. At the same time, existing customer contacts cannot be neglected. This is why Bijan Negahbani, the second team member of adento, call his customers in Germany whenever possible from Tel Aviv over Skype and asks for feedback about their product.
After quite a number of meetings and lots of input, the day is not over though. In the evening we head over to Tel Aviv’s magnificent Rothschild Boulevard, which the locals like to call their little “Unter den Linden.” The boulevard is located in the middle of the White City, which is comprised of Bauhaus-style buildings that were mostly built by German Jewish architects who immigrated here. The district is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Rothschild Tech Talks take place in this wonderful ambience. In eleven different bars, there are talks about different topics, followed by an opportunity to talk with like-minded people. So the second day ends like the first: we work ... and we play.
Text: Wulf Bickenbach
Published online by: Agnetha Lang
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