Google Expands In Israel

[JStone]

Wall Street Journal: Google to Launch Start-Up Incubator in Israel
Google to Launch Start-up Incubator in Israel - Digits - WSJ

Google is setting up an “incubator” for technology start-ups in Israel, one of several ways the California-based Internet giant is trying to get an early look at innovations

Numerous technology giants including Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Intel, AT&T, and Hewlett-Packard also have offices or research centers in Israel.

Initially, Google’s incubator will host roughly 20 “pre-seed” start ups, or about 80 people, for a period of a few months, after which new companies will come into the incubator to replace them, and the project will be open to many types of start-ups but has an emphasis on open-source technologies.

Google’s move is “very significant,” said Shuly Galili, executive director of the California-Israel Chamber of Commerce. “Google will have more accessibility to the talent and the know-how and what’s going on in that community,” she said, adding that she expects more U.S. tech companies to make similar moves in the future.
Galili is involved in a new “accelerator” for Israeli startups called Upwest Labs that will be based in Silicon Valley, providing a chance for Israeli entrepreneurs to work on their projects and meet with investors and technology companies based in the U.S. Google is one of Upwest’s sponsors, she said.

Israel has long been known as a tech hub, sometimes called “start-up nation.” An Israeli company called PrimeSense is a key technology provider for Microsoft’s Kinect, a motion-activated video game system. Several years ago SanDisk bought Israel-based M-Systems, which made flash drives, for $1.5 billion. In the late 1990s, AOL bought an Israeli company that made ICQ, an instant-messaging service, for hundreds of millions of dollars.

“The Israeli developer community is hugely innovative and has the potential to create many more ground-breaking technological developments,” a Google spokeswoman said in a statement on Monday. “This project was initiated with a desire to encourage entrepreneurship and to provide support at exactly the stage when developers are often most in need of it. The technology incubator is part of Google’s efforts to strengthen its connections with the developer community,” the spokeswoman said.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ1Q761ODbE]Google to set up startup incubator in Israel - YouTube[/ame]

 

[MJB12741]

With all the international companies represented in & investing in Israel, it sure appears Israel's future is well secure.

 

[FuelRod]

I'm all verklempt.

 

[JStone]

I'm all verklempt.

I Googled that word