The Journey Continues

Hello again! One year later, and once again, a group of 12 MBA students (both from Smith, as well as other top MBA programs) is primed to depart for eight weeks in Haifa, Israel as part of the Dingman Center’s Global Technology Entrepreneurship Fellowship program.

To myself and the inaugural team from summer 2010, the fact that the program has continued into a second year provides perhaps the greatest sense of satisfaction. It delivers tangible affirmation of the entrepreneurial path we blazed last summer. As the first participants in a brand new program, we knew the risks involved. Yet, without a doubt, last summer not only met, but exceeded our expectations. More importantly, we helped lay the foundation for this year's team to hit the ground running.

As I have mentioned previously on many occasions in this blog - Israel is an entrepreneur's dream. It is the quintessential Start-Up Nation. It is a land of high-tech innovation and a center of venture capital. Yet, it is also a land of many contradictions. For these and a myriad of other reasons, Israel is a fascinating laboratory for any business professional interested in studying innovation or entrepreneurship.

This post marks my final comments on the program. However, the story continues for this year's MBAs. If you are interested in reading about and following their exploits in Israel over the following two months, please head over to their page to find out more. Fellow MBA and 2011 participant Andrew Giessel has taken over blogging duties for this year's program. I wish him all the best, and hope you enjoy reading his posts this summer.

Final Videos

Well, it has been quite a while since my last post! That being said, it was definitely nice taking a well deserved break after the hectic - mile-a-minute - pace I'd kept while in Israel. One person who was still working however was trip videographer, Steve Kushner, who after taking a brief detour into Jordan, returned home and pulled together two final videos chronicling our program. These videos capture the essence of our last three weeks in Israel - both in terms of the activities we participated in and the places we visited. Enjoy!

Back to Jerusalem, pt2

On Saturday we woke up at a more reasonable time (leaving Ramat Rachel at 9:30am) for a visit to the Israel Museum. Located on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Knesset, the Israel Museum is most famous for two amazing exhibits. The first is an enormous and fully detailed (22,000sqft) model of Jerusalem at the time of the Second Temple. The second is the Shrine of the Book which contains the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in (now) southern Israel in 1947–56 in 11 caves around Wadi Qumran. 

"Our guide, Israel, talks with us about ancient Jerusalem"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

Our tour guide, Israel, took us on a full tour of the model. Over about 30 minutes we walked to each side - and were provided a thorough history of the city - as it was two thousand years ago. Incredibly - despite the centuries and the modern construction - the actual city retains a very consistent visual appearance to the model. The colors and layout have not changed drastically over the centuries. After our tour of the model we visited the Shrine of the Book. Interestingly, the outside of the shrine is constructed to visually represent the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness. The white dome symbolizes the Sons of Light, while the black wall symbolizes the Sons of Darkness. The interior of the shrine is like a cave, representing the environment in which the scrolls were discovered sixty years ago.

"The Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

That afternoon, a few of the team decided to visit the Old City of Jerusalem again, instead of heading back to the hotel. Those who went did quite a bit of shopping (mostly nargilas) before stopping at a bar for drinks and snacks. I (and a few others) opted to return to the hotel for relaxation either inside at the bar or out at the pool. According to a few people, the water slide was pretty amazing, though I didn't get a chance to try it myself. That evening the team went out on the town in Jerusalem - first to watch the World Cup match between Paraguay and Spain and then later to a nearby dance club. It was a very late night.

"Sherwin Pomerantz talks with the group about Israeli business"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

Sunday was focused on company visits and meetings. In the morning we had a meeting with Sherwin Pomerantz at Shelby's house. A 24-year resident of Israel, Sherwin (and three others) founded the Atid-EDI consulting firm. Atid-EDI is a team of economic, research, trade development and planning professionals who understand the nuances and business climates in Israel, North America and the region. Since 1991, Sherwin's firm has functioned as consultants to Israel's Ministry of Industry, Trade & Labor's Investment Promotion Center. He has also represented the trade interests, in the Middle East, of a number of U.S. states, including Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. As you can imagine, Sherwin had the knowledge to provide for a very interesting meeting!

"The group visits PresenTense to hear from Jewish entrepreneurs"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

After this meeting we traveled to Jerusalem's German Colony to visit PresenTense, a group that aims to foster entrepreneurship and leadership amongst the international Jewish community. While there, we heard business pitches from a group of summer fellows. We made sure to ask them lots of tough questions. The highlight of our visit to PresenTense though was that we got to hear a talk by Saul Singer, author of Start Up Nation (detailed in this previous post). Altogether, it was a pretty cool set of meetings!

