Israeli innovation on display at prestigious forum in Switzerland
Dozens of Israeli life-sciences start-ups will showcase their innovative wares to investors and corporate leaders next week at Sachs Associates’ annual European Life Sciences CEO Forum in Zurich.
The influential forum will host the inaugural GoforIsrael Life Sciences Conference on February 26. It aims to establish strategic alliances between Israeli innovators and partners in Europe, as well as address issues related to raising capital.
Organized by Tel Aviv-headquartered Cukierman & Co. Life Sciences and Sachs Associates, the conference will bring together leading Israeli companies in the fields of medtech, biotech, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and digital health.
The event is Cukierman’s twenty-first Israel-related business conference. It is supported by the Economy Ministry, the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) and Israeli Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein Jacob Keidar.
“We chose this time to dedicate the GoforIsrael Conference to life sciences only, in response to growing demand for Israeli technologies on behalf of investors, corporations and life sciences companies in Europe,” said Dr. Laurent Choppe, managing partner of Cukierman & Co.
Among the 30 start-ups due to present their innovations at the conference are vital-sign monitoring technology company Neteera, cancerous tissue characterization technology firm Dune Medical, scientific dietary supplements developer Nutritional Growth Solutions and epigenetics cancer detection company Nucleix.
“The life sciences field was one of the fastest growing in 2018 in terms of fund raising, investing and exiting Israeli start-ups, and we expect this trend to continue this year,” said Choppe.
“The Sachs Forum gives Israeli entrepreneurs an excellent opportunity to meet with leading investors in the field in a focused and unmediated manner under one roof.”
Check Point Software cofounder and aMoon Fund anchor investor Marius Nacht, IIA chairman Dr. Ami Appelbaum, and Rainbow Medical founder and CEO Efi Cohen-Arazi are among many Israeli healthcare technology leaders due to address the conference.
Last year, GoforIsrael was hosted in Foshan, China, attracting more than 100 Israeli companies, 500 investors, 1,200 participants and leading to more than 800 one-on-one meetings.
In recent years, advancing digital health has been a key focus of both Israeli start-ups and the government, boosted by the country’s strategic advantage in almost-universal healthcare data.
Last March, the government approved a one-billion shekel ($276 million) five-year national digital health plan that includes technological development; international cooperation; concentrated academic and industrial efforts; and regulatory changes, in order to encourage data research.
Today, Israel’s biopharma industry numbers some 200 companies, with approximately 15 new companies established every year. In 2018, pharma start-ups raised a record $1.2 billion in 126 deals. Medical device companies were the beneficiaries of approximately half of the funding.