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Geeks meet geeks for UK/Israel technology parley

August 16, 2012 15:58

ByAnonymous, Anonymous

1 min read

It was a unique moment when our geeks met their geeks to discuss what the UK can learn from Israel’s work in successful innovation.

The cyber world materialised last week in an event held at the Tea Building in Shoreditch, east London — an epicentre for entrepreneurs, innovators and investors —when Londoner Saul Klein, partner at investment firm Index Ventures, spoke alongside American-Israeli Saul Singer, co-author of Start Up Nation. Mr Singer's book Start Up Nation was published in 2009 and explains Israel's prominence in global hi-tech innovation.

London's tech-savvy entrepreneurs filled the audience, including Mike Butcher cofounder of TechHub (a network of spaces devoted to technology start-ups) and European Editor of TechCrunch. The innovators used this opportunity to plan ventures between Israel and the UK.

Mr Singer explained that it was Israel’s deep-rooted history of struggle and adversity that contributed to its entrepreneurial success. He said: “There are two main ingredients to make a successful start-up – drive and risk- taking. It took a lot of drive and a lot of risk to make the country of Israel. This energy went in to start-ups and social entrepreneurship to make Israel a tech-power house.”