"Saul Singer gives a talk on his book Start Up Nation"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

That afternoon, we finished our weekend in Jerusalem by celebrating America's Independence Day, July 4th. Once again, we traveled back to Shelby's house - this time for a BBQ. Hot dogs and hamburgers (sans cheese unfortunately) were plentiful, and everyone was content. Though we weren't able to acquire fireworks, it definitely was a great way to feel like we were back in the US of A. That evening the team hopped in the van for the long trek back to our house in Haifa - one final week of classes left to go.

Start-Up Nation

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to meet with Saul Singer, co-author of the book "Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle." Saul gave a thirty minute talk to the Smith team, as well as interns from PresenTense, about both his book and also thoughts on what factors have driven the phenomenal success of the Israeli economy over the past twenty years. Here's a clip posted below of Saul talking about his book.

It's funny how quickly Start-up Nation has become the de facto story of Israel. No matter where we've been this summer or who we've talked to - without fail - everyone has spent the first few minutes of each meeting discussing this book. Have we read it? What did we think? It was definitely cool to finally hear this story from the author himself.

Video Three

Our esteemed trip videographer, Stephen Kushner, has released his third video of the trip. Halfway through the program, this video is the third in a series (of five) depicting the Global Technology Entrepreneurship Fellowship for rising second-year MBA students from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland College Park. 

The Part 3 video (posted above) includes: commentary, company visits and interviews, as well as cultural experiences and camaraderie, from weeks 4-6. Once again, Steve's done a superb job distilling the spirit of our trip into 3 minutes of video. Thank you Steve!

Our Tag Cloud

After - now four weeks in Israel - the Smith team has seen and done a lot! If you can believe it, with my most recent post, I passed the 12,000 word mark for the blog. That's a lot to wrap my mind around (it's equivalent to over 35+ pages) especially given that at this point we're only a little under half-way done with the program. I guess 30,000 words isn't out of the question. Anyway, to put this in perspective, I came across a cool web app - Wordle - that I think helps capture the essence of what we've been up in an interesting way. Enjoy!

 

Image by Daniel Branscome

As you can see, there are some key themes that keep appearing (not accidentally I might add) over and over. This program - though it has provided access to a wide variety of activities and events - has maintained a core focus on technology and entrepreneurship.

The Entrepreneurs

Over the past few weeks, the Smith team has benefited from a number of impromptu on-campus meetings and events at the Technion. I've covered some of these in previous posts - such as the bi-weekly e-club meetings, the business ethics seminar, and the Shai Agassi speech. Additionally, in two other instances we've been able to meet with a pair of established Israeli entrepreneurs and discuss with them, both their current and future ventures. These two meetings were very interesting and I think it's definitely worth relating a little about each meeting and describe each entrepreneur.

Photo by Stephen Kushner

A few weeks back we had a chance to meet with Gil Perlberg. Formerly a VP for Business Development at Traceguard, an Israeli military and defense technology firm, Gil is currently the CEO & Founder of a new start-up, Ceronyx. This firm, Ceronyx, develops ceramic nanocomposites that address the increasing demand for advanced ceramic products in high growth fields, such as ceramic armor, cutting tools and medical applications, including ceramic implants for the hip and knee joints. Ceronyx's development is based on a proprietary technology platform developed by Prof. Wayne Kaplan, from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. This is still very early stage - which made all that more interesting.

Last Thursday, we met with Dr. Ze'ev Ganor. Currently an adjunct professor (and one of our judges in class) at the Technion, Ze'ev has been a successful entrepreneur for many years. Over the course of an hour, Ze'ev walked us through his many past ventures, covering both his successes and failures. After his stint in the Israeli military and college at the Technion, Ze'ev began his career at Computer Consoles Inc. (CCI) a US-based voice processing and computer software firm. Through a connection at CCI, he was a principal investor with a start-up that developed a new medical technology, Digital Subtraction Angiography (DSA). This technology - a precursor to the MRI - was sold to Elscint for $70 million after 4 years. After this success, Ze'ev had the entrepreneurial bug. Other significant investments and start-ups Ze'ev has been involved with have included ChipX, Nanomotion, and Fiberzone.

Altogether, these meetings were a great opportunity for the Smith team to talk one on one for Q&A with two highly active entrepreneurs. Both Gil and Ze'ev - though they come from very different backgrounds - offered us a terrific inside look at the many diverse challenges faced by entrepreneurs and early stage investors.

