World Innovation Summit

Nine hundred entrepreneurs, academics, and investors networked at the World Innovation Summit, founded by Technion Graduate, Dr Joseph Gilor, Founder and CEO of Olive Bay, an advanced technology strategic consultancy and opportunity identifier for global investors and corporations.

The third Innovation Summit held in Israel took place on September 14, 2009, in Tel Aviv. Keynote speaker at the opening plenary was Dr Irwin Mark Jacobs, co-founder of QUALCOMM, and a Technion Guardian and Honorary Doctor. Jacobs led the commercialization of CDMA mobile wireless technology, in use by over 800 m consumers across the globe for voice and mobile broadband Internet access. “Some people said, ‘CDMA defies the Laws of Physics.’ Now, more than 1 billion cell phones are sold each year. They greatly outnumber other electronic markets,” Jacobs said. He further predicted, “3G will drive the majority of mobile broadband connections well into the next decade. Soon, instead of plastic credit cards, mobile phones will take care of close-proximity payments.” The industry is going towards a MEMS-based technology, Jacobs said. “Wireless is exciting, and will be for at least another decade.”

Uzia Galil presented the 2009 Israel Innovation Award to Dr Shimon Eckhouse, Technion graduate, who was selected from among exceptional candidates for the prize, meeting the criteria of innovation, entrepreneurship, impact on industry and contribution to Israeli industry. Eckhouse, the Founder and Chairman of Syneron, spoke on “Innovation and its role in our future in Israel.” Eckhouse said, “Entrepreneurs make things happen. Innovation is the fuel, and entrepreneurs are the engines.” He discussed what makes countries attractive. “Innovation and entrepreneurship are critical if we want to survive and prosper here,” he said.

Dov Moran, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of modu, who is also a Technion alumnus, presented his new company’s products set to make a major impact on the mobile landscape. Moran was the power behind M-Systems, the company responsible for the USB Flash Drive. “The mobile phone market is only growing 12 percent but it is changing,” Moran said. He advised, “Dream, innovate, use your imagination.”

Morning and afternoon parallel sessions included Next Generation Communications; Alternative Energy; Medical Robotics; Cloud Computing; Automotive and Aviation Technologies, and many others.

The intensive day, attended by entrepreneurs, academics, venture capitalists, and potential business partners, closed with a videoconferencing session with Raymond (Ray) Kurzweil, bestselling author and futurist. Kurzweil said that Israel, that has “the power of ideas,” is leading the way with “Tools for disruptive change.” Information Technology, he said, is the tool for entrepreneurship; its growth is exponential whereas human intelligence is linear. “Nonbiological intelligence will continue to grow exponentially whereas biological intelligence is essentially fixed,” he commented.
Source : Technion Focus Magazine, 21/09/09