Search on for startup to attend tech conference in Israel

Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Effie Ben Matityau says Israel has become a country of entrepreneurs and innovators, “bunch of people with strong ideology and vision.” PHOTO BY MARLET D. SALAZAR

IdeaSpace Foundation and the Embassy of Israel in the Philippines are looking for a Philippine-based startup to attend the DLD Tel Aviv Digital Conference later this year.

Tel Aviv has earned the title of a start-up nation for its mature and effective startup ecosystem built through the years. It is the birthplace of successful startups such as Waze, a traffic app developed in Israel; Viber, an instant group messaging app founded by Israeli and Belarusian partners, and Wix, a cloud-based web development platform with headquarters in Tel Aviv.

DLD (Digital Life Design) Tel Aviv Conference is Israel’s largest international hi-tech gathering and features hundreds of startups, angel investors and multinational companies.

The chosen startup that can present an innovative idea will represent the Philippines in the conference. Applicants must have a working prototype, revenue of less than $30,000 and raised investment of less than $100,000.

The winner will receive a full travel package of round-trip airfare and accommodations all throughout the event.

Upon return to the country, the startup is expected to organize a public event to share the experiences to Filipinos.

Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Effie Ben Matityau says Israel has become a country of entrepreneurs and innovators, “bunch of people with strong ideology and vision.”

“We are talking about nation-building,” he said. “Innovation is the foundation and cornerstone of Israel society.”

He shared how Israel was able to create the ecosystem of innovation. First is government involvement. With the creation of the position of chief scientist, they are able to identify promising ideas and fund them.

Second is research and development that instead of ideas “gathering dust on shelves of universities,” they try to seek those ideas and explore their potential. Third is the technology industry, which is the major catalyst of innovation. Lastly, the financial sector where startups get the venture capital funds.

“It took us years to develop the ecosystem,” he said.

Earl Valencia, president and cofounder of IdeaSpace, said: “Having a representative to Tel Aviv is an extremely valuable asset to us because he or she can bring back the lesson (learned in the conference).”

IdeaSpace is a nonprofit startup incubator of telecommunications firm PLDT. This search is different from the annual competition of IdeaSpace.

“Considering the Philippines’ aspiration, its participation in this international gathering, and in general, the growing cooperation in the field of technology will add to its capacity in the hi-tech arena,” Matityau said.

DLD Tel Aviv Digital Conference is set on Sept. 6-12. Deadline of entries for this particular search is on June 30 and winners will be announced on July 10. The link to application: https://www.f6s.com/israelisinnovation/apply).