Company Visits, pt1

Once again, I'm a few days later than I'd like writing about one of our many events. As is probably already evident, we've had a really packed schedule this summer in Israel. It seems like at any moment we've been on the road - always either heading to or from our next engagement. From technology conferences and historical sightseeing, to company visits and business meetings, the Smith team has been busy, busy, busy!

Anyway, on to the issue at hand. Last Sunday, June 13, we had the opportunity to engage with three different Israeli companies. In our first meeting we met one-on-one with a founding partner of an Israeli venture capital firm at our hotel in Jerusalem. In the other two we did so through on-site meetings and visits at each of the other two company's headquarters, both located in the city of Be'er Sheva.

Photo by Kristin Thompson

Our first meeting of the day was with Israel CleanTech Ventures (ICV). Established in 2006, ICV is the first Israel-focused cleantech venture capital fund - dedicated to providing value added growth capital to entrepreneurs specializing in energy, water, and environmental technologies. ICV raised $75 million for its first fund in 2007, drawn from a diverse (predominantly European and American) client base, which included Robeco, Piper Jaffray, as well as other institutional investors and family offices.

Our guide to Israel CleanTech Ventures was Glen Schwaber, a founding partner and originally a native of Boston, who emigrated from the United States to Israel in 1994. Glen has a wealth of experience in the Israeli investment community, having begun his career at Jerusalem Global, a private equity firm for Israeli hi-tech start-ups before transitioning to Jerusalem Venture Partners, one of the most successful venture capital firms in Israel, and then later founding ICV with two other initial partners.

Unlike a few of our previous VC meetings - where our hosts spent a significant portion of the meeting talking generally about the market in Israel - Glen dove right into a detailed discussion of a few current portfolio company investments - as well as the Israeli cleantech sector in general. Over the course of about an hour, Glen walked our group through an analysis of ICV's strategy, including a thorough breakdown of their investment criteria, market approach, and screening process.

There were two portfolio companies I found particularly interesting. The first was CellEra, which is a a fuel-cell company with a revolutionary new type of fuel cell, the Platinum-Free Membrane Fuel Cell (PFM-FC). CellEra's solution eliminates major cost components in current fuel-cells, such as very expensive platinum. The second investment was in a firm, Scodix, which has developed a revolutionary Digital UV Embossing press. The machine and associated process are inherently environmentally friendly - the process requires no plates or silk, minimum electricity power, and results in virtually no printing waste.

All together, our meeting with Glen was really interesting, and no doubt about it, ICV's current portfolio investments (and investment strategy generally) are really cutting edge!

The Electric Future

This past Wednesday we had an opportunity to attend a speech at the Technion by Mr. Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place. Before starting Better Place, Shai was previously the President of the Products and Technology Group at SAP AG. He resigned from this position in March 2007 to pursue interests in alternative energy and climate change - ultimately leading to his founding of Better Place. Per TED's online profile:

[Shai's] approach to solving the puzzle of electric automobiles could spark nothing short of an automotive revolution. Through his enthusiastic persistence, Agassi's startup Better Place has signed up some impressive partners - including Nissan-Renault and the countries of Israel and Denmark.

The topic and the content of Shai's address was very compelling. Additionally, since the Smith team will be visiting Shai's company, Better Place, later this summer, his speech was a perfect introduction prior to our visit. To give you a taste of what we heard, Shai gave a speech very similar to one he had given previously at TED, which I've posted below.

A Video Record Ctd

Since arriving in Israel, one of our team members, Stephen Kushner, has been hard at work producing a video series, introducing the program, interviewing team members, and capturing the sights and sounds of our trip to Israel. Part 2 of the video series (posted below) includes: commentary, day-in-a-life, pitching to venture capitalists, company visits and interviews, hi-tech conference highlights, cultural experiences, and camaraderie. Enjoy!

First Three Weeks

As we approach the end of the our first three weeks in Israel, I think it's probably as good a time as any to provide a recap of where we've been so far. I'll try and do this a few times this summer in order to fill in any new readers on anything they may have missed. Anyway, the past weeks have certainly gone by quickly. We've seen and done quite a bit. In fact, it's actually hard to believe how much we've been able to fit in to such a short amount of time.

Pre-Departure: in the weeks leading up to the trip I blogged here and here about the reasons why I believe Israel is important and what are the unique characteristics that have lead to Israel's economic and technological achievements of the past few decades. Start-up Nation - the unofficial handbook of our trip - was mentioned on a few occasions. On April 29, the team celebrated the beginning of the program, while also recognizing the contributions of the program's many generous donors, at an evening reception in Washington, D.C., hosted by Miles Gilburne and Nina Zolt.

