Some 7,000 people from dozens of countries descended on Jerusalem for a festival of Israeli technology.
The International Convention Centre was filled-to-burst with people quizzing innovators about their technology.
The event took the boffins out of their labs and computer suites, and put them face-to-face with investors who are looking to take a punt on Israeli brainpower.
Organiser Jon Medved is founder of OurCrowd, the matchmakers of the hi tech scene. The firm has made it much easier for people who don’t fit the ultra-high net wealth category to invest in innovation.
It provides opportunities — like this Global Investor Summit — for people to meet technology companies and explore opportunities for investing their savings in the startup scene.
The seven-year-old company has raised $1.2 billion (£920 million) for Israeli technology, including $500 million in new funding commitments last year alone.
Companies funded through OurCrowd have been acquired by some of the world’s best-known brands, including Uber, Canon, Oracle, Nike, and Intel.
Many that were courting investors here have an ethical or “impact” agenda, and Mr Medved said investors came with “the goal of making the world a better, safer, and healthier place.”
With foreign visitors dressing as they do back home, and Israelis dressing to impress them, there were more suits and ties than ever seen at an Israeli event.
Everywhere you looked there were people networking, exchanging business cards, and promising to meet for coffee, drinks, and video conferences.
Big companies were out in force, talent-spotting and looking for startups they may want to cooperate with.
There were also big names, including Donald Trump’s former aide Jason Greenblatt, who spoke about his hope that economic cooperation can bring Israelis, Palestinians and the wider Middle East together.
“Let us create a Middle East 2.0, whose might and energy can power the region, and perhaps the world, to a much brighter future,” Mr Greenblatt said.
“Let us continue building relationships between Israel and its neighbours in the region, to work on what once seemed impossible, building together an economic bridge of peace.”
On show was technology that can help farmers, often in the developing world, to increase their yields and so save environmental resources.
CropX, for example, lets farmers get advanced statistics on soil that allow them to get the best from their land, all using a smartphone and a device that resemble a pogo stick.
Some exhibitors are aiming at the next big thing in tech for kids.
Particula has come to the conclusion that we will not tear our kids away from their smartphones, so is making physical “edutainment” games that connect to the phone.
It was showing off the GoCube, which looks similar to a Rubik’s Cube and which you solve with instructions from your phone. Kids commonly play it together with parents.
There were even innovators who are working to give us better football games. Track160 had screens showing matches that demonstrated how it can take the footage and track the players and the ball’s trajectories.
This data is gold dust to managers who want to improve team tactics.
Mr Medved said that as well as showing off Israeli innovation, the summit was about helping potential investors to understand the start scene and likely growth areas for the next decade.
“As we begin this new decade, and look back at the last ten years, there are clear patterns that emerge,” he said.
“The rise and dominance of artificial intelligence, the revolution around self-driving cars, the breakthroughs in digital health, and the very urgent need to stay ahead of the game in cybersecurity — [these] can help us plot where there is a need for more investment and where there are opportunities for new ideas.”
