Beersheba is the new Silicon Valley

TECH TALK

LINK Hotel & Hub

The new LINK Hotel & Hub, part of the Dan Hotel chain, is located on Shaul Hamelech Boulevard, near the Tel Aviv Museum, the Tel Aviv Courthouse, Sourasky Medical Center – Ichilov Hospital, and office towers. The hotel comprises 94 rooms over eight floors and will open for business in early 2018.

The new brand of Dan Hotels offers a concept of a hotel that addresses the new generation of tourists and business people and caters to the different priorities of this generation, such as a shared work space, informal atmosphere and urban art. LINK offers advanced services, such as electronic check-in and check-out, food and beverage services, conference rooms, a gym and a spa.

Start-up studies

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in cooperation with the Israeli firm GKH Law Offices, is beginning for the second consecutive year start-up studies as part of its executive MBA program. Known as Start Up 360, the program is designed to provide a comprehensive management framework for issues related to the investment and management of start-ups.

One of its highlights is the practical experience participants receive when they are given $10 million to invest in real start-ups, the funds for which were donated by JVP, Yissum, Microsoft Accelerator, OurCrowd and Merck Ventures. In addition, a delegation of Israeli Start Up 360 students will be invited to participate in meetings with industry officials in Silicon Valley.

“Last year’s class was a smashing success,” said Etai Shay, a partner at GKH Law Offices and a lecturer in the course. “The students now understand the importance of specializing in start-ups in Israel.

We’ve encountered brilliant entrepreneurs who’ve created original technologies with great potential, but only a small percentage of the start-ups actually succeed in the long run,” he continued. “Therefore, an academic program that brings in mentors from the industry and offers students an opportunity to experiment with financial investment in start-ups is the key to success.”

Nextech

The 2017 Nextech International Conference on Advanced Technologies, which took place on October 19 in Beersheba, brought together industry and academia leaders from a variety of fields – medicine, robotics, satellites, cybersecurity, virtual reality, communications, and the IDF.

Among the new technologies that were showcased at the conference were a robot that harvests crops, a robot that purifies contaminated water, an autonomous submarine that can reach a depth of 300 meters below sea level, and an autonomous car.

Other special innovations were a rooster robot designed for locating and rescuing, a new video tour-planning platform, an automatic defense system against DDOS attacks that are based on a biological-immunological model, and a platform that transforms images of an apartment plan into a three-dimensional experiential tour in just one minute.

If you run a young start-up, have developed an interesting app or have a question, please feel free to contact info@social-wisdom.com.

Translated by Hannah Hochner.