Israel Active

The Israel Airports Authority has announced a $1.43 billion plan to upgrade Israel’s main Ben Gurion airport to cope with an anticipated 50% increase in passenger turnover within the next five years. The airport exceeded 20 million passengers in 2017 – 18% up on 2016.

Ambassador Yoram Ettinger gives a very upbeat end of year state of the Israeli economy. It includes Israel’s progress since 1987 from the new book “Israel – Island of Success” by Dr Adam Reuter and Noga Kainan.

The Israeli Ministry for the Development of the Negev and Galilee is investing $25.5 million (NIS 90 million) in the establishment of 45 co-working tech hubs in Israel’s peripheral regions. The ministry said they expect all 45 to be operational by the third quarter of 2018.

I reported previously on TechForGood, an Israel-based startup accelerator, that organized the Scaling Social-Tech conference – to promote the idea that companies can prioritize socially conscious goals and still be profitable.

10,000 people from 80 countries are expected in Jerusalem on 1st Feb at the 4th annual OurCrowd Global Investor Summit. They include 300 startups, 200 Venture Capitalists and 250 multinationals plus entrepreneurs, investors, government officials and the press.

Explore Bio is a new incubator for Israeli biotech startups that will launch in 2018. Its parents are Merck Serona (a subsidiary of Germany’s Merck KGaA), in partnership with Shanghai’s WuXi AppTec.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched the day's trading at the London Stock exchange at 11am on Nov 3rd, pushing the button to officially open London's financial market. He recalled the first trade made by Abraham in purchasing the Cave of the Patriarchs 4,000 years ago, in shekels.

The European Investment Fund (EIF), with Israel’s Bank Leumi, have renewed their program offering loans to small and medium Israeli tech companies. Leumi can offer up to $200 million, with EIF guaranteeing the funds as part of Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation program.

Israel is to abolish customs and purchase taxes on a wide range of products, including electronics, cosmetics and toys. It will remove about a quarter of the total industrial tariffs in Israel – costing around NIS 800 million a year.

355,900 tourist entries to Israel were recorded in Nov 2017, about 24% more than Nov 2016 and 70% more than Nov 2015. In the period Jan-Nov 2017, about 3.3 million tourist entries were recorded, a 25% increase on the same period last year.