Victorian Coalition delegation looks to Israel for innovation inspiration
Over the course of eight days in July, a delegation of eleven Victorian Coalition MPs, including a number of Shadow Ministers, travelled to Israel to partake in AIJAC’s Rambam Israel Fellowship Program with a key focus on learning about Israel’s startup culture and industries.
Eric Goldberg (Senior Business Development Manager for the Australian Trade & Investment Commission), Cindy McLeish MP, Neale Burgess MP, Joel Burnie (AIJAC), David Southwick MP, Graham Watt MP, Nick Wakeling MP, Richard Riordan MP, Omri Wislizki (Manager of the Landing Pad), Martin Dixon MP.
The delegation visited a number of business incubators, startups, venture capitalist and experts including Saul Singer, co-author of the book Start-Up Nation. The Victorian MPs spent time at Ben Gurion University to hear a number of pitches from social entrepreneurs, and also met with global investment crowdfunding platform OurCrowd who recently launched “Our Innovation Australia Fund” targeting the early stage sector in Australia.
Led by the Victorian Shadow Minister for Innovation David Southwick MP, the delegation visited Australia’s Landing Pad in Tel Aviv, launched in December 2015 as the first of five overseas working spaces established by the Federal Coalition Government.
The Landing Pad, located in the established co-working space SOSA, will see more Australian emerging businesses visit Israel and given the opportunity to access venture capital, create industry connections and promote Australia-Israel collaboration on projects.
“It was fantastic to meet with key executives at the Landing Pad to learn more about this wonderful facility which offers emerging Australian businesses fantastic opportunities,” Mr Southwick said.
“Israel is a global leader in the startup world, one which Victoria can continue to partner with and learn from.”
Under the Australian Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda, the Federal Government has invested $11 million to establish five landing pads in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley and three other locations across the globe.
Up until the establishment of the Landing Pad in Israel, Australia was one of the only leading innovative countries without established landing pads in key economies around the world.
Mr Southwick encouraged Victorian market-ready start-ups to take advantage of the five landing pads and learn from global innovation hotspots.
“From my time at the Israel Landing Pad, I witnessed businesses and companies learning and collaborating with entrepreneurial talent, mentors, investors and a wider connected network of innovation hubs,” Mr Southwick said.
“We have so much talent in the startup space in Victoria and across Australia. The Federal Coalition Government’s Landing Pad initiative offers these businesses the knowledge, inspiration and access to markets they need to take that all-important next step.”
Isn’t Martin Dixon about to retire from parliament soon? If so this would be a wasted trip for Victoria’s taxpayers.
A newer MP, who is likely to be in parliament for a few terms, should have gone on the trip.
Following this week’s events I both countries, what we needs an expert exchange:
Israeli cyber security experts to Australia, Australian food safety experts to Israel.