Israeli program promotes Arab entrepreneurship and tech careers
Three organisations have been selected to open innovation centres to promote entrepreneurship and tech careers in the Israeli Arab sector, the Israel Innovation Authority and the Authority for the Economic Development of Minority Sectors announced on Tuesday.
TPS
Three groups were chosen from among 24 candidates to run innovation centres in Arab communities. Two tech accelerator programs and angel investor’s club to further boost Arab economic growth were also announced.
Hassan Towafra, Director of the Authority for Economic Development of Arab Society, explained that the initiative falls under the broader Takadum Program to close gaps between the Arab sector and broader Israeli society.
“The six successful proposals, some of which will be managed by Arab-run organisations, are extremely good news for Arab entrepreneurs, as they will soon provide a home for advancing innovative ideas. I am sure that by the end of the five-year period, we will see a significant increase in startups within Arab society, benefitting the Arab economy and society as a whole.”
The North-Med Innovation Centre was selected as an innovation centre to be opened in the Sakhnin Valley in the Lower Galilee.
The centre will focus on life science technologies and will work to promote medical equipment ventures, digital health and artificial intelligence for the medical, food-tech and food supplement industries.
It will also provide mentoring and professional support for tech ventures, working closely with the administrative echelons of the innovation-leading partner hospitals and clinicians. The centre will also establish an employment centre to create quality career prospects in tech and biotech for the Arab sector in northern Israel.
The Hasoub Labs Ltd. Center will open a centre in Ar’ara, located in the heart of Israel’s so-called “Triangle” region south of Haifa, which includes six large Arab cities and 23 smaller villages and towns, with a total of 300,000 residents.
The centre will offer a multi-level entrepreneurship process, including support from the very first stages of ideation all the way through professional and personal support from experienced mentors and advisors to develop the R&D and business and marketing aspects of the idea.
It will also work to provide exposure among the investor community for the ventures and startups at the pre-acceleration and acceleration stages.
Hasoub Labs will also provide advanced tech training to ensure graduates of the programs are able to integrate into the Israeli tech industry.
The Kfar-Qasem Park-High-Tech Center Ltd. will be set up with the goal of integrating the Arab sector into entrepreneurship and Israeli tech employment. Kfar Qasem is in the Greater Tel Aviv area, where many startups are located.
The centre will work to advance medical and para-medical entrepreneurship in Kfar Qasem and other Arab local councils closer to the Tel Aviv area. It plans to advance tech education and to integrate the Arab sector into the Israeli tech industry by developing tech-oriented human capital and establishing the proper infrastructure for workplaces to integrate the Arab sector in careers in the tech industry.
