Historic NZ mission to Israel to grow economic ties
Major developments in innovation and entrepreneurship with Israel are set to follow the recent visit of a high-level New Zealand business delegation to the country.
Chemi Peres, Chairman Peres Centre for Peace and Innovation addresses the NZ delegation
Over 50 companies, academia, incubators, venture capital and government organisations formed the largest business group ever from New Zealand to visit Israel. The Mission was organised by the Trans – Tasman Business Circle, and led by Simon Moutter, Managing Director of Spark New Zealand. The Chief Science Adviser to the New Zealand Government, Sir Peter Gluckman was also a member of the mission..
“Like Israel, New Zealand is a small country, isolated geographically from global markets and with a strong tradition and history of innovation. We are both agile and open economies along with a smart labour workforce, so there is much to learn from each other,” said Johnny Weiss, CEO of the Circle.
At a time of increased global interest in centres of innovation such as Silicon Valley, Israel, Berlin among others, the mission engaged with Israel’s highly successful ecosystem which has earned the country the reputation as the “Start-up Nation”
Johnny Weiss added: “The mission was an excellent opportunity to collaborate and share ideas with highly innovative people and organisations, as well as showcase New Zealand’s own digital talent and innovation and potentially attract investment into our rapidly growing technology sector.”
Among those engaging with the Circle were Israel’s Chief Scientist, companies including Mobileye and Crop-X and Chemi Peres, Chairman of the Peres Centre for Peace who shared his vision of technology in the pursuit of peace.
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