Week 1: After months of planning and hours of travel, the Smith team finally arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel, passed through customs, and then made the hour long drive up the coast to Haifa - our home for the summer. The first few days were set aside for us to get acclimated to our new surroundings. The fact that we'd arrived during the holiday of Shavuot certainly helped keep things quiet that first night. By Thursday we'd had a chance to settle in and proceeded to the Technion for our first class and to meet our Israeli teammates.  The projects were finalized and the patent creators presented on each of their technologies. On the weekend we toured the city of Haifa - the German Colony and the Baha'i Gardens - and then traveled north for visits to Rosh Hanikra and Acre.

Week 2: The second week began slowly - with Monday through Wednesday working at our office at the Technion. I blogged about the Israeli business culture here. On Wednesday we had a presentation from the Technion Entrepreneurship Club. Then on Thursday, we had our second class with presentations from the Technion incubator and our project leader Asher Epstein, among others. At the end of the week we departed Haifa for a weekend visit to Tel Aviv. Friday morning we had a brief meeting with Israel's Warren Buffet, Yossi Vardi. Later that afternoon, we went on a guided tour of the city - from Jaffa and Neve Tzedek to the Hacarmel Market. Saturday we were free to explore on our own - or head to the beach - as a few folks did. It was awesome! Before heading back to Haifa, on Sunday we had meetings at two venture capital firms, Tamir Fishman and AquAgro Fund, where we met with Moshe Levin and Hillel Milo respectfully. Altogether it was a busy but exciting week!

Week 3: At the beginning of the week a political and military incident drew the eyes of the world to the coast off of Israel and the Gaza Strip. Early on in the week, our resident video blogger, Stephen Kushner, posted the first (of five) major trip videos on the site. Wednesday found us once again at the Technion Entrepreneurship Club for a presentation by one of our program's benefactors, Rick Zitelman. Rick gave a talk on business ethics (here) from a Jewish perspective, as well as comments on investing in general (here). On Thursday we had our first major presentation of the trip. In class we gave 30 minute presentations on our technologies and five potential markets to a panel of local Israeli venture capitalists. [More on this event to appear later this week]. On Thursday, my photo from our house in Haifa was featured on The Atlantic. This weekend the team has been enjoying free time at the beach, while getting ready for next week, when we'll be heading to Jerusalem for the High Tech Industry Association Conference.

Ethical Investing, pt2

In my previous blog post, I covered the first half of Rick Zitelman's presentation to the Technion Entrepreneurship Club on ethics and investing. After concluding his discussion of Jewish business ethics, Rick transitioned to a more general presentation on investing in Israel and investing overall. 

"Anne, Kelley, and Don chatting with Rick Zitelman"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

For many years, Rick has been an investor in companies - as a venture capitalist - as well as a principal advisor to other investors and investment firms. Further, he has been (and currently is) an investor in Israeli companies. As such, he has a wide range of hard won advice to offer to investors - especially those looking to invest in Israel.

In regards to investing in general, Rick offered nine "rules" to live by ...

• There is money and then there is SMART money.
• Smart investors invest in people - passion and potential are critical.
• Remember, it ALWAYS takes longer and costs more.
• It's better to have more capital than less.
• It's better to have a small piece of a big pie, than a big piece of a small pie.
• Protect your IP, but remember, it takes a lot of money and time.
• Play to your strengths and learn to work with your weaknesses.
• There are three types of investors: Lead, Co-, and Passive.
• Valuations are never easy. Take your time and do your homework.

As you can imagine, hearing Rick's thoughts about investing in Israel (specifically his views on the American perspective) was also of keen interest to the Israeli Technion students in the audience - especially those involved in high-tech start-ups - or those considering starting their own ventures. For them, Rick had a few key pieces of wisdom.

• Investors look for reasons not to invest. Don't let poor communication be why.
• Time differences can play havoc. Be prepared to work odd hours.
• When dealing with America, Shabbat removes a significant portion of the week.
• As a deal develops, it becomes good to have partners in both the US and Israel. 

Rick concluded his talk by discussing a final criteria for new ventures in Israel. According to Rick, the Israeli government's Office of Chief Scientist (as well as many other local incubators) offer lucrative sources of early stage financing. However, he indicated that investors and firms should really do their homework before signing onto one of these partnerships, as there are significant pros and cons to following this path. The avenues available for exit can narrow if a firm accepts investment from these entities.

Rick's talk was really well received. He offered both the Smith School and Technion students a great overview of Jewish business ethics, investing, and investing in Israel.

Venture Capitalists, pt2

Following our successful vist with Moshe Levin at DFJ Tamir Fishman, we hopped in our bus and drove across Tel Aviv for our second meeting of the day. After a quick lunch, we made our way upstairs and into the offices of AquAgro Fund. This fund, which is a subsidiary of one of Israel's largest conglomerates, Gaon Holdings, is a venture capital fund focused on cleantech technologies and investments.

Our meeting was facilitated by one the fund's primary managing partners, Hillel Milo. Like our previous speaker, Mr. Milo is about as experienced as one gets in the Israeli venture capital industry. He co-founded one of the earliest VC firms in Israel. Further, he has a wealth of other venture and industry experience. Hillel has quite a presence in a room. He was able to present non-stop for 45 minutes, with no notes - easily calling up data and information from his mind - while at the same time keeping us captivated. By the end of our meeting we all wished we'd had more time to pick his brain.

"The team meets with Hillel Milo of AquAgro"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

Unlike the previous meeting we'd just attended, Hillel decided to focus specifically on a few of the current cleantech investments that AquAgro is engaged in right now. Further, Hillel gave us a great breakdown of the specific sectors that he believes constitute the cleantech market. Lastly, he gave us an overview of the primary criteria he (and his team) utilize when evaluating potential investments.

If our previous meeting had been about where Israel has been, our meeting with Hillel was about where Israel is going. For example, AquAgro is invested in a firm, Desalitech, which has invented a revolutionary method to create affordable and scalable water desalination. Another investment is in Evogene, a biotech firm that has created (and patented) over 400 novel genes to radically improve crop yields. One final company we discussed is Variable Wind, who has a technology that brings wind energy costs into parity with fossil fuels.

Altogether, our two meetings were both highly engaging and highly informative. Both were great introductions into the Israeli venture capital market. Further, each touched on both traditional and emerging investment spaces (e.g. cleantech). Next week, the team will be heading to Jerusalem to participate in a two day business conference focused on high tech.

Israel's Buffett

On Friday morning, after arriving in Tel Aviv, we went directly to a meeting with one of the most esteemed - yet understated and humble - entrepreneurs in Israel, Yossi Vardi. Our meeting took place at a local primary school in Tel Aviv, where we had a brief, but rewarding conversation with Yossi. The school, which is government run, had been at risk of closure five years ago. However, with the help of Yossi and other generous benefactors, the school has prospered enormously - improving its performance across the board.

"Children playing at the local school sponsored by Yossi Vardi"
Photo by Stephen Kushner

The school draws its students from both locals, as well as the children of foreign workers. Its student body is a veritable United Nations, with pupils from Africa, Asia, and South America. Unfortunately, many students are the sons and daughters of undocumented immigrants, and are at serious risk for deportation. This issue remains an enormous challenge and as such, Yossi and others are leading the charge to quickly and fairly address this issue by bringing their cause to the governments attention.

"Anne makes some new friends" 
Photo by Kristin Thompson

In many ways, Yossi is the consummate entrepreneur. Some might even call him Israel's Warren Buffett. Interestingly, I think Yossi is like Buffett - less because of investing - but more because both individuals come across as very down to earth and very connected to real life. To be sure, Yossi talked with us about key trends in the technology and internet markets. However, he made a serious (and well received) argument about social entrepreneurship as well. According to Yossi, incorporating social values significantly and measurably increases the overall value of a venture.

"The team shoots the breeze with Yossi Vardi"
Photo by Kristin Thompson

At a conference in 2007, Yossi quoted Teddy Roosevelt - drawing a clear analogy between Roosevelt's speech and current entrepreneurs - which I think is worth sharing.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Yossi definitely has a presence - and though known for his lighthearted nature - can also be quite serious (as I think his words, deeds and actions reveal) when he needs to be. Over the course of our meeting we learned a little bit about Yossi's philosophy. Additionally, Yossi made a pretty compelling case for being involved in (and selecting) investment projects that fit the dual criteria of creating both social and economic value. All in all, it was a highly rewarding visit. For some additional commentary on our program from Yossi himself, there's a short video after the jump.

At The Technion

Yesterday, on Wednesday we worked hard at our offices at the Technion. During this first full week in Israel, each team is busy meeting with our various technology inventors/partners, as well as meeting with our Israeli teammates. Preliminary work plans are due at the end of this week and our first class deliverable (an analysis of five potential markets) is coming up on the following Thursday.

 

"The team working hard at our Technion office space"

Photo by Kristin Thompson

With all of this work, we also had an opportunity at lunch to meet and socialize with the Technion Entrepreneurship Club (e-club). Every other Wednesday, the e-club arranges for afternoon speakers to talk on key topics of interest. This week, two Technion students presented on their technology start-up concepts - the first a novel personal online networking tool and the second an innovative game concept for mobile devices.

Why Israel? Ctd

Dan Senor, co-author of the recent (and highly recommended) book, "Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle" really captures the essence of what makes Israel worth paying attention to in this November 2009 article in Newsweek. 

How does Israel—with fewer people than the state of New Jersey, no natural resources, and hostile nations all around—produce more tech companies listed on the NASDAQ than all of Europe, Japan, South Korea, India, and China combined? How does Israel attract, per person, 30 times as much venture capital as Europe and more than twice the flow to American companies? How does it produce, for its size, the most cutting-edge technology start-ups in the world?

David Brooks in the New York Times gives some more reasons to study the Israeli model.

Because of the strength of [its] economy, Israel has weathered the global recession reasonably well. The government did not have to bail out banks or set off an explosion in short-term spending. Instead, it used the crisis to solidify the economy’s long-term future by investing in research and development and infrastructure, raising some consumption taxes, promising to cut other taxes in the medium to long term. Analysts at Barclays write that Israel is “the strongest recovery story” in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Interestingly, when Michael Porter (a name near and dear to most MBA students) penned his definitive tome "The Competitive Advantage of Nations" in 1990, in its many pages he saw fit to only mention Israel once! His single comment being that, "Israel's principal clusters [of innovation] are related to agriculture and defense." It seems clear that if Mr. Porter were writing today he'd likely want to revise and elaborate on this assessment.

Why Israel?

Many times over the past few months, I've been asked about where I'll be working and what I'll be doing this summer. After I explain, the question I get again and again is, why Israel? I wasn't sure about it at first either. To many - especially to students in business school - it's easy to be enamored by the economies of China and India - as well as the many other fast growing nations of the developing world. However, in a time when our economy is slowly recovering from one of the worst recessions in modern times, it is the nation of Israel that may in fact provide a model for how to get back on track.

Israel is a nation of survivors and is one of the world's greatest breeding grounds for entrepreneurs. This should honestly come as no surprise. Surrounded by enemies, lacking any significant natural resources, and made up of the cast-offs and refugees of a hundred other nations, Israel has not allowed any of its so-called deficiencies to hold back development. Indeed, Israel has made its perceived weaknesses strengths and has subsequently achieved an economic growth rate over the past 62 years rivaling that of any other nation. 

Israel has become a leading exporter of new patents and technology. Further, Israel is now second to America in the number of companies listed on NASDAQ. Most impressively, Israel attracts more venture capital investment (in full dollars, not adjusted on a per capita basis) than the whole of Europe! Nevertheless, as I've come to find out, Israel's economic successes have too often been overshadowed by the ever present political and military threats to Israel and the Middle Eastern region. This seems staggering, as their economic story is unparalleled in modern history. That being said, the Israeli's haven't seemed to mind the lack of attention or accolades. They've just kept on working.

Hello! Shalom!

So the question I'm sure you're asking yourself is, "What is Smith in Israel?" and more generally, "What is this blog all about?" Here's the deal. This upcoming summer, myself, 9 fellow MBA students from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, and 1 PhD student from the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering will be traveling to Haifa, Israel. Our shared purpose is a desire to immerse ourselves in the Israeli business and entrepreneurship culture.

For 10 weeks we will participate in an innovative and exciting new internship program spearheaded by Asher Epstein and the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Smith School; the Technion Entrepreneurship Center; the TechnionSeed incubator and T3, the Technion technology transfer office. We will pair into teams with counterparts from the Technion, working together to develop businesses around technology developed at the Technion. Our overarching goal will be to develop commercialization strategies as well as explore potential market opportunities in the United States.

Over the course of the summer, my task (assisted from time to time by my teammates) will be to create a written record of our trip, cataloging our daily activities and bringing some of our more interesting stories and adventures to life. To be sure, much of the anticipated audience for this blog will be those who - for a variety of reasons - are already aware of the program. However, I hope that by sharing our group's experiences we can create resonance outside this circle as well, bringing attention and recognition to our many amazing partners, both in the United States and Israel.